QUIZ - 1

Question 1

What two pathways are involved in the bodily response to

stress?

Question 2

What are the three stages of the General Adaptation System

(GAS)?

Question 3

What evolutionary explanation has been proposed for gender differences in the stress

response?

Question 4

What psychological test measures life change units?

Answers

1. Pituitary-Adrenal System and Sympathomedullary Pathway

2. The alarm stage (fight or flight); The resistance stage (the body is coping); Exhaustion (the body’s energy resources are depleted) (Selye, 1956)

3. Females invest more in their offspring and so inhibit the fight or flight response

4. Social Readjustment Rating Scale

Homework Question

Outline and evaluate research into stress related illness and the immune system

 

AIM - 1

To Provide an overview of Personality Factors and Stress

Outcomes - 1

By the end of the lesson you

will be able to:

Recognise the key features of type A behaviour

Distinguish between type A and type B behaviour

Type A Behaviour

Always in a Hurry

Multi-tasking

Highly competitive

Easily Frustrated

Key Research:

Friedman and

Rosenman (1974)

Key finding

Compared to Type B, Type

A were shown to have

Twice the rate of heart

Disease

Type A v Type B

Type A

Always in a rush and rarely relax

Over achievers - involved in lots of unrelated activities with good performance.

Biggest problem = stress - usually overwhelmed

by the amount of stuff they have to do - a huge

list that they planned for themselves.

Usually competitive and have a high challenging spirit.

Type A v Type BType B Personality

Almost the opposite of Type A

Relaxed by nature and has no sense of time urgency

No difficulty relaxing or sitting without doing anything

May delay the work they have to last thing - usually don't

get stressed that easily

Can achieve too, but his/her lack of sense of time

urgency helps him/her to not feel stressed while

completing tasks.

Aim - 2

To examine key research studies on links between type A person

To critically evaluate and discuss contributory factors in developing Type A personality

Outcomes - 2

By the end of the lesson you will be able to:

Describe, discuss and evaluate key research into Type A personality

Appreciate the contributory factors in developing Type A Personality

Key Research Study

The Western Collaborative Group Study

Friedman and Rosenman (1974)

Aim(what did they want to find out?)

To investigate whether a link exists between

Cardiovascular Disease and Type A Behaviour

Procedure: (What they did)

Used structured interviews of 3200 Californian men -age range - 39 – 59 years

Participants were categorised a either:

Type AType BType X (mixture of Types A and B)

Participants followed up for eight and a half years (longitudinal research) to assess their life style and health outcomes

Findings (what they found)

257 men had developed coronary heart disease (CHD)

OF WHICH

70% were from the Type A group

Twice the rate of heart disease than that of Type B group

The concluded:

Type A behaviour pattern increases vulnerability to heart disease

Behaviour modification programmes would be one way of reducing Type A behaviour and so reduce risk of heart disease

Evaluations:

Some aspects of lifestyle controlled for but other factors could have contributed to vulnerability to developing heart disease (e.g. hardiness)

Not an experimental study (non-experimental study) thus cause and effect can not be assumed

Findings not backed up by other studies

INTERPRETING YOUR SCORE

Use the following to interpret your score from the questionnaire youcompleted on Tuesday. Record this on to a graph. Thenmake a poster showing what you wanted to find out (aims), whatyou did and how you did it (procedure), what you found out (results – i.e. the graph), what did you conclude from your scores (i.e. what personality category are you As a group in?)

If you scored 110 or more you have a Type A

personality (higher risk of CHD and other illnesses)

If you scored 59 or below you have a Type B personality (you are coping okay with stress)

If you scored anything in-between these you are a mixture of Type A and Type B (the healthier outcome, but watch you don’t creep up to Type A)

Research in Support of Friedman and Rosenman (1974) Findings

Williams et al. (2003)

15 year longitudinal research focusing on younger individuals who exhibited Type A behaviour.

Found Type A behaviour individual to be unhealthier compared to others

Further Support

Kirkaldy et al. (2002) Compared 300 managers with Type A behaviour who also

demonstrated an external locus of control (i.e. likely to believe in fate, bad luck etc) with peers Type B peers who demonstrated an internal locus of control (likely to believe the were in control of own destiny)

Findings suggested Type A had higher perceived levels of stress, less job satisfaction and poorer physical and mental health

Evaluation – negative health consequences of Type A behaviour, combined with an external locus of control, may make Type A substantially less attractive

Key Points about Type A Behaviour and CHD

Type A people tend to react more quickly and strongly to stressful situations

They do this both in terms of their behaviour and physiological (bodily) responses, e.g. heart rate and blood pressure rise

Because of This There is more wear and tear on their

cardiovascular system

Evaluating Type A Behaviour

Research has not consistently supported Friedman & Rosenman’s research

Both prospective (questionnaire measurement of type A behaviour with longitudinal follow-up) and retrospective (looking at participant’s previous behaviour)

Overall significantly low correlations have been found and many of which many have been negative findings

Research has questioned the concept of a Type A behaviour (Evans 1990)

Evaluating Type A Behaviour

Hostility is a key feature of Type A behaviour

When it is combined with other high levels of Type A behaviour this has resulted in a significant increase in the prevalence of CHD

Not expressing hostility but just feeling it (i.e. repressing it) increases the likelihood of developing CHD

Hardy Personality

This concept explains why some are more vulnerable to stress than others

Hardiness is a key factor in helping us to combat the negative outcomes associated with stress

They Include

Control – you control what happens in your life not external sources, like other people

This is similar to Locus of Control and attributional style (attribute causes of stress to yourself or attribute them to stuff you can’t control)

Commitment - A sense of purpose and involvement with your environment

Challenge - You view life changes as a challenge not a source of stress

Protective Factors

Key Research StudyKobasa & Maddi (1977) – A prospective study Rated people on the presence or absence of 3 key factors:

Hardiness Social Support Regular exercise

Physical exercise and level of social support help to protect us from developing stress related illness

Key Finding:

People with no social support or other protective factors scored

Higher on severity of illness scales than other people and it only took

2 or 3 protective factors to steadily decrease their illness score

Homework Question

Outline and Evaluate Type A and Type B

Behaviour (12 mark question)