PSYC 3170 Lecture Notes - Cell-Mediated Immunity, Heart Rate Variability, Cortisol
23 Jan 2013
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Document Summary
Stress is a negative emotional experience accompanied by biochemical, physiological, cogni- tive, and behavioural changes. These changes occur either towards altering a stressful event or accommodating to it"s effects. A focus on stressful events cannot fully explain the experience of stress. How a potential stressor is perceived determines whether it will be experienced as stressful. One"s process of appraising events: harmful, threatening or challenging. Assessing potential responses responding to those events. Fight or flight: walter cannon; organism perceives threat -> body is rapidly aroused and motivated via the sns and es. Either attack the threat, or flee. fight: aggressive responses to stress flight: social withdrawal or withdrawal through substance abuse. this response is adaptive because it enables the organism to respond quickly to threat. But, it can be harmful because stress disrupts emotional and physiological functioning. Hans seyle; he exposed rats to stressors and observed their physiological responses.
