Biological psychology: Stress, examines stress as a bodily response and stress in everyday life such as life changes and daily hassles. Based on the Third Edition for Psychology AS 'The Complete Companion Student Book' by Mike Cardwell and Cara Flanagan for AQA 'A'

1. Stress
AQA
Jasmine and Ben

2. Sympathomedullary pathway: HANSAM
SNS
•Arouses flight or flight, neurones from SNS travel to every organ and gland.
Prepares the body for rapid action (increasing heart rate, blood pressure,
pupil size, mobilisation of fat + glycogen in the blood stream.)
•Noradrenaline is released by the SNS to activate the organs.
SAM
SYSTEM
•At the same time as the SNS the SAM system alerts the animal through the
use of adrenaline. Which is transported in the blood stream for rapid flight
or fight.
•SAM system regulates the SNS and the Adrenal Medulla.
ADRENAL
MEDULLA
•The Adrenal Medulla has 2 distinct zones – Medulla (middle) and Cortex
(the outside ring.)
•Neurones from the SNS travel to the Adrenal Medulla which when
activated releases adrenaline having widespread effects on the body.
•It boosts O2 and Glucose supply to the brain and muscles and also
supresses non-emergency bodily processes such as digestion.
“REST AND
DIGEST
SYSTEM”
• Relaxes the
body. Once the
stressor has
passed the
para-
sympathetic
branch slows
heartbeat,
reduces blood
pressure and
digestion begins
again.

3. Pituitary-adrenal system: HPACP
HYPOTHALAMUS
•Perception of the stressor by higher brain centres.
•The hypothalamus is the control system for most of the body’s hormonal processes.
•Activation of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) leads to production of cortico-releasing factor (CRF) which is released into the blood stream.
PITUITARY
GLAND
•When the CRF reaches the pituitary gland it causes the release of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH).
•ACTH is transported in the blood stream to target the adrenal glands which are located on top of the kidneys.
ADRENAL
CORTEX
•ACTH triggers the release of cortisol by the cortex which is responsible for many stress effects:
GOOD – lower sensitivity to pain, quick bursts of energy
BAD – lowered immune response, impaired cognitive performance, higher blood pressure
•(Prolonged release of ACTH causes the Adrenal Cortex to grow in size in order to cope with the increased cortisol production.
•ACTH deficiency causes it to shrink.)
↓FEEDBACK↓
It takes 20 minutes for the process to be complete – cortisol level rise sharply after 20 minutes.
The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland have special receptors which monitor cortisol levels,
if they rise above normal they initiate the reduction of CRF and subsequently ACTH.

4. Stress-related illness: The Immune System
• Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984) – short term stressors – exam stress
→ Natural experiment investigating whether short term exam stress affects the
immune system functioning in medical students
→ Blood samples taken one month before and during the exam period. Immune
system assessed by NK cell activity in the blood samples. PPs also completed a
questionnaire to measure other life stressors.
→ NK cell activity was significantly reduced in the second blood sample. This shows
that short term stressors reduce immune system functioning, increasing
susceptibility to illness
→ Also found that those student who also reported high levels of loneliness had the
lowest NK cell activity.
• Marucha et al. (1998) – wound healing
→ Inflicted a ‘punch biopsy’ in the mouth of students either during the summer
holidays or three days before an exam
→ The wounds given before the exam took 40% longer to heal than the wounds
during the holidays.

5. cont.
• On-going stressors: Relationship stress
• Kiecolt-Glaser (2005)
→ Tested impact of interpersonal conflict on wound healing.
→ Found that blister wounds on the arms of married couples healed
more slowly after they had discussions which were conflicting
rather than supportive
• Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1987)
→ Compared women separated from their partners with matched
married controls.
→ Found poorer immune system functioning in women who
separated during the last year.
• Malarkey et al. (1994)
→ Studied 90 newly-wed couples over a 24-hour period in a
laboratory.
→ They were asked to discuss and resolve marital issues likely to
produce conflict (e.g. finances).
→ Marital conflict produced significant changes in adrenaline and
noradrenaline, which could lead to poorer immune functioning.
→ The researchers believe that mental conflict would be more
negative and last longer at home, therefore these adverse effects
would be even greater.
RESEARCH SUPPORT
• Segerstrom and Miller 2004
• Meta-analysis of 239 studies
• Past 30 years
• Short term, acute stressors
boost immune system,
prompting it to ready itself for
infections
• Long-term, chronic stressors
lead to immunosuppression
• The longer the stress the more
the immune system shifted
from potentially adaptive
changes to potentially
detrimental changes

6. Cardiovascular Psychiatric
Chronic stress may cause
• Hypertension
• CHD
• Stroke
Williams et al – acute stress
• Looked at anger + heart disease
• 13,000 completed question based anger scale
• No pps suffered from CHD at start – 6 years later
256 had experienced heart attacks
• Higher on scale 2.5x likely to have a heart attack
Russek 1962 – work stress – chronic
• Heart disease in medical professionals
• High stress (GPs) = 11.9% heart disease
• Low stress (Dermatologists) = 3.2% heart disease
Stress and depression
Brown + Harris
• Women w/ chronic stress conditions (such as 3 or
more children under 14)
• More likely to experience depression
Melchoir et al
• 1 year survey in New Zealand with 1000 people
• 15% in high stress jobs suffered from first clinical
depression episode the same year
Stress and other disorders
Rohlf + Bennet
• 1/10 (10%) of workers who euthanized animals
had PTSD symptoms
Cardiovascular Psychiatric
Sheps at al
Effects on existing conditions
• Volunteers with reduced blood flow to heart
• 173 men + women
• Psych tests such and public speaking
• 50% had erratic palpitations in left ventricle
• 44% died within 3 or 4 years
Stress doesn’t cause symptoms but worsens or triggers
them – Brown + Harris
• Not just stress but also absence of close confiding
relationship
• Makes them more vulnerable to stressors which can
subsequently result in depression

7. Life changes (LCU)
• Holmes and Rahe – SRRS
• SRRS contained 43 life events
• 2,500-2,700 navy sailors
• Questionnaire before duty based
on the last 6 months
• Positive correlation of + 0.118
between LCU score and illness
score
• Low LCU scores – low illness
• Michael and Ben-Zur 2007
• 130 men and women
• Half-divorced
• Half-widowed
• Level of life satisfaction
• WIDOWED – high before, low after
• DIVORCED – low before, high after
Life changes and daily hassles:
Lazarus 1990: Major life events relatively rare, minor daily
stressors contribute more to stress
DeLongis et al:
• 75 married couples
• Life events questionnaire (q) , daily hassles q and
uplifts scale
• No relationship between life events and illness
• Significant positive correlation of +0.59 between
hassles and next day health problems
Individual differences:
Life events will have different effects on different people

8. Research on Daily Hassles
• Bouteyre et al. (daily hassles)
• Relationship between daily hassles and
mental health of students at initial transition
from school to uni
• First year psychology students, French uni
• Completed hassles part of ‘Hassles and
Uplifts Scale’ (HSUP) and Beck Depression
Industry
• 41% suffered from depressive symptoms,
positive correlation between scores on
hassle scale and incidence of depressive
symptoms
• Gervais (daily uplifts)
• Asked nurses to keep diaries for a month
recording all hassles and uplifts at work.
• Also asked to rate their performance over
the same period.
• At the end of the month daily hassles found
to increase job strain, decrease job
performance
• Daily uplifts improved performance on job
as well as counter-acting negative effects
and overcoming stress associated with daily
hassles.
DAILY HASSLES VS LIFE CHANGES
• Daily hassles same as/more significant than life changes.
• Ruffin – Australian study – daily hassles linked to greater
psychological and physical dysfunction than major negative
life events.
• Flett – 320 students, 50/50 men/women – had to read a
scenario describing an individual who had experienced
either a major life event or daily hassle. They then rated the
amount of support that that person would receive or seek
from others. Findings – greater negative influence of daily
hassles is down to reduced social and emotional support
from others.
• The accumulation effect – Minor daily stressors add up, and
create persistent irritation, frustrations and overloads which
then result in more serious stress reaction such as anxiety
and depression .
• The amplification effect – A person already in distress,
maybe due to major life event, the presence of minor
stressors may amplify the experience of stress.
• Retrospective recall – pps are usually asked to rate hassles
experienced over the last month, some researchers over
come this with the diary method.

9. Workplace stress
Workload and control:
• Marmot et al.
• Investigated job strain model, proposes that workplace creates stress and illness in two ways
1. High work load (creating greater job demands)
2. Low job control (e.g. over deadlines, procedures etc.)
• Total of 7372 civil servants, London, agreed to answer a questionnaire on workload, job
control and amount of social support, checked for signs of cardiovascular disease
• 5 years later – participants reassessed
• Found no link between high workload and stress-related illness
• 5 years later – men and women who had initially reported low levels of job control were
more likely to develop heart disease
• Johansson et al.
• Effects of performing repetitive jobs that require continuous attention
• The sawyers in a Swedish sawmill have a stressful job (repetitive, unrelenting pace, sense of
responsibility for whole company)
• Low risk group (maintenance workers who have less monotonous jobs and more flexibility)
• High risk group were found to have higher illness rates and also higher levels of adrenaline in
their urine than a low risk group, high risk group also had higher levels of stress hormones on
work days than on rest days.
Cont.

10. Evaluation
• Kivimäki et al.
• Meta-analysis 14 studies
• Looking at relative risk of CHD in association with work stress
• 83,000 employees across Europe, USA and Japan
• Found that employees with high level job strain 50% more likely to have CHD.
• Shultz et al. (work underload)
• 16,000 adult employees across 15 European countries
• Employees with work overload had highest levels of stress related illness but
also those who reported work underload also recorded low job satisfaction
and significant levels of absence due to stress related illness.
• PROBLEMS WITH THE STUDY OF WORKPLACE STRESS
• Lazarus suggests that high job demands and role ambiguity may be perceived
as stressful to one person but not so much to another particularly those with
high hardiness.
Cont.

11. Personality factors and stress Type A:
• Competitiveness and achievement
striving
• Impatience and time urgency
• Hostility and aggressiveness
Type B:
• Being patient
• Relaxed and easy going
Research on type A behaviour:
• Friedman and Rosenman – 3,000 men aged 39-59, California
• Examined for signs of CHD
• Personalities assessed by interview
• Provocative manner to try and elicit Type A behaviour
• Findings:
• After 8 ½ years twice as many Type A pps had had died of cardiovascular disease
• Heart attack: 12.8% (type a) and 6% (type b)
Evaluation:
• Ragland and Brand – follow up study of F + R – 22 years after the study
• 214 men had died of CHD – little evidence of relationship between Type A behaviours
and mortality.
• Myrtek – meta-analysis, 35 studies
• Found association between CHD and an aspect of Type A personality – hostility.

12. The Hardy Personality
Research on hardy personality:
• Kobasa 1979 – 800 US business executives, assessing stress
using SRRS, 150/800 regarded as high stress.
• Some of these 150- some had low illness records, some had high
record, something else must’ve been modifying the effects of
stress.
• Kobasa suggested having the hardy personality encourages
resilience.
• Maddi et al 1987.
• Studied employees of US company who were dramatically
reducing work force size over the period of a year
• 2/3 suffered stress related health problems over this period but
the remaining 1/3 thrived – this thriving group showed more
evidence of hardiness attributes.
• Lifton et al 2006.
• Students at 5 universities (USA)
• Those who had more hardiness were more likely to complete
degree with the low hardiness being represented mainly among
drop-outs
The hardy personality:
Type A resistant to heart disease –
some individuals more ‘hardy’
than others – prevents negative
effects of stress
Control – hardy people see
themselves as being in control
of their lives
Commitment – hardy people are
involved with the world around
them, strong sense of purpose
Challenge – see life changes as
problems to overcome rather
than as stressors, enjoy
opportunity for development
Most data for health problems
has come through self-report
questionnaires (LIMITATION)

13. Psychological methods of stress management
• How can you teach hardiness?
• Maddi worked with Kobasa and founded the Hardiness Institute of California; the aim of
hardiness training is to increase self-confidence and sense of control so that individuals can
more successfully navigate change.
• Focusing – client is taught how to recognise the biological signs of stress, such as muscle tension, increased
heart rate and also to identify the sources of stress.
• Relieving stress encounters – relives stress encounters and is helped to analyse the situations and their
response to them. This gives them an insight into current coping strategies and how they can be more effective
tan they thought.
• Self-improvement – Insights found can now be used to move forward and learn new techniques of dealing with
stress. In particular the client is taught to focus on seeing stressors as challenges that they can take control of
rather than problems they must give in to.
Hardiness training
EVALUATION:
• It works: Student Support Services provided hardiness training to their at risk students in Utah Valley State
College. Hardiness training helps them to stay in and graduate from school, by mastering stressors they come
across whilst they work to develop themselves.
• Problems with Hardiness Training: Must first address basic aspects of personality and learned habits can be very
difficult to modify, therefore it is not a rapid solution for stress management.

14. Psychological methods of stress management
Stress Inoculation Therapy
• Meichenbaum 1958 believed that although we can’t
change sources of stress we can change the way we
think about the stressors
• Type of Cognitive behavioural therapy developed
specifically to deal with stress, the individual should
develop a coping strategy if the problem arises
1. Conceptualisation phase:
• Therapist and client establish relationship, the client is educated
to the nature and impact of stress
• Client is taught to view perceived threats as problems to be
solved, enables the client to think differently about the problem
2. Skills acquisition phase (and rehearsal)
• Taught and practice of coping skills primarily in clinic with
gradual rehearsal in real life
• Positive thinking, relaxation, social skills, methods of attention
diversion, time management.
• Self-coping statements ‘relax you’re in control’
3. Application therapy (and follow-through)
• Opportunities for newly learned strategies in different situations
which become increasingly stressful
• Various techniques include that of imagery (imagining how to do
deal with stressful situations, modelling (watching someone else
demonstrate) and role playing (acting out scenes involving
stressors).
Strengths Limitations
• Sheehy and Horan
examined the effects if
SIT on first year law
students…
• Participants received 4
weekly SIT sessions, each
lasting 90 minutes
• Results showed all who
received SIT showed greater
reduction of anxiety over
time + those expected to
finish in bottom 20% of
class also reflected
significant improvements,
more than half improved
class rank.
• Future stressors 
Time-consuming + high
motivation:
• SIT requires a lot of time,
effort, money and
motivation. However
Meichenbaum also
demonstrated that
results even with brief
amounts of therapy.
Unnecessarily complex:
• Effectiveness of SIT due
to certain elements of
the training rather than
all of it. This means that
a range of activities and
time could be reduced
without losing much of
the effectiveness.

15. Biological methods of stress management:
• Benzodiazepines (BZs)
• GABA is a neurotransmitter that is the body’s
natural form of anxiety relief. About 40% of the
neurons in the brain respond to GABA which,
when released, have a quietening effect of many
neurons in the brain. When GABA locks into
receptors it opens a channel which increases the
flow of chloride ions into the neuron. Chloride
ions make it harder for the neuron to be
stimulated so slows it down.
• BZs enhance the action of GABA by binding to
special sites on the GABA receptor and boosting
the actions of GABA.
• BZs and serotonin – serotonin is a
neurotransmitter that has an arousing effect in
the brain. BZs reduce any increased serotonin
activity, which reduces anxiety
• Beta-blockers (BBs)
• Sympathetic arousal – arousal in the sympathetic
nervous system and creates raised blood
pressure, increased heart rate, elevated levels of
cortisol and so on.
• How do they work? Reduce the activity of
adrenaline and noradrenaline which are part of
the sympathomedullary response to stress. Beta-
blockers bind to beta-receptors on the cells of the
heart and other body parts.
• What do they achieve? By blocking these
receptors, beta-blockers cause the reverse-effect
of stress hormones, causing the heart to beat
more slowly and with less force.
Strengths Limitations
Effectiveness
• Two groups can be given a drug
and a placebo to identify how
well the drug works
• Kahn et al. (1986) – followed
nearly 250 patients over
eight weeks and found that
BZs were significantly
superior to the placebo
• Hildalgo et al. (2001) –
meta-analysis on treatment
of social anxiety, found that
BZs were more effective at
reducing anxiety than any
other drugs.
• Beta-blockers are effective
in reducing anxiety in a
variety of stressful situations
Addiction
Side Effects:
BZs – episodic memory problems,
drowsiness, dependence,
withdrawal symptoms
Treating symptoms rather than
problem:
As soon as they stop taking the
drugs the effectiveness ceases,
acting only as a temporary bandage
on the problem