"Define: Stressor – events that evoke stress
State of stress –
Stress responses – physiological, behavioural, subjective
Electric shock (stressor) - participant (leads of state of stress) – physiological/behavioural/subjective changes (stress responses)
Kinds of stressors, duration (acute short term events and chronic long term stressors) near miss in traffic or high pressure job.
Severity of the stressors, daisy hassles adding up that can make one feel overwhelmed. (daily hassles scale – Lazarus)
Life changes can also be stressful as they require adjustment. Some events are more common and some are more stressful. – Social readjustment rating scale (Holmes and Rahe)
The effects of stressors are measured as behaviour, subjective and physiology.
Rating checklists widely used – Holmes and Rahe.
Rating scales have been criticised as people vary in their perception of stress, there are also socio cultural factors and the fact that people are not very good at rating stress and have a tendency to overestimate the level of stress they are experiencing.
Physiological methods are free from a lot of these concerns. A common measure is to examine the body’s autonomic nervous system. I.e. fight or flight.
Cardiovascular systems responded to physical activity and psychological stressors."
im trying to do an assessment on psychological stressors and heart rate, obviously going well...