The nature of stress
Are university applications due Friday? Does a recent text message seem to indicate that the love of your life wants to break up after lunch today? These experiences may make you feel rather stressed - your heart races, you feel weak in the knees, and you have problems concentrating.
Any adverse or challenging event could be labeled a stressor. According to Professor of Neurology Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University, humans are the only species that can imagine stressors.You will not be directly assessed on the nature of stress. However, you may be assessed on the role of stress in one or more health problems. In addition to this page, you will find a page on the role of stress in obesity and in addictive behaviors (drugs and social media).
People react physiologically and psychologically in the same way if they think their boss will fire them as if they were facing the stressful situation of losing their jobs. We can also experience stress about the future—for example, fear of global warming, potential financial problems, or fear of aging.
Types of stress
One of the difficulties of studying and managing stress is that "stress" is not a single phenomenon. Stress management can be complicated and confusing because there are different types of stress - acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress -- each with its own characteristics, symptoms, duration, and treatment approaches.
Acute stress is the most common form of stress. It comes from the demands and pressures of day-to-day life. The demands can be actual or perceived.
For example, there may be a deadline that you have to meet for your EE to be submitted to the IB. That is an actual demand. You may also feel that you need to get all 7s this semester to please your family. This is a perceived demand. Acute stress is short-term and has a foreseeable end in sight.
There are those, however, who suffer acute stress frequently, whose lives are so disordered that they are studies of chaos and crisis. They're always in a rush but always late. They take on too much and can't manage their time or meet all the commitments that they have made. This is the "over-extended" person or the "over-achiever." Unlike acute stress, episodic acute stress is a lifestyle choice.
It is common for people with acute stress reactions to be over-aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious, and tense. Always in a hurry, they tend to be abrupt and sometimes come across as hostile. Interpersonal relationships suffer. Friedman and Rosenman labeled this pattern of behavior as Type A personality.
Chronic stress is a prolonged and consistent state of stress that occurs when an individual feels unable to manage or escape ongoing stressors over an extended period. Unlike acute stress, chronic stress persists for weeks, months, or even years. Chronic stressors include poverty, dysfunctional families, domestic violence, chronic illness, institutionalized discrimination, and war/conflict
Measurement: Personality types
Take the Type A personality test. Type A personality is linked to episodic acute stress.
After you have received your results, consider the following questions:
- What types of behavior was the test looking for?
- What are the limitations of the test?
The theory of Type A and Type B personalities was introduced in the 1950s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, who suggested that people with Type A personalities—characterized by competitiveness, impatience, aggressiveness, and high stress—were more prone to heart disease compared to their more relaxed, easy-going Type B counterparts.
While the Type A and Type B personality theory introduced valuable ideas about how personality could impact health, it is now considered overly simplistic and outdated in modern psychology. Researchers and clinicians have moved toward more sophisticated frameworks, such as the Big Five personality traits, to better understand the complexities of personality and its effects on health and well-being. The Type A and Type B labels may still be used informally, but they are not central to psychological research or clinical practice today.
Teacher only boxWhat types of behavior was the test looking for?
The test looks for competitive behaviors, seeking external rewards, unable to relax, perfectionism, judgmental, highly conscious of time, and prone to anger.
What are the problems with such a test?
There are a few problems with this test. First, if you don't want to be labeled as a type-A personality, you can be self-deceptive and more likely to gravitate to the mean in your responses. Secondly, if you are concerned that others may judge your results, there may be social desirability bias. Additionally, the test is only taken on a single occasion. This means that the context in which the test is taken may influence how the questions are answered. The results may differ if taken during a summer holiday vs. in the worst word crunch of the year.
The stress response
The feelings that we experience when we are stressed are due to the physiological changes in our bodies that occur in response to a stressor. When there is a threat from our environment, our body immediately begins to prepare itself for either fighting the threat or running away from it - what is called the fight or flight response.
The stress response is triggered by the hypothalamus which activates the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal-cortical system. The sympathetic nervous system "speeds up" the body's systems and increases a sense of alertness. The adrenal glands release epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) into the bloodstream.
The effects of the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system include:
- An increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate
- Pupils dilate to take in as much light as possible
- Increased circulation to the major muscle groups
- Digestion, the reproductive system, and the immune system are suppressed to allow more energy for emergency functions
At the same time, the hypothalamus activates the adrenal-cortical system. As a result, over 30 hormones, including cortisol, are released into the bloodstream. Glucose is released into the blood to provide energy quickly.
The goal of the Fight or Flight response is to get us ready to deal with a stressor. It is supposed to be a "short-term response." In Robert Sapolsky's classic book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, he argues that the problem of modern-day stress is that our fight or flight responses are activated too often for situations that do not threaten our lives. When a zebra's sympathetic nervous system kicks in, it is to flee a lion that is about to attack the herd. What is the rationale for getting so stressed in a traffic jam? Or at the check-out counter at the grocery store? For humans, this theory alone does not explain stress, because our long-term stress is due to the perception of the triggers. But regardless, the effects on our bodies are the same.
Effects of stress on health
Hans Selye (1956) took our understanding of the effects of stress on our physiological systems a step further with his General Adaptation Syndrome model.
Selye's findings were accidental. As a young endocrinologist, he was trying to discover a new hormone. To do this, he was injecting rats with ovarian extract. Over time, the rats developed symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes, bleeding ulcers, and enlarged adrenal glands. Some of them died. Although he thought that he was onto something, he found that the control group, which was being injected with a simple saline solution, also had these symptoms.
It appeared that the stress of the repeated injections - and not the substance being injected - was the reason for the physiological response. Stress was the culprit.
According to Selye, there are three stages of the G.A.S. During the alarm stage the hypothalamus responds to the stressor by activating the fight or flight response.
In the resistance stage, the adrenal cortex continues to release glucocorticoids to help the body react to the stressor until the stress is resolved or the body can no longer resist. Because one of the results of the activation of the sympathetic nervous system is the suppression of the immune system, the body is not able to fight off colds and flu during this time.
What follows is one of two stages. The negative outcome is the exhaustion stage. During this phase, the stress has been persistent for a longer period. The body's ability to cope with the stressor is depleted and the body is not able to maintain normal function. The immune system is depleted. It is in this stage that major health effects may be seen.
The positive outcome is the recovery stage. This happens when the stressor is gone or coping has been successful. Homeostasis of the physiological systems is restored.
Researchers are interested in how stress is related to health problems. They are now aware that long-term stress causes an increase in cortisol, which can lead to depression or memory problems. Cortisol also affects the immune system, thereby making the individual more susceptible to infection, because of a decrease in the number of T-cells.
Responsibility: A classic study of colds
Cohen and Smith (1993) carried out a study to see if stress leads to colds. In his study, he gave 420 healthy participants a series of tests to determine their overall general health and their recent exposure to stress. They also had blood drawn to measure the level of immune response.
He then exposed the participants to either a cold virus or to a simple saline solution, which served as a placebo. Participants were quarantined for two days before exposure to the virus and seven days after. The researchers checked daily for any sign of illness.
The researcher found that the duration and nature of stress that an individual experiences are strong predictors of who gets a cold. Those who had high levels of stress for a month or more were over twice as likely to get ill as those who had no such stress. The type of stress also seems to matter. Participants who were unemployed were three times more likely to develop colds than those who didn’t have work-related problems. And those who reported serious problems in their close relationships were 2.5 times more likely to contract viruses than those without such problems.
Question
Do you think that this study was ethical? Why or why not?
Teacher only boxThe study by Cohen and Smith (1993) raises several ethical concerns.
Deliberately exposing participants to a cold virus, even with the knowledge that they are generally healthy, raises the concern of causing harm. Even though cold viruses are typically mild, there is still the potential for adverse reactions or the risk of more serious illness.
The use of a placebo (saline solution) is standard in clinical trials to control for the placebo effect, but participants must be fully aware that they might be receiving a placebo. Deception could potentially be a concern if participants were not informed about the likelihood of receiving the cold virus versus the placebo. The ethical principle of debriefing is important here, especially to explain the purpose of the placebo after the study is concluded.
The study involved gathering sensitive information about participants' health and personal lives (e.g., stress levels, employment status, relationships). Researchers should ensure that all personal information is kept confidential and securely stored. Any data released should be anonymized to protect participants' identities.
Causality: Stress and colds
Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1984) analyzed blood samples from volunteer medical students one month before and after students had completed the first two examinations. The participants were given the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to account for life changes that occurred within the last year that would raise their level of stress. As a result of this test, the participants were divided into two groups: a high-stress and a low-stress group. Levels of loneliness were also measured and the participants were also divided into two groups: high loneliness and low loneliness.
Natural Killer cell (NK) activity was measured in the students' blood samples. NK cells are lymphocytes that provide rapid responses to viral-infected cells. A low level of NK activity indicates a poorly functioning immune system.
There was a significant decrease in NK cell activity between the first blood test and the second blood test - which was given during the stress of examinations. Those participants in the "high-stress" group were more likely to have lower levels of NK than those in the "low-stress" group. This means that stress experienced previous to the exams played a role in their immune systems' ability to cope with the stress of examinations. In addition, those participants in the "high loneliness" group had lower levels of NK than those in the "low loneliness" group. This confirms the role of social support as a protective factor for better health.
The research seems to support Selye's proposed General Adaptation Model. As our body continues to cope with stressors, it eventually becomes "exhausted." In this exhausted stage, this is when we are most likely to become ill.
Question
To what extent can causality be determined in this study?
The cause-and-effect relationship is rather difficult to fully establish. As it was a natural experiment, the researchers did not manipulate or control variables. Participants were divided into high-stress and low-stress groups based on their scores on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, and into high loneliness and low loneliness groups. The researchers observed changes in NK activity based on these factors but did not assign participants to the stress or loneliness conditions randomly.
Without random assignment, it's impossible to establish a causal link because there could be confounding variables influencing the results, such as personality traits, pre-existing health conditions, or genetic factors that affect immune function.
As the study is correlational, bidirectional ambuiguty is a problem. Does high stress lead to lower NK activity, as the study suggests? Or could it be that people with weaker immune systems are more likely to experience stress or become lonely?
The stressor (examinations) is not controlled or manipulated by the researchers; it’s a natural event. This means the intensity, duration, and subjective experience of stress during the exams may vary greatly between participants.
Perspective: Is all stress bad?
Is it possible that there are also some good sides to stress?
There is also something called eustress. Hans Selye differentiated between distress—negative stress—and eustress, the positive response to stress that makes one feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. Eustress is not about the stressor but about how one perceives stress. The following Ted Talks with Kelly McGonigal look at how stress can be a positive factor in one's life.
Question
Do you think the research McGonical describes is strong evidence that stress is not bad for you? Why or why not?
Teacher only boxMcGonigal's argument was met with a lot of negative reactions from psychologists because her opening to this talk is rather deceptive. Her comment that she was wrong to teach people that "stress is bad for you" is an overstatement and is misleading. The research she outlines shows that stress can be controlled by how we think about it - and that when we see it as empowering, it is helpful. But, this does not mean that chronic stress, which is beyond the control of the individual, is not bad for one's health. Some have also accused McGonical of classicism in her presentation, focusing on people applying for a job and citing research studying student populations at one of the top US universities. Her discussion shows that perhaps students could turn their IB stress into something positive - but it is hard to imagine that they could turn stress from ACEs (for example) into something positive.