AP Psychology 5.1-5.2: Health Psychology and Diagnosing Disorders

How do stimulus-based and response-based definitions of stress differ?

A stimulus-based definition treats stress as a demanding or threatening event, whereas a response-based definition treats it as the body's physiological reaction to such an event. Neither definition fully accounts for differences in how people interpret and respond to the same situation.

Stress as a process

Stress is a process in which a person perceives and responds to events appraised as threatening or overwhelming to well-being. The person's interpretation of the event helps determine the intensity of the stress response.

What is a stressor?

A stressor is an event or situation that may be perceived as threatening, challenging, or overwhelming and therefore capable of producing stress.

Why can the same event cause different levels of stress in different people?

People differ in how they appraise the event and in their perceived coping resources. For example, a well-prepared student may experience less stress during exams than an unprepared student.

What is primary appraisal?

Primary appraisal is a person's judgment about how much potential harm or threat a stressor poses to their well-being. An event may be appraised as a threat involving possible harm or loss, or as a challenge offering potential gain or growth.

What is secondary appraisal?

Secondary appraisal is an evaluation of the coping options available for managing a stressor and how effective those options are likely to be. A perceived threat is generally less stressful when a person believes effective action is possible.

How do primary and secondary appraisals combine to produce stress?

Stress is likely when an event is judged harmful or threatening and its demands are perceived to exceed the person's available coping resources. A less threatening appraisal or stronger perceived coping options can reduce the stress response.

How does self-efficacy influence stress appraisal?

Self-efficacy is the belief that one can successfully perform a task or manage a situation. Greater self-efficacy can make a stressor seem more manageable and therefore less catastrophic.

Eustress

Eustress is beneficial stress associated with positive feelings, motivation, effective performance, and optimal functioning. Moderate stress before an exam or athletic competition can increase focus and energy.

Distress

Distress is excessive, debilitating stress that occurs when stress exceeds an optimal level. It can impair performance, contribute to burnout and fatigue, and eventually damage health.

How does the relationship between stress and performance generally change as stress increases?

Performance and well-being typically improve as stress rises from low to moderate levels, reaching a peak at an optimal level. Beyond that point, additional stress causes performance and well-being to decline.

How can moderate stress be beneficial?

Moderate stress can motivate studying, medical checkups, exercise, and strong work performance. It may also improve immediate and delayed recall of recently learned information.

What are three broad categories of stress responses?

Stress responses may be physiological, such as increased heart rate or headaches; cognitive, such as poor concentration or decision-making; and behavioral, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, or attempting to remove the stressor.

Health psychology

Health psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioral factors influence health, illness, and people's responses to illness. It also examines unhealthy lifestyle choices and interventions designed to change them.

How can prolonged or severe stress affect physical and mental health?

Chronic or extreme stress can contribute to physical illnesses, including cardiovascular, immune, musculoskeletal, nervous-system, and metabolic problems. It is also associated with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

What did Walter Cannon contribute to stress research?

Walter Cannon identified and named the fight-or-flight response, the rapid physiological reaction to a perceived threat. He emphasized its role in helping the body maintain homeostasis during emergencies.

Fight-or-flight response

The fight-or-flight response is rapid arousal of the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system that prepares a person to confront or escape a perceived threat. Typical effects include pupil dilation, increased heart rate and breathing, sweating, and muscle tension.

Which hormones are released during the rapid fight-or-flight response, and what do they do?

The adrenal glands release epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones rapidly increase cardiovascular and respiratory activity and redirect the body toward immediate action.

How is the fight-or-flight response related to homeostasis?

Although it temporarily changes internal conditions, the fight-or-flight response is adaptive because it helps the body adjust to a threat and survive it. In this sense, it supports the restoration or preservation of a stable internal environment.

General adaptation syndrome (GAS)

The general adaptation syndrome is Hans Selye's model of the body's nonspecific physiological response to prolonged stress. It consists of alarm reaction, resistance, and exhaustion.

What happens during the alarm-reaction stage of the general adaptation syndrome?

The body immediately detects a threat and produces a cascade of physiological reactions that provide energy for responding. This stage is broadly comparable to Cannon's fight-or-flight response.

What happens during the resistance stage of the general adaptation syndrome?

If the stressor continues, the initial shock decreases as the body adapts. The body remains alert and prepared to respond, but the physiological reaction is generally less intense than during alarm.

What happens during the exhaustion stage of the general adaptation syndrome?

With prolonged exposure, the body's ability to resist the stressor becomes depleted. Physical damage, illness, disease, or even death may result if the stress continues.

How did Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome differ from appraisal-based theories of stress?

Selye's model focuses primarily on the body's physical response to stress and proposes a common pattern for different stressors. It gives much less attention to psychological interpretation, appraisal, and coping resources.

What physiological systems are chiefly involved in the body's stress response?

The sympathetic nervous system produces rapid arousal, while the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis produces a slower endocrine response. Together they help prepare the body for immediate action and sustained demands.

Describe the sequence of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during stress.

The hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor, which stimulates the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH then stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol into the bloodstream.

What is cortisol's short-term role in the stress response?

Cortisol helps mobilize energy and can temporarily improve certain aspects of immune functioning while reducing pain sensitivity. It supports the body's ability to respond to an immediate stressor.

Why can chronically elevated cortisol be harmful?

Sustained high cortisol can weaken immune functioning and contribute to illness. Unlike a brief stress response, prolonged cortisol exposure places a continuing physiological burden on the body.

How do the sympathetic nervous system and HPA axis differ in timing?

The sympathetic nervous system produces a rapid response through adrenaline-related arousal. The HPA axis acts more slowly but can sustain hormonal effects through cortisol.

What physical changes did Selye observe in rats exposed to prolonged stressors?

The rats developed enlarged adrenal glands, shrinking of the thymus and lymph nodes, and stomach ulcers. These effects occurred across different stressors, supporting Selye's idea of a nonspecific stress response.

What does nonspecific mean in Selye's model of stress?

Nonspecific means that the body follows a broadly similar physiological pattern regardless of the particular stressor. The stress response is therefore not uniquely tailored to each type of threat.

What is the difference between an acute stressor and a chronic stressor?

An acute stressor is a brief, focused event, such as a serious injury from a fall. A chronic stressor persists for an extended period, such as long-term unemployment, imprisonment, or caring for a family member with dementia.

Traumatic event as a stressor

A traumatic event exposes a person to actual or threatened death or serious injury. Examples include combat, assault, terrorism, natural disasters, and motor-vehicle accidents.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as described in relation to stressors?

PTSD is a chronic stress reaction that may follow exposure to an extreme traumatic event. Symptoms can include intrusive memories, avoidance of reminders, jumpiness, persistent negative emotions, detachment, and angry outbursts.

Why can an acute stressor remain psychologically stressful after the event ends?

Although the event itself is brief, its memories, consequences, injuries, or perceived threat may continue to overwhelm the person. Thus, the duration of the stress experience need not match the duration of the original event.

What kinds of experiences can serve as potential stressors?

Potential stressors include traumatic events, major life changes, daily hassles, and recurring exposure to threat, challenge, or danger. Their effects depend partly on how the individual appraises them.

How can a major life transition be appraised in two different ways?

The same transition can be seen as a threat involving loss, uncertainty, or excessive demands, or as a challenge offering independence, skills, and personal growth. These appraisals influence the resulting stress level.

Why can major life changes act as stressors even when they are positive?

Major life changes require a person to adjust to new circumstances and demands. Even desirable events, such as marriage, promotion, or graduation, can produce stress because they disrupt established routines and require readjustment.

What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale is a measure that assigns life-change units to major life events according to the amount of adjustment they typically require. Higher cumulative scores indicate greater risk of stress-related illness, although the scale does not account fully for individual appraisal or coping.

What is job strain?

Job strain refers to stress arising when occupational demands are high while the worker's control, resources, or ability to cope are limited. This combination can make work demands feel overwhelming.

What is job burnout?

Job burnout is a state of exhaustion and reduced functioning associated with prolonged, excessive work-related stress. It reflects the harmful effects of stress that remains above a person's manageable level.

Why can stress be described as 'in the eye of the beholder'?

The same objective event may produce different reactions because people assign it different meanings and evaluate their coping resources differently. Stress depends not only on what happens but also on how it is interpreted and managed.