Stress What is Stress?: Stressor (threatening/challenging event) is what is causing the stress reaction (emotional/physical response) → This all has to - 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. do with stress (process by which we cope with a appraise environmental threats and challenges) Richard Lazarus determined that stress arises less through actual events but rather through the assessment of those events, AKA appraisal refers to this assessment and has 2 phases: 1° appraisal: initial evaluation that focuses on the threat in that actual situation Irrelevant Benign/Positive Stressful (if negative stress will lead to the next class of appraisal) 2° appraisal: individual’s ability to cope with a situation Harm Threat (i.e. what future damage could be caused?) Challenge Stressors: Stressors refer to the actual threat/challenge with which we are experiencing and there are 4 main categories: Significant life change (i.e. death of a loved one, divorce, etc.) Catastrophic events are unpredictable, large scale events that nearly everyone appraises as threatening (i.e. war, natural disasters, etc.) Daily hassles are stressors arised from day-day events (i.e. flat tire, forgetting the keys, inability to let go of an unattainable goal, etc.) Ambient are global stressors that are integrated into the background of the environment (i.e. pollution in the city, noise, crowding, etc.), physically perceivable but not necessarily urgent and are harder to control. These can negatively impact us without us even knowing Responding to Stress: Peripheral vasoconstriction occurs during your “fight/flight” response (you need more blood flow to your heart, lungs, brain, etc. than yours arms/legs) In the adrenal medulla you get your catecholamine hormones (epinephrine/norepinephrine) In the adrenal cortex you get cortisol (a steroid hormone that contributes to the stress response by redistributing glucose energy in the body and suppressing the immune system) Oxytocin also responds to stress by forcing you to come together with others in order to deal with the stress presented (“Tend and Befriend”) General adaptation syndrome distinguished your response to stress that has 3 phases: Alarm phase: stress reaction kicks in (i.e. HR increases) Resistance phase: actually fighting/fleeing/huddling and physiological response is still occurring Exhaustion: overexposure leads to this and can have some large negative effects if rest does not follow stage 2 Extra Notes: Cognitive flexibility in terms of stress is the ability to understand and reformulate approaches to stress if the current methods being utilized aren’t working