PSY 1102 Midterm: PSY1102 Midterm 2 notes

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1102
• Professor: Ersin Asliturk

Document Summary

Stress: the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging. Stressors fall into 3 types: catastrophes, unpredictable large-scale events like war, earthquakes and famines, significant life changes. Life transitions like marriage can also be stressful: studies show that people recently widowed fired or divorced are more vulnerable to diseases, daily hassles, rush hours, housemates, arguments, these stressors take a toll in our cardiovascular system. Walter cannon (1929) confirmed that stress response is part of a unified mind-body system. Hans selye extended walter"s studies by studying animals reaction to shock therapy and surgery. He discovered a response called the general adaptation syndrome (gas) and was composed of 3 phases. Phase 1 - you have an alarm reaction as your sympathetic nervous system is activated. Your heart rate increases and your blood is diverted to your skeletal muscles. Phase 2 - you are ready to fight back.