Stress Reponse Model

Humans frequently turn on the stress response that was intended to assist our survival in reaction to the everyday challenges we face. Professor Michael Marmot conducted a study in England of 28,000 people’s health over a course of 40 years. Each person was a British

Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G., & Siegel, S. D. (2005). STRESS AND HEALTH: Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1,

This assignment will explore the concept of stress by firstly distinguishing between the definitions set out by Selye 919560 and Cox (1976). Following this assignment will critically evaluate the General Adaption Syndrome, SRRS and Daily Hassles explanations of stress and finally, conclude with a discussion on individual differences based on Friedman and Rosenman’s research.

Friedman & Rosenman discovered that Type A behaviour is distinctly linked to CHD after a nine-year studying of over 3,200 male participants, between the ages of 39-59. They established that Type A behaviour enhances the person’s experience of stress and increases biological reactivity that increases vulnerability to CHD. The elevated levels of stress hormones suggest Type As do experience more stress than Type Bs. The stress reaction constrains digestion that leads to elevated levels of cholesterol (Friedman,

One characteristic of a Type A personality type is hostility and feelings of anger and irritation. Hostility predisposes people to heart disease by causing people to be suspicious, mistrustful, cynical and pessimistic. Hostile people generally feel angry, annoyed, resentful, and contemptuous. Hostile people usually have a greater and more intense reactions to stressors. Their heart rates and blood pressures increase more than the heart rates and blood pressures of non-hostile people. Hostile people also tend to make their lives more stressful by their own volition, due to their pessimistic attitude toward life. They are more likely to view their stress as negative and face the cardiovascular consequences of having their blood vessels constantly constricted. This leads to health problems such as heart disease.

According to the article “The Power of Personality” it is abundantly clear that specific personality traits predict important life outcomes, such as mortality,

Another main determinant of health according to Wilkinson and Marmot (2003), is stress. It can be caused by many factors from studying, work and relationships. It is hypothesised to be a major influence in the social determinants of health. There has also been a relation between chronic stress and negative health outcomes (Marmot & Wilkinson, 2006).

The single trait approach is a way of analyzing personality by taking one trait a person exhibits and using that to predict many behaviors from it (Funder, 2016). For Charles Evans Whittaker, the most pronounced trait in his later years was his neuroticism, which ultimately led to his breakdown and retirement from the Supreme Court. Neuroticism is one of the Big Five Personality Traits and is marked by emotional instability and negative emotions (Funder, 2016). Neuroticism is also characterized by indecisiveness and stress, as well as negative reactions to stress (Funder, 2016). A study done by Schneider, Rench, Lyons, and Riffle, found that neuroticism indirectly made performance worse (Schneider, Rench, Lyons, & Riffle, 2011). They investigated several Big Five traits to see how they affected stress responses. What was found in this study concurs with the textbook that neuroticism has a high impact on stress, and in highly stressful situations neuroticism is linked to poorer outcomes (Schneider, et all 2011). IT was also found that people higher in neuroticism were more likely to have higher threat appraisals for stressful tasks (Schneider, et all 2011). This means that participants viewed what was expected of them was more demanding than the resources they had to cope with that demand (Schneider, et all 2011). One factor that can affect high or low neuroticism is the gene 5 HTT. If a person has the short allele for 5 HTT, which affects serotonin levels, and is presented with a stressful environment they are more likely to experience depression after a stressful event (Funder, 2016). The gene also regulates serotonin found in the amygdala. Although the single trait is being used here to discuss aspects of Whittaker’s personality, the behavioral genetics behind serotonin

Almost I in every 5 in America will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime; mental illnesses are described as a wide range of mental health conditions that can range from depression to panic disorders that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. One particular mental illness known as schizophrenia affects more than 3 million people in the United States every year. The effect of schizophrenia can have a devastating effect on the lives of those who suffer from it and experience a devastating array of symptoms that can range from delusions to hallucinations.

It is challenging for researchers to develop a medical framework that incorporates behavior as both a cause and a cure for certain health issues. Several empirical research studies have found a correlation between stress to endocrine and immunological dysfunction (see, Lovallo, 2015). Stress makes it harder, for some, to utilize resources or make appropriate decisions (Sarafino & Smith, 2011). It is therefore plausible that multiple daily stressors (such as racism, heterosexism, sexism, macroaggressions), adversely impacts a person’s short and long term physical well-being.

In my essay topic I will be discussing my view on (G.A.S) P.N.I. illness, stress and coping. The topics covered in my paper will be based off of my own personal experiences with correlation to Chapter 14 “Stress, coping and wellbeing” and their connection to my own personal experiences.

“This video is about Robert Sapolsky explaining the psychology of stress. Sapolsky talks about how homeostasis means being in a homeostatic balance, meaning that your body temperate is regulated ideally to how it should be comfortably or how your glucose levels in the blood stream are ideally regulated to how it should be. Sapolsky also talks about how we humans have to understand as well as to expand homeostasis/homeostatic balance to a whole new level critically than if we were just a lion and a zebra. This is because, Sapolsky talks about how sometimes we humans can turn on the stress response due to a change in the homeostatic balance or how we humans can turn on the stress response because we feel like we are about to be stressed. Sapolsky

The effects of stress and heart disease is explained in a study Chida and Steptoe (2009), in which investigators looked at populations of people in healthy known areas, and assessed in total twenty five different studies. Anger and hostility has a positive relationship with coronary heart disease and was greater in men compared to women. Their findings also showed that individuals who had cardiac arrest and were resuscitated, twenty five percent admitted to feeling extremely stressed with work and family instances just twenty four hours before they had cardiac arrest. Daily activities that provoked moderate, acute stress demonstrated lower levels of blood supply to the hearts muscle. Deanfield et al. (1984)

Personality is a large part of being human, as each person has a unique set of characteristics and traits. One person can be kind and patient and another can be rude and ill tempered. This variability is both what makes the study of personality fascinating and incredibly difficult. Although there are a myriad of different personality traits that can be used to describe a person, psychologists have narrowed it down to five overarching ideas. These are commonly referred to as the “Big Five” personality traits and they consist of, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness. In particular, this study will focus on neuroticism, the trait that is characterized by high emotionality and instability, anxiety, and irritability (Soto, John, Gosling, & Potter 2011). Of the five, neuroticism is the only one with a negative connotation, which separates it from the others. Nonetheless, despite its poor reputation, neuroticism is an incredibly important trait to study as it is often linked with anxiety and depression (Soto et al., 2011). For example, one study found that participants who were clinically depressed and those who were not but scored highly on the neuroticism scale both had significantly greater negative self-perceptions (Thomson, 2016). Although currently there is only a correlation between these mental disorders and neuroticism, further experimentation could lead to more conclusive result. Recently, mental health has

“Stress is a silent disease” (Doctor Hobel). Over the years, stress has played a major rule in a large majority of people’s lives throughout the United States. When thought about, it is said to be extremely surprising as to how many people really have stress in each individual’s life. People do not consider what the reasons are for the feelings and emotions they experience. There are all different types of stress, and stress can do a lot to a person. Each person also handles stress in a different way. Some can handle more than others, because every single person’s body works in a different way. Stress has also been told to cause people to act out of character (Dr. David Posen). They often do not act the way they usually would while under