Biological Psychology - Stress
• Stress as a bodily response
– The body’s response to stress
– Stress-related illness and the immune system
• Stress in everyday life
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Life changes and daily hassles
Workplace stress
Personality factors
Emotion-focused and problem-focused approaches to
coping with stress
– Psychological and physiological methods of stress
management
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Definitions of Stress
1. A response (e.g. physiological response) to
something in the environment
2. A stimulus (stressor) in the environment
3. A lack of fit between perceived demands and
perceived ability to cope with these demands
– this is the definition most often used by
psychologists and called the transactional
approach
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Topic 1: Stress as a Bodily Response
• The body’s response to stress
• Stress-related illness and the immune system
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Body’s Response to Stress
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Pituitary adrenal system
Sympathomedullary pathway
Activating the body’s stress-response
General Adaptation Syndrome
Gender differences in the stress response
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Hypothalamic-Pituitary- Adrenal System
• This system involves the adrenal cortex and is
under the control of the hypothalamus and the
pituitary gland
– Brain evaluates a situation as stressful
– Brain instructs hypothalamus to release
corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF)
– CRF travels to pituitary gland
– Pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotrophic
hormone (ACTH) which travels to the adrenal cortex
and stimulates the release of hormones called
corticosteroids into the bloodstream
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Hypothalamic-Pituitary- adrenal System
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Sympathetic – adrenal-medullary Pathway
• The adrenal medulla is controlled by the autonomic nervous
system (ANS), a network of nerve pathways running from centres in
the lower parts of the brain (the brainstem) out to the organs of the
body
• The ANS is controlled by brain structures such as the hypothalamus
• The ANS has two subdivisions –
– the sympathetic, and
– the parasympathetic
• When the sympathetic subdivision is activated, heart rate and blood
pressure increase; fats and carbohydrates are mobilised; activity in
the digestive tract slows down – a pattern known as sympathetic
arousal
• When the parasympathetic subdivision is activated, heart rate and
blood pressure return to normal and digestion speeds up – a pattern
of calm and bodily relaxation
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Sympathomedullary Pathway (cont.)
• When sympathetic branch of ANS is activated:
– Adrenal medulla releases adrenaline and noradrenaline into the
bloodstream
– These hormones stimulate heart rate and blood pressure
• In conclusion:
– The hypothalamus activates both the pituitary-adrenal system
and the sympathomedullary pathways to produce the stress
response
– Cannon (1914) called this pattern of bodily arousal the ‘flight or
fight’ response
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General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
(Selye 1956)
• The GAS has three stages:
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Gender Differences in the Stress Response
• ‘Fight or Flight’ or ‘Tend and Befriend’?
• Taylor et al. (2000) claim:
– High sympathetic nervous system activation and high cortisol
responses are characteristic biological components of the male
stress response
– Neurophysiological mechanisms within the female brain inhibit
the fight and flight response, and instead promote attachment
behaviour, called the ‘tend and befriend’ response to stress
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Stress-related Illness and the Immune System
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The immune system
Short-term stressors and the immune system
Chronic stress and the immune system
Age and gender differences in the effects of
stress on the immune system
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Immune System
• The immune system is our main defence
against infection by foreign agents:
– Non-specific immunity – phagocytes surround and
ingest foreign particles wherever they encounter them
– Cell-based immunity – lymphocytes called T cells
seek out and destroy any cells recognised as foreign
– Antibody-based immunity – another class of
lymphocytes called B cells destroy invading agents
while they are still in the bloodstream and before they
enter the body’s tissues
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The Immune Response
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Some Effects of Stress on the Immune System
• Infection and diseases
– Stress causes physiological changes that tend to weaken our
immune system. As a result, infections and illness occur more
frequently and recovery takes longer.
• Indirect effects
– Stress causes the release of ACTH from the pituitary gland
which signals the adrenal glands to release anti-inflammatory
hormones. These inhibit immune cell functioning.
• Psoriasis and eczema
– Symptoms of inflammatory skin disorders such as psoriasis and
eczema worsen with stress. Stress interferes with the immune
system's ability to deal with the inflammation associated with
these disorders.
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Short-term Stressors and the Immune System
• Well established that psychological stress can
adversely affect many aspects of immune
function
– e.g. examinations found to reduce T cell activity
(Glaser and Kiecolt-Glaser 2005)
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Chronic Stress and the Immune System
• Conflict in interpersonal relationships
– Couples whose interactions are negative and hostile show less
adaptive immunological responses after these interactions
– Interpersonal conflict can slow wound healing
• Death of a spouse:
– The death of a close relative is also associated with immune
system dysfunction
• Care giving
– Care giving, in particular caring for a spouse with dementia, is
associated with immune system dysfunction
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Age and Gender Differences in the
Effects of Stress on the Immune System
• A telephone survey (National Consumer
League, 2003) of over 1000 adult Americans
found that:
– Women were significantly more likely to report
problems and being stressed than men (84% vs.
76%)
– People under the age of 65 were more likely to report
being stressed than older people (82% vs. 70%)
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Check Your Understanding
Stress as a Bodily Response
1. What is a stressor?
2. What is a stress-response?
3. Who did the earliest systematic studies of the stressresponse?
4. Name the 3 stages in the General Adaptation
Syndrome.
5. Describe the ‘transactional’ model of stress.
6. Name the two parts of the adrenal glands.
7. Outline the two main pathways of the body’s stressresponse.
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Check Your Understanding
Stress as a Bodily Response
8. What does the body’s immune system do?
9. What is immunosuppression?
10. How did Kiecolt-Glaser and colleagues measure
activity of the immune system?
11. What general conclusions can be drawn from the work
of Kiecolt-Glaser and colleagues?
12. How did Cohen and colleagues measure the stress
levels of his participants and how did they test immune
function?
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Topic 2: Stress in Everyday Life
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Life changes and daily hassles
Workplace stress
Personality factors
Emotion-focused and problem-focused
approaches to coping with stress
• Psychological and physiological methods of
stress management
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Life Changes and Daily Hassles
• Life changes
– The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
– Other research into life changes as a source of stress
• Daily hassles
– Research on daily hassles
– Why are daily hassles so stressful?
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Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
• Developed by Holmes and Rahe (1967)
• Way of measuring the relationship between life
changes (e.g. death of spouse, marriage,
change in financial status) and wellbeing
• Positive (small but significant) correlation
between Life Change Scores and illness scores
• Other studies have supported this finding
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Other Research into Life Changes
as a Source of Stress
• Stone et al. (1987) - married couples completed daily
checklists of events over a 3 month period:
– The number of undesirable events that they experienced
increased 3 to 4 days prior to the onset of illness, and desirable
events decreased during the same period
• Michael and Ben-Zur (2007) studied 130 people:
– People who had been widowed experienced a drop in life
satisfaction after their loss
– Divorced people experienced an increase in life satisfaction after
their divorce
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Evaluation
The Life Changes Approach
• Individual differences
– The scale values for different events are arbitrary and will certainly vary
from person to person
• Causality
–
The relationship between SRRS score and health is correlational and
so tells us nothing about causality
• Positive life events
– Some life events are positive - people getting married probably see it as
a positive change
• Self-report
– Self-report of life events can be unreliable
• Dated and androcentric
– More recent studies use a scale that focuses more on contemporary
issues
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Daily Hassles
• Minor events that arise in the course of a normal day.
Adverse effects can be offset by corresponding daily
uplifts
• Hassles Scale and Uplift Scale were devised by Kanner
et al. (1981)
Examples of uplifts
•Relating well to spouse/partner/lover
•Relating well to friends
•Completing a task
•Feeling healthy
•Getting enough sleep
•Eating out
•Visiting, phoning or writing to
someone
Examples of hassles
•Concerns about weight
•Health of a family member
•Rising price of certain goods
•Home maintenance
•Too many things to do
•Misplacing or losing items
•Physical appearance
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Research on Daily Hassles
• Scores on the Hassles Scale correlate with levels of depression,
anxiety and health problems (Kanner et al. 1981)
• Gervais (2005) found that nurses, who were asked to keep diaries
for a month, felt that uplifts usually counteracted the negative effects
of their daily hassles, and also improved their performance and
lowered stress levels
• DeLongis et al. (1982) compared Hassles scores with Life Events,
and found that although both correlated significantly with health
status, the association for Hassles scores was greater. Ruffin (1993)
also found in an Australian study that daily hassles produced greater
psychological and physical dysfunction than major negative life
events
• A recent study of French first year psychology students (Bouteyre et
al. 2007) has established a significant relationship between daily
hassles and mental health of students during the initial transition
period to university
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Evaluation
Research into Daily Hassles
• Causality - Most of the data on daily hassles is correlational.
Therefore, we cannot draw causal conclusions about the relationship
between daily hassles and stress-related problems
– However, correlations indicate that daily stress can potentially have
adverse effects on our health and feelings of well-being
• Cultural differences – Social support is an important protective factor
against stress, and there are cultural variations in how it is used
– African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Hispanics were found to
use the social support offered by significant others (e.g. parents
and friends) more than did White Americans (Kim and McKenry
1998)
– However, Sim (2000) found that Korean early adolescents reported
having more daily hassles that contributed to maladjustment than
they had social support from significant others
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Workplace Stress
• Sources of stress in the workplace
• Research on workplace stress
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Sources of Stress in the Workplace
• Physical environment
– Space, temperature, lighting and arrangement of an office can all
affect the individual
• Work overload
– Long hours at work are often seen as a mark of esteem, to the
cost of both the individual and social structures, such as the
family
• Lack of control
– In many organisations, other people often determine workload
and work patterns
• Role ambiguity
– This occurs when the requirements for a particular work role are
unclear or poorly defined and is a major factor contributing to
work-related stress
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Research on Workplace Stress
• Many studies carried out. For example:
– Marmot et al. (1991) carried out a 3-year longitudinal
study of 3,000 Whitehall civil servants. People with
low job control were more likely to die of heart attacks
than those with high job control
– Review of research (Van der Doef and Maes 1998)
found that combination of high job demands and low
control increases risk of heart disease
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Evaluation
Research on Workplace Stressors
• Extraneous variables - It is possible that variables, such as
personality, were not controlled for. People with Type A personality
may be attracted to stressful jobs and this is what causes their
health problems.
• Job control - Having high levels of job control can be stressful for
some people, e.g. increasing job control can be harmful for
individuals who lack the capacity to handle it or when this control
increases their self-blame when things go wrong.
• Individual differences - Research has shown that as other cultures
take on the working practices of the West, a similar relationship
between lack of control and stress-related illness is becoming
evident. However, not all workers with low control and high demand
jobs become ill.
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Personality Factors and Stress:
Type A Behaviour
• Characteristics of Type A behaviour
• Recent research on Type A behaviour
• Explaining the relationship between Type A
behaviour and heart disease
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Characteristics of Type A Behaviour
• Time pressure
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Working against the clock
Doing several things at once
Irritation and impatience with others
Unhappy doing nothing
• Competitive
– Always play to win at games and work
– Achievement measured as material
productivity
• Anger
– Self-critical
– Hostile to outside world
– Anger often directed inwards
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Type B behaviour:
•Opposite of Type A
•More relaxed
•Not time pressured,
competitive or angry
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Research on Type A Behaviour
• Friedman and Rosenman (1974) – Type A behaviour
increases vulnerability to heart disease
• Williams et al. (2003) found that hostility and impatience
were the aspects of Type A behaviour that were
particularly unhealthy, putting individuals at increased
risk of developing high blood pressure (a precursor to
heart attacks and strokes)
• Kirkaldy et al. (2002) found that Type A behaviour plus
an external locus of control were an unhealthy
combination
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Explaining the Relationship Between
Type A Behaviour and Heart Disease
• Several explanations have been proposed for the link
between Type A behaviour (or components of it such as
hostility) and an increased risk of coronary heart disease
– Compared to Type Bs, Type A individuals respond more quickly
and more strongly to stressful situations, both in their behaviour
and in their physiological responses (e.g. increased heart rate
and blood pressure)
– As a result, they experience more wear and tear on their
cardiovascular system, making them more susceptible to heart
disease than those with type B behaviour
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Evaluation
Evaluation of Type A Behaviour
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Lack of consistent research support
The role of hostility
Type A and hardiness
Protective factors
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Personality Factors and Stress:
the Hardy Personality
• ‘Hardiness’ includes a range of personality factors that, if
present, defend against the negative effects of stress
(Kobasa and Maddi 1977)
• These factors are:
– Control: belief that you have influence on what happens to you
– Commitment: a sense of purpose and involvement in the world
– Challenge: life changes viewed as challenges and opportunities
rather than threats and stressors
• Research by Kobasa et al. (1985) found:
– Hardiness, social support and regular exercise were all
protective factors that acted additively to improve resistance to
stress
– Hardiness seemed to have greatest impact
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Evaluation
Hardiness and the Hardy Personality
• Participants
– Much of Kobasa’s work has been carried out with male, whitecollar workers, and so the findings may not be generalisable to
other groups
• Components of personality
– Control, commitment and challenge have never been very
clearly defined
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Emotion-focused and Problem-focused Coping
• Problem-focused coping
– Strategies that attempt to do something active to
alleviate or eliminate the stressful situation
• Emotion-focused coping
– Strategies that attempt to regulate the emotional
distress associated with stressful or potentially
stressful events
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When is each coping strategy used?
• Problem-focused coping
– Typically used to deal with potentially controllable events whereas
stressors perceived as less controllable might prompt more emotionfocused coping.
•
Emotion-focused coping
– Emotion-focused strategies also help people deal with stressful
situations where there are few options to change the situation itself.
• In conclusion
– The predominant view among stress researchers is that emotionfocused coping strategies are less effective than problem-focused
strategies.
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Research on Emotion and Problem-focused Coping
• Health outcomes
– Problem-focused coping positively correlated with
good health outcomes
– Emotion-focused coping tends to be negatively
correlated with overall good health outcomes
• Control and coping
– Problem-focused coping tends to be positively related
to good mood
• Threat and coping
– When greatly threatened by a stressor we may need
to use emotion-focused coping first
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Evaluation
Emotion and Problem-focused Coping
• Problems of measurement
– ‘Ways of Coping Questionnaire’ has been criticised
• Is emotion-focussed coping always ineffective?
– Emotion-focused coping better in some circumstances
– Men, in particular, may benefit from using emotion-focused
coping
• Do males and females use different strategies?
– Men tend to use problem-focused strategies and women tend
more often to use emotion-focused strategies. Reasons:
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Methods of Stress Management
• Physiological approaches
– The use of drugs and biofeedback to target directly
the stress-response systems themselves
• Psychological approaches
– Cognitive and behavioural training to help people
control specific stressors in their lives
– Techniques of relaxation and increasing hardiness
to reduce the bodily arousal associated with stress
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Physiological Methods of
Stress Management: Drugs
Commonly used drugs to
combat stress are the:
• Benzodiazepines (BZs)
– Reduce brain arousal
• Beta-blockers
– Reduce activity of
sympathetic nervous
system
How benzodiazepines enhance the
inhibitory role of GABA at the synapse
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Advantages of Drugs as a
Method of Stress Management
• Speed and effectiveness
– Drugs can work quickly to reduce dangerous symptoms such as
raised blood pressure (beta-blockers), or to reduce disabling
levels of stress-related anxiety (BZs)
• Research support
– A meta-analysis of studies found that BZs were more effective
than other drugs such as antidepressants. However, they do not
seem to prevent onset of PTSD
• Availability
– Drugs can be prescribed immediately. In addition, the range of
treatments available is increasing rapidly
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Weaknesses of Drugs as a
Method of Stress Management
• Dependency
– Long-term use of BZs can lead to psychological and physical
dependency
• Tolerance
– Tolerance to the effects of BZs develops with regular use
• Side effects
– BZs can cause drowsiness and affect memory
• NICE report (2006)
– The National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended that
beta-blockers should not be used to treat high blood pressure,
except in a few specific cases. Beta blockers are associated with
an increased risk of diabetes and stroke
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Physiological Methods of
Stress Management: Biofeedback
• Involves recording the activity of the physiological
systems of the body’s stress-response, such as blood
pressure or tension in the neck muscles Recording is
usually made via electrodes on the skin leading to a
monitor.
• People are encouraged to try various strategies to
reduce the physiological readings, e.g. muscle
relaxation or meditation, or even altering their posture.
• The aim is to find a strategy to reduce, for instance,
blood pressure consistently, and then to transfer the
strategy to the world outside the laboratory and to
practise it regularly.
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Evaluation
Biofeedback as a Method of
Stress Management
• Effectiveness
– Can be very successful for some individuals, especially children
• Role of relaxation
– Often found to be no more effective than muscle relaxation
procedures without biofeedback
• Expense
– Expensive in terms of equipment and time. If relaxation is the
important feature, then the cost of the equipment could be
avoided and training time would be much reduced
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Psychological Methods of Stress Management:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• According to the transactional model of stress, the
trigger in stressful situations is the perceived gap
between the demands being made on you and the
coping responses you have available.
• The Cognitive–Behavioural approaches to stress
management aim to encourage the client to perceive and
evaluate stressful situations accurately and to improve
coping skills and techniques by training and practice.
• Stress inoculation is a cognitive-behavioural method to
prepare individuals for future stressors and to promote
resilience (Meichenbaum and Cameron 1983).
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Stress-Inoculation Training
• Conceptualisation – The client is encouraged to relive stressful
situations and to analyse various features. What was actually
stressful about it? How did they attempt to cope? Why wasn’t it
successful? Eventually, clients reach a more realistic understanding
of the demands being made on them.
• Skills training and practice – Once the key elements of the
stressful situations have been identified, clients can be taught
specific and non-specific strategies for coping with them. Relaxation
techniques help them to cope with the initial arousing effects of
stress and training in particular skills then helps reduce the specific
demands.
• Real-life application – The final stage is for the client to go out into
the real world and to put the training to the test. Contact with the
therapist is maintained, and follow-up sessions and further training
are provided if necessary. The reinforcement of successful coping
then becomes self-sustaining.
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Evaluation
Stress Inoculation Training
• Targeting symptoms and causes
– Helpful at reducing gap between perceived demands and coping
resources
• Effectiveness
– A powerful tool. But, few controlled studies done to check
effectiveness
• Practicality
– Expensive in time, application and money
• Difficulties
– Changing cognitions and behaviours is difficult if they are based
on well established habits
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Psychological Methods of Stress Management:
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
• Effective relaxation: has to be learnt. It is an active
approach to reducing bodily arousal
• A standard procedure: train clients consciously to
clench and unclench muscles, to get them used to the
sensations of tension and relaxation
• Whole-body relaxation: begin with the muscles of the
toes, tensing and then relaxing them, and then working
up through the legs, body, arms, shoulders and head
(facial muscles)
• During relaxation: the stress response mechanisms are
inactive; the parasympathetic subdivision of the ANS is
activated
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Evaluation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation as a
Method of Stress Management
• Effectiveness – If practised regularly, relaxation techniques are
effective in reducing stress.
• Practicality – Techniques take time and space and full progressive
relaxation may be inconvenient/impossible. However, training also
involves cognitive strategies to help relaxation and relaxation of
some muscle groups is usually possible.
• Targeting symptoms – Long-lasting severe stressors need more
than non-specific relaxation; their source has to be identified and
targeted, usually via cognitive and behavioural strategies.
Relaxation can still remain as an important component of stress
management, but long-term adjustment requires more focused
intervention as well.
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Psychological Methods of Stress
Management: Hardiness Training
•
Kobasa proposed ways in which hardiness could be
increased. The procedure has three aspects, the first
two of which are quite similar to the first stage of stressinoculation training:
1. Focusing – Clients are trained and encouraged to spot signs
of stress. This allows them to identify sources of stress.
2. Reliving stressful encounters – Clients analyze recent
stressful situations and how they coped with them. This gives
them insight into their current coping strategies.
3. Self-improvement – Central to hardiness is the belief that you
can cope with life’s challenges. So an essential part of
hardiness training is to begin with challenges the client can
cope with before moving on to more complex problems.
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Evaluation
Hardiness Training
• Theoretical issues –The relative importance of the three factors –
control, commitment, challenge – is unclear, although there is
evidence for the role of control and commitment in reducing
responses to stressors. The importance of control in stress
management cannot be exaggerated, and the concept of hardiness
overlaps substantially with issues of personal control and may not
be very different from it.
• Generalisability – Kobasa’s studies usually involve white, middleclass businessmen, so the results cannot reliably be generalised to
women or to different classes and cultures.
• Effectiveness and practicality – There are few systematic studies
of the effectiveness of hardiness training. It is lengthy and requires
commitment and motivation. It also has the problem of trying to
modify basic aspects of personality and learnt habits of coping.
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Check Your Understanding
Stress in Everyday Life
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What is the name of the rating scale devised by Holmes and Rahe in 1967
to investigate life stress? How many life events were on this scale and
which was given the highest score of 100?
Outline two criticisms of the Holmes and Rahe’s scale and its use.
What term is used to describe incidents that we would not call major life
events, but which nevertheless can be a source of stress?
Outline the procedures and findings of one study of stress in the
workplace.
How did Johansson et al. (1978) measure levels of stress in their study of
Swedish sawmill workers?
Describe two or more sources of stress in the workplace.
Describe the main characteristics of the Type A behaviour pattern.
Which characteristic of the Type A pattern seems to be especially
important in increasing vulnerability to stress?
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Check Your Understanding
Stress in Everyday Life
9. Why might some people with Type A behaviour be less vulnerable to stressrelated illness than others who also have Type A behaviour?
10. Distinguish between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping.
11. Give two advantages and two disadvantages of each type of coping.
12. Describe the effects of two types of drug used to manage stress.
13. Outline one strength and one weakness of using drugs to manage stress.
14. Name and outline the three phases of stress-inoculation training.
15. Outline one strength and one weakness of the stress inoculation approach.
16. Name and outline one other psychological method of stress management
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