Stress Unit

1. Stress and Illness

2. Susceptibility to Stress
• Total points – 21 = score
>32 “susceptible to stress”
52-77 “serious susceptibility to stress”
>77 “extreme susceptibility to stress”

3. Stress and Stressors
• Stress: the process by which we perceive
and respond to certain events, called
stressors, that we appraise as threatening or
challenging.
– Stress is cumulative
– Stress is inherently personal

4. Stress and Stressors
• Biopsychosocial
Model: holds that
physical illness is
caused by a complex
interaction of
biological,
psychological, and
sociocultural factors.

5. Stress Appraisal

6. Major Types of Stress
1. Frustration
– The pursuit of some goal is frustrated.
– Most are brief and insignificant.
– Two types of frustrations: loss and failure.

7. 2. Conflict
– Two or more incompatible motivations or
behavioral impulses compete for expression.
• Approach-Approach Conflict: two goods
• Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict: two bads
• Approach-Avoidance Conflict: one goal that has
both good and bad.

8. 3. Change
– Noticeable alterations in one’s living situation
that require readjustment
4. Pressure
– Expectations or demands that one behave in a
certain way.

9. Responding to Stress
• Emotional Responses
– Primary: annoyance, anger, anxiety, fear,
dejection, and grief
– Secondary: guilt, shame, envy, jealousy, and
disgust

10. Responding to Stress
Yerkes-Dodson Law of Optimum Arousal

11. Responding to Stress
• Physical Responses
– Epinephrine,
norepinephrine, and
cortisol are the main
stress hormones.

12. Responding to Stress
• Physical Responses
– General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
• Hans Seyle

13. Responding to Stress
• Stress and Coronary disease
– Stress is a contributing factor to one of the four
major causes of death
• Other 3: stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease

14. Responding to Stress
• Type A Personality • Type B Personality
– Easygoing, relaxed
– Competitive, hard-
people.
driving, impatient,
verbally aggressive,
and anger-prone people

15. First identified by San Francisco cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, Type A
behavior has two main components. Friedman states, “First, there is the tendency to try to
accomplish too many things in too little time. Second, there is free-floating hostility. These
people are irritated by trivial things; they exhibit signs of struggle against time and other
people.”
A key difference between Types A and B is that the former seem to react to several types of
stress with larger increases in pulse rate and blood pressure. In one study, which included both
personality types, subjects were forewarned that they would receive electric shock for errors on
a difficult task: recalling long strings of numbers read aloud only once. Under this stressful
condition, Type A individuals showed a significantly higher increase in pulse rate and blood
pressure than did Type Bs.
There are also contrasting patterns in social behavior. Type As tend to be more impatient with
others and become angry when other people hold them back in any way. In general, Type As
report feeling less comfortable around others than do Type Bs. They prefer to work alone
rather than as a team, and they seem to resent being told what to do. Types As are more ready
to do the opposite of what is demanded of them.
What about Type A and work performance? Type As seem to work faster even when no
pressure or deadline is involved. They complain less about hard work and report being less
tired when it is finished. However, Type As do more poorly on tasks requiring patience or
careful, considered judgment. Interestingly, surveys indicate that most members of top
management are Type Bs, not Type As. Perhaps As don’t survive to make it! More likely,
however, the impatient, hurried style of Type A is not compatible with the skills needed of top-
level executives. In summary, Type As do better on tasks involving time pressure or solitary
work. Type Bs may do better on tasks requiring complex judgment, accuracy rather than speed,
and working as part of a team.