1. HEALTH & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Stress
HEALTH & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Causes of Stress
Measuring Stress
Stress Management
G543

2. What is stress? What causes stress?
Think of as many causes of stress as you can.
Ext: Are there different types of stress? What makes them different?

3. Clearly there are many types of stress and how we experience stress will vary from person to person.
It is, however, useful to have a general understanding of what we mean when we refer to ‘stress’, psychologically speaking
DEFINING STRESS

4. Stress is a state of physiological or psychological strain caused by unpleasant stimulus.
Stress can be defined as being; a pattern of negative physiological states and psychological responses occurring in situations where people perceive threats to their well being which they may be unable to meet.
Or a state of stress is defined as existing when there is an imbalance between perceived demands and perceived coping responses.
DEFINING STRESS

5. Psychological Response to Stress
Cognitive Responses:
Behavioural Responses:
How can it be measured?
Psychological Response to Stress

6. Physiological responses
The bodies stress response causes an increase in blood pressure, reduction in blood flow to the peripheral blood vessels (hand and feet) and an increase in adrenaline, noradrenalin and corticosteroids to be released into the blood stream. Over a long period of time this stress response causes the body’s immune systems to eventually break down.
How can it be measured?
Physiological responses

7. The Role of Control: Geer & Meisel
Workplace: Johansson
Hassles: Kanner
The Role of Control: Geer & Meisel
1. Causes of Stress

8. Workplace: Johansson
Hassles: Kanner
The Role of Control: Geer & Maisel

9. Background: Stress is a biological response to an external stimulus.
The biological response is the fight or flight mechanism where stress causes an increase in blood pressure, a reduction in blood flow to the extremities and an increase in adrenaline.
Background:

10. Workplace scenarios Activity
On your worksheet, highlight the sources of workplace stress in each scenario
Work in 2s or 3s
Workplace scenarios

11. Workplace stressors STRESS Sources of stress
What causes stress in the workplace?
Work overload
Decision-making
Work is too easy -
Job uncertainty -

12. Workplace stressors STRESS Sources of stress
What causes stress in the workplace?
Changes in your job or workplace that you find difficult to adapt to - you have been doing a job in a particular way for ten years and now your employer insists you change
The work environment is
Work is too easy - you feel that your skills are not being used and you feel increasing frustration as your skills are wasted

13. Workplace stressors STRESS Sources of stress
What causes stress in the workplace?
Shift work where your sleep patterns are affected may cause ill-health
If you do not feel in control of your work, feelings of helplessness may ensue
Responsibility may promote stress if you are the type of person who does not react well to stressful situations linked to responsibility

14. 2a. Summary Information: WORKPLACE Johansson, 1978
You have an overview in your textbook so annotate that or the slides as we go through them.
WORKPLACE STRESSORS: JOHANSSON
Aim
To measure the amount of stress experienced by sawmill workers and to look for a causal relationships on work satisfaction and production.
Background
Modern production methods require constant attention to detail on monotonous repetitive production lines which have increased efficiency by requiring workers to specialise in particular tasks. However, this has led to low self-esteem and a lack of work satisfaction in the workforce, increasing stress-related illness.
Sample
Swedish mill workers
14 high-risk workers, who cut, edged and graded wood – isolated and highly skilled
Control group of 10 repair and maintenance workers – more freedom to set the pace of their own work/socialise
The mean age of both groups was 38.4.
All were shift workers paid by piece rate based on group performance.
2a. Summary Information: WORKPLACE Johansson, 1978

15. WORKPLACE STRESSORS: JOHANSSON
Method
This was a quasi-experiment where the workers fell naturally into the two groups.
Procedure
Levels of stress-related hormones were measured using urine samples on work and rest days.
Self-report questionnaires were also given to assess mood, alertness and caffeine and nicotine consumption.
Body temperature was measured at the time of the urine sample.
Self-rating scales were given, rating words such as ‘well-being’, ‘sleepiness’ and ‘irritation’.
Records were kept of stress-related illnesses and absenteeism.
These were compared to a day spent at home where workers were asked to stay up as if they were at work.

16. Results
Excretion of adrenaline in the urine of the high-risk workers was twice as high as the baseline and continued to increase to the end of the day, while the control group peaked in the morning then declined for the rest of the day.
Self-reports showed the high-risk group feeling more rushed and irritated than the control group.
More positive mood was reported by those doing non-repetitive tasks.
Conclusions
A combination of work stressors such as machine pacing, repetitiveness and a high level of responsibility, lead to chronic physiological arousal, leading to stress-related illnesses and absenteeism.
Reducing work stressors can reduce illness and absenteeism.

17. Reliable?
Valid?
Self-report useful?
Sample limited?
YES NO

18. Situational vs dispositional
Usefulness
Psych as a Science

19. Based on what you have learnt today, how could we improve the experience of workers?
In pairs, come up with an idea or concept to improve the workplace.
Plenary task

21. Workplace
January 2010
Describe one piece of research which considers workplace stress. (10)
Discuss problems of conducting research into the causes of stress. (15)
June 2014
Outline how work can be a cause of stress. (10)
Evaluate the use of quantitative data when researching the causes of stress. (15)
Daily hassles
June 2011
Outline one piece of evidence which suggests that stress can be caused by hassles and or life events. (10)
Evaluate the reliability of methods of measuring stress. (15)
Role of CONTROL
Example
Outline one piece of evidence which suggests that stress can be caused by lack of control. (10)
Evaluate the use of qualitative data when researching the causes of stress. (15)

22. Workplace: Johansson
Hassles: Kanner
The Role of Control: Geer & Maisel

23. Daily hassles and uplifts
In pairs, discuss for a couple of minutes what you would include on a ‘hassles’ and ‘uplifts’ scale.
Let’s briefly clarify what we mean by this:
HASSLES: irritants—things that annoy or bother you; they can make you upset or angry.
UPLIFTS: events that make you feel good; they can make you joyful, glad, or satisfied.
Some hassles and uplifts occur on a fairly regular basis and others are relatively rare.

24. HASSLES
UPLIFTS

25. DAILY HASSLES: KANNER, 1981 Aim Background
To compare the Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scale versus the Major Life Events Scale to see if hassles were in fact the greater cause of stress.
Background
Kanner believed that it was not just the big events in life, but the many smaller daily events, in life, but the many smaller daily events, such as bad traffic, queuing, being left on hold on a phone that add up to make us stressed. He believed a person can withstand a major event once in a lifetime far more easily than constant smaller ones. He also believed that uplifts such as feeling joy or good news had to be part of the picture.

26. DAILY HASSLES: KANNER, 1981 Sample DAILY HASSLES KANNER, 1981
Opportunity
52 women and 48 men all white, who participated in a 12-month study of stress in Canada.
DAILY HASSLES KANNER, 1981

27. Method/
procedure
Each person took both the measures of stress above once a month for 9-months. They also completed the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (of stress symptoms) and the Bradburn Morale Scale of well-being towards the end of the study.
Asked to circle the events on both scales that they had experienced the previous month and rate each according to severity (for the hassles) and frequency (for the uplifts).
Each participant was tested once a month for ten consecutive months using the two stress measures together with another two psychometric tests for psychological well-being

28. 2b. Summary Information: DAILY HASSLES KANNER, 1981
Results
Top hassles:
Weight
Health
Money
Top uplifts:
Good relationships with partner and friends
Participants self-reported hassles were consistent from month to month.
For men, life events positively correlated with hassles and negatively with uplifts.
For women, life events positive correlated with hassles and uplifts.
Hassle frequency positively correlated with psychological symptoms on the HSCL.
Hassles proved a stronger predictor of stress than life events
Conclusions
Assessment of daily hassles and uplift may be a better approach to the prediction of stress and ill health than the life events approach.
Hassles contribute to psychological symptoms, whatever life events happen.
2b. Summary Information: DAILY HASSLES KANNER, 1981

29. Self-report?
Sample?
Longitudinal/snapshot
Ethics?
Ecologically valid?
Internally valid?
Reliable?

30. Determinism and freewill
Reductionism/holism
Psych as a science
Suggests that everyday hassles (possibly beyond our control) determine our stress levels.
Takes into account and investigates multiple factors affecting stress levels.
Self report not a reliable or scientific measure as may be subject to interpretation.

31. EXAM PRACTICE Read the ‘model’ answer and do the following
Give it a mark out of 10
Suggest and write up improvements
Describe one piece of research which considers workplace stress. (10)
EXAM PRACTICE

32. HOMEWORK
Outline one piece of evidence which suggests that stress can be caused by hassles and or life events. (10)
DUE NEXT LESSON

33. Workplace: Johansson
Hassles: Kanner
The Role of Control: Geer & Maisel

34. CONTROL: GEER & MAISEL, 1972 Aim Background Sample
Does lower stress result from being able to predict the occurrence of an unpleasant stimuli or is the lower stress related to the controlling behaviour itself?
Background
People prefer predictable rather than unpredictable averse events. By definition, people who control the termination of a stimulus can also predict its length. Therefore, people who can predict when an unpleasant event is going to stop should have a lower stress response to it.
Sample
60 psychology undergraduates from New York University.

35. Here ‘control’ means in control, not a comparison group.
CONTROL: GEER & MAISEL, 1972
Here ‘control’ means in control, not a comparison group.
Method
A laboratory experiment involving three groups and using an independent measure design.
Procedure
The ‘control’ group saw ten pictures of victims of violent death at 60-second intervals with a warning tone ten seconds before each one.
They could press a button to change the picture as they wished.
The ‘predictability’ and ‘no control’ group had no button and instead were ‘yoked’ to the control group.
The ‘predictability’ group were unable to terminate or control the presentation but they knew about the relationship of the warning tone to the picture so they know when it would come and how long it would last.
The ‘no control’ group had no control and no idea how long each picture would last. They thought pictures and tones occurred at random. Data was collected by heart rate monitors and galvanic skin response via a polygraph.
Joined to.

36. Results & Conclusions
GSR results showed a clear difference between the prediction group and the other two, with a much greater stress response to the warning tone. There was not difference in response to the photographs between the predictability and not control groups but the control group itself show a lower skin conductance.
Therefore, being able to predict what was coming did not seem to prevent the stress response, whereas being able to stop it did.
Having control over aversive stimuli reduces its stressful impact.
Heart rate monitors malfunctioned and were not included in the analysis.

37. Ethical?
Internally valid?
Reliable?
Sample limited?
Ecologically valid?
Useful?
Psychology as a Science?
Reductionist?

38. Complete the evaluation slide below or on the A3 handout
Homework
Complete the evaluation slide below or on the A3 handout
Complete an essay plan for the following essay:
DUE NEXT LESSON

40. Discuss problems of conducting research into the causes of stress. (15)
Introduction P1
P2 (counter-argument) P3
P4 (counter-argument) P5
P6 (counter-argument)
Conclusion
Can each explanation explain all disorders? To what EXTENT is each explanation useful and appropriate?