PSYC 1115 Lecture Notes - Autonomic Nervous System, Cortisol, Antibody
Document Summary
The sympathetic system is arousing, and is activated in the fight-or-flight stress response. Example study: track people living with various stress levels. They gave a cold virus in their noses and tracked who got sick. Biggest likelihood of getting sick were found in people with chronic interpersonal conflicts, chronic work problems such as unemployment or under employment. Unaffected by age, education, race, antibodies, gender, body mass, season, virus type (all controlled) Small effects of smokers, those who exercised less than twice a week, and poor sleep quality. Risky family as chronic stressor such as conflict, chaos, low warmth, inadequate parenting. Studied women in these environments + those in average environments. Tracked the for 1. 5years, their immune response and stressors. Inflammation response (a signal that immune system is kicking in) Cortisol response comes in and tells the inflammation to calm down, tones it down. Those from risky environments had stronger inflammation responses to short-term, everyday stressors.
