Psychological Aspects of Stress Cognitive Appraisal  Transactional Model Response Style Control

Discussion Activity Discussion Topics Design a research Violent neighborhoods and stress Design a research What would be your research question? What would be your method, participants, etc.

Psychological Aspects of Stress Two way street How does stress impact cognition? How does cognition impact stress? Emotion Theory: Cognitive Appraisal (Lazarus) Important part of stress response not just physiological Humans are not just passive responders to the environment

Appraisal Theory Leads to a NEW Model of stress Perception If a stimulus is not PERCEIVED as a stress response there is no physiological response Transactional Model of Stress Appraisal is necessary Stress involved a transaction between an individual and the world Primary appraisal: even is perceived as neutral, positive or negative Secondary appraisal: assessment of one’s coping abilities and resources Consider several coping strategies Cognitive appraisal determines physiological response

Speisman et al, 1964 Aim: To determine if you can manipulate an emotional response Method: Experiment Participants: college students IV: condition impacting emotional response DV: emotional response Heart rate, skin response (sweat) survey Conditions Trauma, denial, intellectualization

Results Implications Evaluation Denial and intellectualization experienced less stress Implications Stress was dependent on appraisal, not the content of the film (environment) Evaluation Laboratory setting, high control Clear cause-effect Artificial? Unethical? Deception Exposure to unpleasant situations

Attribution & Stress Theory: An individual’s attribution style impacts stress Why? Helps mediate stress Greer et al, 1979 Correlational, longitudinal study on breast cancer patients Denial & fighting spirit predicted longer survival rates Not hopelessness

Control Our reactions to stressful or unpleasant life events depends to a large extent on how much control we have (Perception of control) Examples: Do we think we can prevent events? Do we think we have the ability to change our lives?

What is control? Demonstrated ability to change or manipulate the environment Perceived ability to change or manipulate the environment Ability to predict, to understand, to accept

The Executive Monkey Brady, 1958

Social Aspects of Stress Various environment/social factors put individuals under greater stress, causing poor health and family problems Lack of education Low standard of housing Noise and crowding Homelessness Lack of social support Domestic violence Economic hardship

How can a job stress you out? Emotional Labor (Hochschild) De-individuation Organizational rituals (uniforms and routines) minimize stress Job Autonomy Increase in job autonomy  decrease in stress Marmot et al., 1997 British Civil Service correlational research Theorell et al., 1985 Positive correlation between high blood pressure and high-demand- low control jobs (waiters and cooks)

Hochschild, 1983 Theory Why does it cause stress? Emotional Labor: expected to enhance, suppress and even fake emotions to satisfy an employer Describes modern workplace Why does it cause stress? Emotional dissonance: feeling false and hypocritical Lack of emotional autonomy Exploitation Expected to conform to an emotional response that is not genuine

Evans & Kim, 2007 Aim: investigate the long term relationship between poverty and low socioeconomic status, risk factors and physiological stress Method: longitudinal, correlational Biological measurements Blood pressure Cortisol levels Heart’s reaction/recovery to stress Environment stress factors Substandard housing Family violence

Results Positive relationship between long-term exposure and physiological measures of stress Elevated cortisol Heart problems Implications Long term exposure to stress puts children at a disadvantage Developmentally and health Accumulation of risk factors in low socioeconomic Family violence, separation of families, chaotic households

Stress: Biopsychosocial Steptoe and Marmot, 2003 Method: survey and blood tests AIM: show the interaction between various factors in stress. Hypothesis: self-efficacy important psychological measure of stress Results High score on all seven stressors (job, environment, economic, control stress) showed severe biological response Heart problems Implications: Study stressors individually and together