Psychology 2036A/B Lecture 2: Stress and Coping

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2036A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazelwood

Document Summary

Fight-or-flight response - autonomic reaction when faced with a perceived threat. The physiology of stress: the physical response to stress. Is highly complex: begins when an individual perceives a real or actual threat. Involves two major components: nervous system, endocrine system. Nervous system: central nervous system (cns, brain + spinal cord, peripheral nervous system (pns, somatic, automatic, sympathetic - fight or flight response, parasympathetic - re-establishes homeostasis in the system. Limbic system: adds emotions such as aggression, anger, fear, anxiety, sexual arousal, and pain: reticular formation: communication network, filters messages between the brain and the body. Endocrine system: responds to stress more slowly than the nervous system but can persist for weeks, pituitary gland, adrenal cortex, thyroid gland, pancreas. Pituitary gland - located in the brain and known as "master gland" because it controls other glands: most of the hormones secreted by the pituitary gland have an indirect impact on stress.