Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
An Introduction to Stress
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
STRESS AND STRESSORS
Stress
• Response to perceived threats or challenges
resulting from stimuli or events that cause strain
• Process in which we appraise and cope with
environmental threats and challenges
Stressors
• Stimuli that cause physiological, psychological, and
emotional reactions at any time
An Introduction to Stress
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
• Holmes and Rahe
• Life-changing events are potentially stressors
• Any event that required a life-adjustment can
cause a stress.
• Life-changing events can have cumulative effect.
• Some links found between certain life events
and illnesses.
• Divorce 100; Death of spouse 73; separation 65
SRRS
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Death of Spouse 100
Divorce 73
Marital separation 65
Jail term 63
Death of close family
member 63
Personal injury or illness 53
Marriage 50
Fired at work 47
Marital reconciliation 45
Retirement 45
Change in health of family
member 44
Pregnancy 40
Sex difficulties 39
Gain of new family member
39
Business readjustment 39
Change in financial state 38
Holidays 12
Vacation 11
An Introduction to
Stress
MAJOR LIFE EVENTS
College Undergraduate
Stress Scale
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
•
Sample Items from the College
Undergraduate Stress Scale
Rating scale adapted to
match life events of
college students
• DeLongis found
significant link
between hassles and
health problems.
• Recent research
reported link
between daily
stressors and health
problems and
increased risk of
catching contagious
disease.
Daily hassle
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•
Minor problems or irritants dealt with on regular basis
Uplifts
•
Experiences with potential to make an individual happy
The Hassles and Uplifts Scale Used to explore
relationship between stress and illness
An Introduction to Stress
CHRONIC STRESS
Chronic stress
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• Long-term or continuous state of nervous arousal where
an individual perceives that demands are greater than
the ability to meet them
An Introduction to Stress
POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
Posttraumatic stress disorder
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•
Psychological disorder characterized by exposure to or
threatened by an event involving death, serious injury,
or sexual violence; can include disturbing memories,
nightmares, flashbacks, and other distressing
symptoms
Stress and Your Body
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Physiological responses prepare us for an
emergency by efficiently managing the body’s
resources.
• When faced with a threatening situation, portions of the brain,
including the hypothalamus, activate the sympathetic nervous
system 
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• Leads to the secretion of cortisols (stress hormones such as
Glucocorticoids), epinephrine and norepinephrine 
• Cause heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and blood flow
to the muscles to increase.
• Meanwhile, digestion slows and the pupils dilate.
PhotoObjects.net/Thinkstock
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
THE SYMPATHETIC
AND
PARASYMPATHETIC
NERVOUS SYSTEM
Stress’s impact on your body
Heart and Cardiovascular
System
• Epinephrine
• Norepinephrine
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• Glucocorticoids
Increased levels, when not
used, accelerate buildup of
plaque on artery walls 
CVD
Digestive System
Starting and stopping of
parasympathetic nervous
system can lead to digestive
illnesses such as:
Ulcers
Stress’s impact on your body
Immune System
When sympathetic n.s. is
activated, lymphocyte
production is suppressed.
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Can lead to increases in:
Nervous System
Increased levels of stress
hormones (cortisols)
correlated with
Anxiety
• Bacterial infections
Depression
• Viral infections
Neuron death
• Cancer?
• PTSD study
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Stress and Your
Body
Stress and Your Health:
Too Much Cortisol
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Cortisol and kids
• Negative effects of stress
are apparent early in life.
• Consequences of
increased cortisol levels
during pregnancy
contribute to host of
health problems.
• Conflicts at home are
linked to increased
cortisol level in
preschoolers.
Cortisol on the job
• Functioning of working
memory decreases for
some in highly stressful
situations.
Colin Anderson / age fotostock
SHORT-TERM RESPONSES
TO STRESS
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Alan Bailey/Shutterstock, Thinkstock
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GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME
In the alarm stage, short-term responses are activated, giving us energy to
combat a threat. In the resistance stage, resources remain mobilized, and we
continue to cope with the stressor.
But eventually we enter the exhaustion stage when we become weak and
susceptible to illness, and are less able to cope with the stressor. (Selye, 1956)
The General Adaptation Syndrome
Hans Selye
A predictable sequence of
reactions that organisms show in
response to stressors
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It consists of three stages. Not
everyone goes through all 3
stages.
The General Adaptation Syndrome
Alarm stage
Initial reaction to stressor  sympathetic nervous
system response
Resistance stage
Intense physiological efforts made to resist or adapt
to stressor
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Exhaustion stage
Occurs if organism fails to resist or adapt to stressor
Stores of energy are depleted, resulting in
exhaustion and eventually death
Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory of
Stress
Proposed that stress results from a person’s
perception of stressors, and not from the
stressors themselves
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Involves primary and secondary appraisals of
the situation
Lazarus’s Cognitive Theory of Stress
Primary appraisal
Cognitive evaluation of a potentially stressful situation
to determine if its effect is positive, negative, or
irrelevant
Secondary appraisal
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Cognitive evaluation of available resources and options
for dealing with a stressful situation
Level of perceived stress is largely based on whether
one’s resources are perceived as adequate for dealing
with the stressor
Lazarus Psychological Model of Stress
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Lazarus emphasized the importance of a person’s perceptions and appraisal of stressors.
The stress response depends on the outcome of the primary and secondary appraisals,
whether the person’s coping resources are adequate to cope with the threat, and how
severely the resources are taxed in the process.
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
Factors Related to Stress
COPING WITH STRESS
Appraisal and coping
Coping
•
Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional abilities used to effectively
manage something that is perceived as difficult or challenging\
Problem-focused coping
•
Coping strategy in which a person deals directly with a problem by
attempting to solve and address it head-on
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Emotion-focused coping
•
Coping strategy in which a person addresses the emotions that
surround a problem, as opposed to trying to solve it
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Factors Related to Stress
COPING WITH STRESS
Personality appears to have a profound effect on
coping style and predispositions to stress-related
illness.
Type A personality: Competitive, aggressive, impatient, and
often hostile pattern of behaviors
Type B personality: Relaxed, patient, and nonaggressive
pattern of behaviors
Type D personality: Characterized by emotions like worry,
tension, bad moods, and social inhibition; tend to avoid
dealing with their problems directly and don’t take
advantage of social support
Factors Related to Stress
COPING WITH STRESS
Sense of personal control is related to a variety
of health issues across the life span.
• Less control felt, the greater the risk for disease
Courtesy Dr. Julie Gralow
• Choices increase perceived sense of control.
• Sense of powerlessness is associated with increases in
hormones involved with stress response.
• Perceived sense of control can be internal or external.
Predictability and control
Feel less stress when a stressor is predictable than
when it is unpredictable and when they have a sense
of control over a situation
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Rat study
Check It Out!
Take a minute to answer
the questions found on
page 533.
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Were you surprised or
relieved to discover how
stressed you are?
Psychologist Sheldon Cohen and
colleagues (1983) developed the
Perceived Stress Scale to
measure the degree to which we
appraise situations as stressful.
By comparing your score against
others tested in your age group,
you are able to assess the
amount of perceived stress in
your life.
Simply knowing you find your life
uncontrollable or overloaded can
be a trigger to seek help
implementing positive lifestyle
change.