PSYC 1002 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Biopsychosocial Model, Health Psychology, Aids
2 May 2018
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PSYC 1002
Chapter 14: Stress, Coping and Health
• Biopsychosocial model: holds that physical illness is caused by a complex interaction of
biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors
• Health psychology: concerned with how psychosocial factors relate to the promotion
and maintenance of health and with the causation, prevention, and treatment of illness
The Nature of Stress:
• Stress: any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to theate oe’s ell-being
ad that thee ta oe’s opig ailities
• Stress is a common, everyday event, and even routine hassles can have harmful effects
on mental and physical health
Appraisal: Stress Lies in the Eye of the Beholder
• The experience of feeling stressed depends on what events one notices and how one
chooses to appraise or interpret them, events that are stressful for one person may be
routine for
• Ex. some people enjoy the excitement of going out on a date with someone new; others
find the uncertainty terrifying
• Primary appraisal: is an initial evaluation of whether an event is (1) irrelevant to you, (2)
relevant but not threatening, or (3) stressful
• When you view an event as stressful, you are likely to make a secondary appraisal: an
evaluation of your coping resources and options for dealing with the stress
• Your primary appraisal would determine whether you saw an upcoming psychology
exam as stressful, your secondary appraisal would determine how stressful the exam
appeared, in light of your assessment of your ability to deal with the event
How do people react to traumatic or negative events?
• Global meaning: (Initial Beliefs)
o Beliefs about the world: people are kind, events are not random, we get what
we deserve
o Purpose or meaning in life
• Event Appraisal: What do people do?
o Figure out if the event differs from their initial beliefs
o Appraise Event: Folkman and Lazarus Theory of Cognitive Appraisal
o Primary Appraisal: think about the impact or significance of event for your life
o Secondary Appraisal: What can you do to cope with the event (social support,
problem or emotion focused coping)
• Distess: if the eet diffes fo oe’s iitial eliefs of if ou appaise the eet as
threatening or harmful then distress will occur, the degree of distress will depend on
how different your initial beliefs are from the event
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• Search for Meaning: if someone experiences distress from their event they will be
motivated to search for meaning, finding purpose or meaning in the experience,
adjusting initial beliefs to incorporate event
• Growth: People report feeling that the event has changed life for the better
• Benefits to our Well-being
Major Types of Stress:
• Stressors: events that lead to stress and have several common attributes
• Attributes of Stressors:
o Extreme in some manner, in that stressors produce a state of feeling
overwhelmed
o Produce opposing tendencies in us, such as wanting and not wanting some
activity or object
o Perceive as uncontrollable
• Acute stressors: threating events that have a relatively short duration and a clear
endpoint, resulting from sudden onset of demands exceeding resources, may result in
headaches, emotional upset, GI disturbances (ex. Challenge of a major exam)
• Episodic acute stress: repeated occurrences of acute stress, may result in anxiety,
depression, stroke (ex. School deadlines)
• Tauati stess: assie istae of aute stess. Post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) may occur when someone witnesses or experiences life threatening events
• Chronic stressors: threatening events that have a relatively long duration and no
apparent time limit, continues for days, weeks or months until resistance gone, may
result in serious health concerns; cardiovascular disease, diabetes (ex. Hostile boss at
work)
Frustration:
• Frustration: occurs in any situation in which the pursuit of some goal is thwarted
• You epeiee fustatio he ou at soethig ad ou a’t hae it
• Everyone has to deal with frustration virtually every day, things like traffic jams, difficult
daily commutes, and annoying drivers are routine sources of frustration that can elicit
anger and aggression
Conflict:
• Conflict: occurs when two or more incompatible motivations or behavioural impulses
compete for expression
• Approach-approach conflict: a choice must be made between two attractive goals
(ex. should you play tennis or racquetball), tends to be the least stressful
• Avoidance-avoidance conflict: a choice must be made between two unattractive goals
(ex. Painful backache vs. surgery)
• Approach-avoidance conflict: a choice must be made about whether to pursue a single
goal that has both attractive and unattractive aspects (job promotion will pay increase,
ut ou’ll hae to oe to a it ou do’t at to lie i
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• Often produce vacillation, that is you go back and forth, beset by indecision
Change:
• Life hages: a otieale alteatios i oe’s liig circumstances that require
readjustment
• Changes in personal relationships, changes at work, changes in finances, and so forth
can be stressful even when the changes are welcomed
• Holmes and Rahe developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) to measure life
change as a form of stress
• The scale assigns numerical values to 43 major life events, these values are supposed to
reflect the magnitude of the readjustment required by each change, respondents are
asked to indicate how often they experienced any of these 43 events during a certain
time period (typically, the past year)
• The numbers associated with each event checked are then added, this total is an index
of the amount of change-related stress the person has recently experienced
Pressure:
• Pressure: involves expectations or demands that one behave in a certain way
• You are under pressure to perform he ou’e epeted to execute tasks and
responsibilities quickly, efficiently, and successfully
• Pressures to conform to othes’ epetatios ae also oo i ou lies
• People in the business world are expected to dress in certain ways
• Pressure from family relationships, peer relationships, and intimate relationships has
been found to be related to a variety of psychological symptoms and problems
• Pressure has turned out to be more strongly related to measures of mental health
than the SRRS and other established measures of stress are
Responding to Stress:
• Many emotions may be evoked by stress, but anger-rage, anxiety-fear, ad sadness-grief
are especially common
Emotional Responses:
• When people are under stress, they often react emotionally
• Common emotional response to stress include:
o Annoyance, anger, and rage
o Apprehension, anxiety, and fear
o Dejection, sadness, and grief
• Investigators have tended to focus heavily on the connection between stress and
negative emotions, research shows that positive emotions also occur during periods of
stress, in the face of disasters, people are still able to feel gratitude for their own safety
ad that of thei fail, ae ale to take stok of hat’s left ad out thei lessigs,
and develop renewed appreciation and love for their family and close friends
Effects of Emotional Arousal:
• Strong emotional arousal can also interfere with efforts to cope with stress
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