Difficulty: Intermediate | Prerequisites: Ch. 1-2 (biopsychosocial model), Ch. 7 (health behaviour theories)
Stress is where the biopsychosocial model becomes concrete. Biology (hormones, the fight-or-flight response), psychology (how you appraise a threat, what coping strategies you use), and social context (culture, discrimination, social support) all interact to determine whether stress makes you stronger or breaks you down. This unit covers how stress works, what it does to the body, and what people do about it.
Stress is the body's response to a perceived threat, evolved as a short-term survival mechanism that becomes damaging when chronic. How you cope with stress matters as much as the stressor itself: approach coping (tackling the problem) and avoidant coping (hoping it goes away) lead to different outcomes, and culture shapes which strategies feel natural. Social support buffers stress, but the structure of your social network changes with age.
Stress
Older definitions treated stress as purely physical: the body preparing for action. A more widely accepted definition frames stress as the upsetting of homeostasis, the body's stable internal equilibrium.
Allostatic load
The cumulative weight of chronic stress on the body. Markers include hypertension, fat staying in the system longer, and sleep disruption. African Americans tend to have higher allostatic load scores than white Americans.
Allostasis
The body's ability to achieve balance during change. Where homeostasis is a stable set point, allostasis is the process of adapting to meet demands.
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS, Selye)
Selye's model of the body's predictable stress response, regardless of the stressor: stressor → state of alarm → resistance to stress (putting up a fight) → state of exhaustion (the body breaks down).
Diathesis-stress model
Vulnerable predispositions (diathesis) combined with stress produce an increased risk of psychopathology. In simple terms, stress alone does not cause mental illness, but stress acting on a pre-existing vulnerability can.
Epinephrine
A stress hormone that increases heart rate and blood pressure. Present in higher amounts when we are scared. Associated with the flight response.
Norepinephrine
A stress hormone present in greater amounts when we are angry. Associated with the fight response.
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
A disorder that requires a stressful event and symptoms lasting more than one month. Can be vicarious (e.g., people who witnessed 9/11 on television). Found in most cultures. Complex PTSD involves more than one triggering event.
Mediator
A variable that accounts for the relationship between a predictor and an outcome. The two variables cannot be linked without the mediator. Think of it as the mechanism: X leads to M, which leads to Y.
Moderator
A variable that changes the direction or strength of a relationship between two variables that are already connected. Think of it as a dial: the relationship between X and Y exists, but the moderator turns it up or down.
Emotion-focused coping
Dealing with the feelings caused by a stressful situation without directly addressing the situation itself. Includes seeking emotional support, distraction, redefining ("it could be worse"), using drugs or alcohol.
Problem-focused coping
Directly addressing the stressful situation and working to resolve it. Examples: quitting a stressful job, talking to a partner to resolve a conflict.
Stress contagion effect
When stress from one domain (work or home) infects the other. Two sub-types: spillover (your own stress leaks across domains) and crossover (one person's stress becomes another person's burden).
Role theory
Stress contagion from work to home rises as a person takes on more roles.
Role ambiguity
The degree to which a person's role is unclear.
Role conflict
Incompatibility between expectations for a given role and between different roles.
Mesosystem
In Bronfenbrenner's model, the interaction of microsystems at a particular point in time (e.g., home and work interacting). Bronfenbrenner's reciprocity is the idea that microsystems are not independent but constantly influence each other.
Social convoy model
A theory that focuses on studying age-related changes to social networks.
Socioemotional selectivity theory
As people age, they have less time and prune their social networks to focus on higher-quality relationships. Older people have fewer total friends but just as many close friends.
Type A personality
A personality pattern characterised by competitiveness, urgency, and, critically, hostility. Hostility (being easily aroused to anger) is the component most linked to health outcomes.
The older, purely physical definition treats stress as the body preparing for action. The more widely used contemporary definition frames stress as the upsetting of homeostasis: something disrupts the body's equilibrium and the body works to restore it.
Stress evolved as a protective mechanism. For early humans, most stressors were acute and short-term (a predator, a fight). The stress response diverts blood flow away from systems that are not important in an emergency (digestion, reproduction) and toward muscles and the brain.
The problem: modern humans face fewer acute stressors but more chronic ones (financial pressure, work demands, ongoing discrimination). The stress response was not designed to stay activated for months or years.
Organisms respond to stress in a predictable pattern, regardless of the specific stressor:
State of alarm: the body detects a threat and mobilises.
Resistance: the body actively fights the stressor, using energy and resources.
Exhaustion: if the stressor persists, the body's resources are depleted and it breaks down.
Pre-existing vulnerabilities (genetic, psychological, or social) combined with stress increase the risk of psychopathology. Stress alone may not cause a disorder, and the vulnerability alone may not cause a disorder, but the two together can.
Epinephrine: increases heart rate and blood pressure. Released in greater amounts when frightened. Associated with the flight response.
Norepinephrine: released in greater amounts when angry. Associated with the fight response.
Not everyone experiences the same event as equally stressful. Several factors shape how a person appraises a stressor:
Duration: acute (short-term) vs. chronic (long-term). Chronic stress is more damaging.
Predictability: predictable stressors are generally easier to cope with.
Valence: whether the stressor is perceived as negative or positive (yes, positive events can be stressful).
Definition: whether the stressor is ambiguous or clearly defined. Ambiguity makes coping harder.
Control: the degree to which a person feels they can influence the situation.
Centrality: how important the stressor is to the person, how close it hits to their identity or daily life.
Women tend to respond to stress differently from the classic fight-or-flight model. The tend-and-befriend response involves nurturing offspring (tending) and seeking social contact (befriending). This is linked to oxytocin, which women produce in higher amounts. Blocking oxytocin in studies led to women spending less time with friends. Oxytocin also plays a role in mothers bonding with babies.
Gender, culture, race, age, and religious beliefs all shape the stress experience. Culture may limit behaviour options and affect available resources such as family support, community, and social networks. Cultural norms determine how symptoms are expressed and which behaviours are considered acceptable responses to stress.
Major discrimination: correlated with distress and major depression.
Day-to-day discrimination: associated with developing emotional problems and mental disorders.
Microaggressions: everyday insults, often subtle, that communicate hostility or derogation toward a marginalised group.
Work stress: includes the stress contagion effect, where work stress infects home life or vice versa.
Spillover: stress from one source (work) impacts performance in another sphere (home).
Crossover: one person's stress becomes another person's burden.
Family stress: conflict, caregiving demands, relationship difficulties.
Environmental stress: natural disasters, noise, crowding, mass shootings.
Stress is not purely negative. Its consequences fall into two categories:
Positive consequences:
Prepares the body to deal with acute stressors effectively.
Can increase resilience over time.
Can improve memory of specific aspects of events.
Negative consequences:
Physiological: damage to the heart, suppression of the immune system, increased GI symptoms, sexual dysfunction.
Psychological: increased risky decision-making, impacts on mood, behaviour, thinking, and problem-solving ability.
Symptoms must last more than one month to qualify for diagnosis.
Diagnosis requires exposure to a stressful event.
Can be vicarious: people who did not directly experience the event can develop PTSD (e.g., 9/11 television viewers).
Found in most cultures.
Complex PTSD involves more than one triggering event.
Approach coping: directly addressing the stressful issue. Includes monitoring the situation and problem-focused strategies.
Avoidant coping: trying to avoid the problem and hoping it resolves itself. Includes emotion-focused and appraisal-focused strategies.
A mediator accounts for the relationship between a predictor and an outcome. The two variables cannot be linked without it. Example: social support (mediator) explains why extroversion (predictor) leads to lower stress (outcome).
A moderator changes the direction or strength of a relationship between two variables that are already connected. Example: gender (moderator) affects how strongly work stress (predictor) relates to burnout (outcome).
A coping strategy can act as a mediator.
Emotion-focused coping deals with the feelings caused by a stressful situation without directly addressing the situation:
Active emotion-focused: getting support from someone.
Avoidant emotion-focused: staying away from the problem.
Behavioural forms: using drugs, alcohol, or food; seeking emotional support; distraction.
Cognitive forms: redefining the situation ("things could be worse"), making comparisons.
Problem-focused coping directly addresses the stressful situation:
Quitting a stressful job.
Talking to a partner to resolve a conflict.
Seeking information to solve the problem.
Other coping strategies:
Relationship-focused coping.
Religious coping.
Support seeking
Problem resolving
Avoidance
Positive cognitive restructuring
Distraction
Type A personality is characterised by competitiveness, time urgency, and hostility. The hostility component (being easily aroused to anger) is the most significant predictor of negative health outcomes.
Collectivist cultures emphasise interdependence. Coping in collectivist contexts tends to involve avoidance (preserving relationships), emotion-based strategies, and, paradoxically, individualist-style coping when protecting the group requires it.
Individualist cultures emphasise independence and reliance on the self. Coping tends to be more problem-focused and direct.
Social convoy model: focuses on studying age-related changes to social networks. As people move through life, the composition of their social support network shifts.
Socioemotional selectivity theory: as people age and perceive their remaining time as limited, they prune their social networks to focus on higher-quality relationships. The result: older people have fewer total friends but just as many close friends as younger people.
The course covers relaxation techniques and cognitive-structural approaches as practical coping strategies. These are tools for managing the stress response directly, as opposed to the broader coping styles described above.
Students often confuse mediators and moderators. A mediator explains the relationship (the mechanism). A moderator changes the strength or direction of a relationship that already exists. If you cannot link X to Y without it, it is a mediator. If X and Y are already linked but the strength varies, that varying factor is a moderator.
Students sometimes think all stress is harmful. Stress has positive consequences too: it can build resilience, sharpen memory for specific events, and prepare you to handle acute threats.
Students frequently mix up spillover and crossover. Spillover is your own stress leaking from one domain to another (your work stress follows you home). Crossover is your stress becoming someone else's stress (your partner starts feeling stressed because you are stressed).
Students sometimes assume that avoidant coping is always worse than approach coping. In some situations and cultures, avoidance is adaptive, particularly when preserving relationships is more important than solving the immediate problem.
⚠️ Know the three stages of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome in order: alarm → resistance → exhaustion.
⚠️ Be able to distinguish epinephrine (flight, fear) from norepinephrine (fight, anger).
⚠️ Understand the difference between mediator and moderator. This is a commonly tested distinction and shows up across multiple topics.
⚠️ Know the difference between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping, with examples of each.
⚠️ Be able to explain the stress contagion effect and its two sub-types (spillover and crossover).
⚠️ Know the PTSD diagnostic criteria: stressful event required, symptoms lasting more than one month.
⚠️ Be able to compare collectivist and individualist coping styles.
⚠️ Know both social support theories (social convoy model and socioemotional selectivity theory) and what each predicts about ageing.
Fill in the blank: The three stages of Selye's GAS are ______, ______, and ______. (Alarm, resistance, exhaustion.)
True or False: Norepinephrine is associated with the flight response. (False: norepinephrine is associated with fight. Epinephrine is associated with flight.)
Fill in the blank: A variable that explains the mechanism between a predictor and an outcome is called a ______. (Mediator.)
True or False: Older adults have fewer close friends than younger adults. (False: socioemotional selectivity theory finds that older adults have fewer total friends but just as many close friends.)
Fill in the blank: The cumulative physiological wear and tear of chronic stress is called ______. (Allostatic load.)
Q: A student is stressed about an upcoming exam. They decide to go out with friends to take their mind off it instead of studying. What type of coping is this, and what specific strategy are they using?
A: This is emotion-focused coping, specifically distraction. They are managing the feelings caused by the stress (anxiety about the exam) rather than directly addressing the source (studying the material).
Q: Explain the difference between spillover and crossover in the context of work stress.
A: Spillover is when your own stress from one domain (e.g., work) affects your performance or mood in another domain (e.g., home). Crossover is when your stress becomes another person's stress, for example, when a partner becomes anxious because you are stressed about your job.
Q: A researcher finds that social support reduces the impact of stress on depression. Is social support a mediator or a moderator in this scenario?
A: Social support is a moderator here. Stress and depression are already linked, and social support changes the strength of that relationship (weakening it). If the question said that stress leads to social isolation, which leads to depression, social isolation would be the mediator.
Q: What are the three stages of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome, and what happens at each stage?
A: Alarm (the body detects a threat and mobilises), resistance (the body actively fights the stressor), and exhaustion (if the stressor persists, the body's resources are depleted and it breaks down).
Q: How does socioemotional selectivity theory explain changes in older adults' social networks?
A: As people age and perceive their remaining time as limited, they prune peripheral relationships and invest in fewer but higher-quality close relationships. This explains why older adults have fewer total friends but maintain the same number of close friends as younger adults.
Stress and coping are where the biopsychosocial model (Ch. 1) becomes tangible: the biological stress response (hormones, GAS), the psychological appraisal process (how you interpret the stressor), and social factors (discrimination, social support, culture) all interact. The health behaviour theories from Ch. 7, particularly the Transtheoretical Model and self-efficacy from Social Cognitive Theory, help explain why some people adopt healthier coping strategies and others do not. The social determinants of health (Ch. 1) predict who will face more chronic stressors and have fewer coping resources.
Stress, homeostasis, allostatic load, allostasis, General Adaptation Syndrome, GAS, Selye, diathesis-stress model, epinephrine, norepinephrine, fight or flight, tend and befriend, oxytocin, acute stress, chronic stress, predictability, valence, centrality, control, discrimination, microaggressions, work stress, stress contagion, spillover, crossover, PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, complex PTSD, vicarious trauma, coping styles, approach coping, avoidant coping, emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, mediator, moderator, religious coping, relationship-focused coping, five categories of coping, Type A personality, hostility, social support, collectivist coping, individualist coping, social convoy model, socioemotional selectivity theory, role theory, role ambiguity, role conflict, mesosystem, Bronfenbrenner, reciprocity, relaxation, cognitive restructuring, PSY 320, health psych exam 1