Managing & Coping with stress (AQA A Level Psychology): Flashcards

Any two of cold extremities, fatigue, nightmares and sleep disturbances.

Benzodiazepines are generally more effective than placebo for acute anxiety, though some are more effective than others.

They are effective for everyday anxieties such as public speaking and exam nerves, and useful in social anxiety disorder.

They are easy, affordable and familiar, do not require changing how one thinks or behaves, and can be used with psychological methods.

Criminal behaviour such as shoplifting, other impulsive behaviours and uncontrollable weeping.

False.

They can reduce heart rate and blood pressure too much and are not suitable for people with diabetes or severe depression.

It treats the physiological response rather than the stressor, giving only short-term relief, and carries a dependency risk.

Drug therapy is biologically reductionist, focusing on chemical processes and overlooking psychological and social factors such as social support.

It assumes a biologically determined response to stress that can be 'fixed' by medication without addressing conscious choices.

SIT (Meichenbaum & Cameron, 1973) is a cognitive behavioural approach that changes how we think about stress, like an injection preparing the body's defences with a small dose.

Client and therapist identify and understand the client's stressors, with the client as the expert on their own stress experiences.

The client learns tailored skills such as relaxation, social skills, communication and cognitive restructuring to think more optimistically.

Skills are tried in safe environments using role play, visualisation, VR and apps, with gradual transfer to the real world.

False.

They overlap, and the client may work backwards to an earlier phase to refresh before moving on.

Biofeedback uses technology so an individual can see and hear their physiological stress reactions and learn to bring them under voluntary control.

EMG (muscle tension), EEG (brain activity) and SCR (skin conductance).

The client is set targets, such as reducing muscle tension, and instant audio-visual feedback on reaching them reinforces the behaviour.

SIT is effective for performance anxiety such as exams, works for extreme as well as moderate anxiety, and its effectiveness did not depend on therapist experience.

Lemaire et al. (2011) found 28 days of biofeedback reduced stress in doctors compared to a control group.

Clients face minor stressors to build skills for greater ones and are encouraged to plan for potential failure, so it is not a 'quick fix'.

False.

They are non-invasive with no negative side effects or addiction, an advantage over drug therapies.

It needs big commitments of time, effort and motivation, with lengthy training and self-reflection. The real-life phase is especially hard, so some drop out.

It needs expensive specialist equipment and supervision, and success may be due to the relaxation techniques alone, making the expense unnecessary.

Individuals actively learn and apply coping strategies rather than being passive recipients of medication.

Non-drug therapies take a holistic approach, treating the person as a whole rather than just biological symptoms.

Most research used males, and evolutionarily, fighting or fleeing a predator would make it hard for a female to protect her offspring.

Tend and befriend is a biological stress response, especially in females, involving tending (nurturing offspring) and befriending (seeking social support, especially from other women).

It promotes goodwill and affiliation, helps form the mother-infant bond, and helps the body recover more quickly from stress.

Higher oxytocin was linked to lower cortisol and quicker HPA recovery. Oestrogen enhances oxytocin while androgens reduce it, so effects are stronger in women.

A social learning explanation is that females are socialised to take care of family and friends when there is risk.

Emotion-focused coping, managing their emotional response through social support, relaxation, distraction, reframing or mindfulness.

Problem-focused coping, taking direct action to remove the stressor through practical solutions, control, plans or seeking information.

False.

It was first made by Lazarus and Folkman (1984).

Females prefer an empathetic listener, while males prefer practical assistance and information.

Women reported more family stressors, perceived them as more negative and less controllable, and coped more emotion-focused. This may reflect different stressors rather than gender itself.

Women were significantly more likely than men to seek social support, a central part of the befriending response.

Women with the highest oxytocin during and after pregnancy formed stronger bonds with their newborns.

Luckow et al. (1998) found women were more likely to use social support in 25 of 26 studies, suggesting women strongly favour befriending.

Once the different stressors men and women faced were accounted for, there were no gender differences in coping methods.

Women reported more emotion-focused coping only when recalling retrospectively. The difference vanished with ecological momentary assessment.

Androcentrism is treating the male response as the norm, e.g. fight-or-flight failing to reflect female stress responses.

False.

Nomothetic research overlooks individual differences, so combining it with idiographic insight helps personalise interventions.

It allows the efficacy of each approach to be investigated and the best strategies from each to be selected, e.g. control and social networks.

Schaefer et al. (1981). Social support helps people cope by acting as a defence against stressors.

Instrumental support is practical and tangible help, such as giving someone a lift to hospital, lending money or providing information.

Emotional support is expressions of warmth, concern, affection, empathy and love intended to make the person feel better rather than offer practical help.

Esteem support is when friends and family show high esteem for the person, strengthening their self-worth and feeling that they can cope.

False.

A small network can give a great deal of support, while a large, widespread network may give little.

Emotional and esteem support through social networks online, and instrumental support such as a cheque sent by post.

In 700 middle-aged Swedish men, smoking and lack of social support were the two leading risk factors for coronary heart disease.

Melanoma patients given a six-week support group had better NK cell functioning and were more likely to be alive and cancer-free six years later.

404 healthy adults were phoned nightly for 14 days to count hugs and report support and conflict, then exposed to a cold virus and monitored.

Cohen et al. (2015) found hugs accounted for around a third of the protective effect of social support, which acts as a buffer against stress.

Different types help in different situations, e.g. emotional support is more helpful after a relationship breakdown.

It is not the crucial factor. Women are more likely to seek out, use and provide social support in times of stress.

False.

It depends on who provides it and what type. Support that is imposed rather than sought can increase anxiety.

Information is more valued from medical professionals, whereas emotional support is welcomed from friends and relatives.

It is difficult to isolate and test the separate types of social support.

Asian-Americans were much less likely to seek social support, to avoid disrupting community harmony, so effectiveness is culturally influenced.

Research on social support is mostly nomothetic, and would benefit from combining with idiographic approaches to how support is experienced.