AQA PSYCHOLOGY A

39 Pages·2008·0.83 MB·English

GCE – AQA PSYCHOLOGY A – AS Award 1181

UNIT 2 – PSYA2 – 1 hour 30 minutes
Biological Psychology, Social Psychology and Individual Differences

UNIT 1 - Contents

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY – STRESS

Stress as a Bodily Response

1. The body’s response to stress
(a) The Fight or Flight Response 03
(b) Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome – GAS 04
2. The pituitary-adrenal system and the sympathomedullary pathway 04 - 05
3. Stress-related illness and the immune system 05 - 06

Stress in Everyday Life

1. Life Changes and Daily Hassles 07
2. Workplace Stress 08
3. Personality factors, including Type A behaviour 09
4. Emotion-focused and Problem-focused Approaches 10 - 11
5. Physiological Methods of Stress Management, drugs and biofeedback 11
6. Psychological Methods of Stress Management,
Hardiness Training and Stress Inoculation 12
7. The Role of Control in Coping with Stress 13

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY – SOCIAL INFLUENCE

1. What is meant by the terms ‘obedience’ and ‘conformity’? 14
2. Explain the terms ‘social norms’ and ‘normative social influence’. 14
3. Public compliance and private acceptance. 15
4. Why do people conform? 15
5. A study of majority influence (Asch, 1951) 16
6. A study of obedience to authority (Milgram, 1963) 17 - 19
7. A study of obedience to authority (Hofling, 1966) 19
8. Outline 3 psychological factors that may lead people to obey. 20
Social influence in everyday life

1. How can people resist pressures to conform and pressures to obey? 21
2. Conformist, anti-conformist, or independent? 21 - 22
3. What are the main ethical principles in social research? 23 - 24
4. Would research into social influence as carried out by Hofling, 24 - 25
Milgram and Zimbardo be ethically acceptable today?
5. What are the implications for social change of research 25 - 27
into social influence?
6. A study of minority influence (Moscovici, 1969) 27

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES – PSYCHOPATHOLOGY (Abnormality)

Defining and explaining psychological abnormality

1. Definitions of Abnormality
Deviation from Social Norms 28
Failure to Function Adequately 28
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health 29
Statistical Infrequency 29
2. Key Features of the Biological Approach to Abnormality 30
3. Key Features of the Psychodynamic Approach to Abnormality 31
4. Key Features of the Behavioural Approach to Abnormality 32 - 33
5. Key Features of the Cognitive Approach to Abnormality 33 - 34

Treating Abnormality

1. Biological Therapies
Drugs – Chemotherapy 34 - 35
ECT – Electroconvulsive Therapy 35 - 36
Psychotherapy 36
2. Psychological Therapies
Psychoanalysis 37
Systematic De-sensitisation 38
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 39

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BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY – STRESS

Stress as a bodily response
 The body’s response to stress, including the pituitary-adrenal system
and the sympathomedullary pathway in outline
 Stress-related illness and the immune system

1. The body’s response to stress

(a) The Fight or Flight Response

When people feel in danger or under threat, they go into a state of arousal. Stress
provokes the fight-or-flight response; either we prepare to flee from the danger or we are
attracted to a suitable target. Walter Cannon (1914) argues that this was an adaptive,
evolutionary response in our early ancestors when faced with predators or with animals to
hunt down.

During the alarm stage, several predictable physiological changes happen automatically.
For example, our heart rate increases, we breathe more deeply, our pupils dilate, and the
liver releases more glucose to provide bursts of energy.

After the emergency is over, our physiological systems return to their normal level of
functioning. Human beings, then and now, respond to stressors in much the same way.

a) The heart beat speeds up to pump more blood around the body.
b) Breathing deepens to increase the intake of oxygen.
c) Sugar/glucose levels rise (liver production) to provide additional energy.
d) Saliva and mucus dry up to widen the air passages to increase oxygen intake.
e) People may go pale as blood is diverted from the skin to the muscles.
f) Pupils dilate to admit more light and provide better vision.

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(b) Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Hans Selye (1956) defined stress as the non-specific response of the body to any demand
made upon it. This response reflects the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), the body’s
defence against stress. The body responds in the same way to any stressor, whether it’s
environmental (e.g. extreme temperature, or electric shock) or arises from within the
body itself.

The GAS comprises three stages: ALARM reaction, RESISTANCE and EXHAUSTION.
By the last stage, the body’s resources are becoming depleted, and psycho-physiological
disorders develop. These include cardiovascular disorders such as high blood pressure/BP
(hypertension), coronary artery disease (CAD), and coronary heart disease (CHD).

Friedman & Rosenman (1974) found evidence for the role of individual differences in
men’s ways of dealing with stressful situations. They concluded that men who displayed
Type A behaviour (TAB) were far more likely to develop CHD than other men.

In summary, Hans Selye suggested that:

a) ALL stressors produce the same range of physiological responses, for example,
the heart rate accelerates and glucose levels rise.
b) Under stress, a person may go through the stages of ALARM – RESISTANCE –
EXHAUSTION if the stress is not relieved. The alarm stage is also known as the
fight-or-flight mode.
c) Persistent stress may produce psychosomatic illnesses such as hypertension,
cardiac disease, migraine, asthma, gastric ulcers, and eczema.

2. The pituitary-adrenal system and the sympathomedullary pathway

Most psychologists regard the hypothalamus as the starting point for the stress response.
The hypothalamus initiates a hormonal response known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-
adrenal axis.

Situations and events that we perceive as threatening or anxiety inducing activate a
‘primitive’ area of the brain known as the hypothalamus which then stimulates the release
of a hormone known as corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF). CRF targets a tiny gland
called the pituitary gland.

The pituitary gland is often called the ‘master gland’ because it secretes a wide range of
hormones that influence bodily functions and behaviour. The pituitary gland is divided
into two parts, the anterior (front) and posterior (back). In response to CRF the anterior
pituitary gland begins to release a hormone known as adrenocorticotropic hormone
(ACTH). ACHT travels in the blood to its target organ, the adrenal glands.

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Like the pituitary gland, the adrenal glands are made up of two parts: the adrenal cortex
(the outer part), and the adrenal medulla (the centre or inner part). When an individual is
aroused, the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) speeds up
bodily activity. This involves increasing heart rate and stimulating certain glands,
including the adrenal medulla to secrete the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline
which further increase arousal.

Together, this response is described as the flight or fight response, the immediate arousal
response to a stressor. This is likely to be an evolutionary response developed in our
earliest ancestors to give them a better chance of survival when faced with threat and
danger. Even today when human beings feel aggressive and fearful there are large
increases of adrenaline and noradrenaline in our systems.

3. Stress-related illness and the immune system

The immune system is a collection of billions of cells that travel through the bloodstream.
They move in and out of tissues and organs, defending the body against foreign bodies
(antigens), such as bacteria, viruses and cancerous cells. The main types of immune cells
are white blood cells (leucocytes). When we’re stressed, the immune system’s ability to
fight off antigens is reduced. That is why we are more susceptible to infections.

This was demonstrated by Glaser’s study of medical students facing important
examinations, and in Schliefer’s study of men whose wives had died from breast cancer.
Riley’s study of mice stressed out by being placed on rotating turntables also helps to
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demonstrate that different stressors, including exams, death of a spouse, caring for
relatives with Alzheimer’s disease, are all involved in reduced immune function.

Glaser (1986) assessed 40 medical students 6 weeks before they took important
examinations. He asked the students to complete a questionnaire and also took blood
samples. He then medically assessed the students again during the actual period of
examination by taking and analysing more blood samples.

During the examination period, Glaser noted high levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline,
the ‘stress hormones’, in the students’ blood. We know there is a direct link between
these hormones and the Immune System.

Glaser observed that there was a significant reduction of T cells during the examination
period. The reduction of T cells is one method we use to assess whether or not the
Immune System is being suppressed. A few weeks after the examinations were over, the
students T cell count had returned to normal.

Glaser concluded that the medical students had been under significant stress during their
examinations. This helps to conform that that different stressors, including exams, death
of a spouse, caring for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease, are all involved in reduced
immune function.

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Stress in everyday life
 Life changes and daily hassles
 Workplace stress
 Personality factors, including Type A behaviour
 Distinction between emotion-focused and problem-focused approaches
to coping with stress
 Psychological and physiological methods of stress management, including
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and drugs

1. Life Changes and Daily Hassles

Life events include changes that happen to most people, such as leaving school, marriage,
having children, and much less common ones, such as imprisonment, and being fired at
work. Holmes & Rahe (1967) constructed an instrument for measuring stress. They
defined stress as the amount of change a person has to deal with during a particular
period of time. Their Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) comprises 43 life events,
each given a life change unit (LCU) score.

They found that the higher someone’s overall LCU score (how many life events they’d
experienced during the previous year, the more likely they were to show symptoms of
both physical and psychological illness. The greater the stress, the more serious the
illness. They claimed that stress actually makes us ill.

Holmes & Rahe’s SSRS was the first attempt to measure stress objectively and to
examine its relationship to illness. It assumes that any change is stressful. But the list of
life events is largely negative, especially those with the highest LCU scores (such as the
death of a spouse). So, the SSRS may be confusing ‘change’ with ‘undesirability’, things
that we don’t want to happen. Some of the life events can refer to positive or negative
change, and there’s no reference to the problems of old age, or natural, or man-made
disasters.

In addition, only those life events that can be classified as out of a person’s control are
correlated with later illness, and the life events don’t include everyday hassles such as
traffic jams, bad weather and financial worries.

Later research has shown that daily hassles may be a more powerful predictor of both
physical and psychological symptoms rather than the SRRS’s life events. Instead of life
events causing illness, they could be early signs that an illness is already developing.

Finally, in describing life events, participants are often asked to recall both their illnesses
and the stressful events that occurred during the preceding year. Retrospective studies
like this can sometimes produce unreliable data.

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2. Workplace Stress

Social isolation. In some work situations, workers are isolated from each other for long
periods of time. This often happens on production lines where machines control the work
operations. Workers have few opportunities to communicate socially with each other.
Social isolation is related to various indicators of stress, for example, high levels of
adrenaline and noradrenaline. Work should be organised so that workers have regular
opportunities for social contact with each other.

Work overload. One way of identifying work overload is in terms of the number of
hours worked per week. A number of studies suggest a link between long hours, stress
and ill health. For example, a study of workers under the age of 45 in light industry found
that those who worked more than 48 hours per week were twice as likely to develop
coronary heart disease than those who worked 40 hours or less (Breslow & Buell, 1960).
The amount of work done by workers should be regularly checked and adjusted to ensure
mental and physical health.

Other stressors in the workplace may include:

1. Working conditions (environmental stressors such as noise, temperature, over-
crowding, risk & danger).
2. Roles at work (e.g. role conflict, role ambiguity, levels of responsibility)
3. Relationships at work (e.g. with immediate line manager)
4. Career development (job security, redundancy, retirement)
5. Organisational (e.g. the feeling of involvement & belonging)

It is important to remember that is the perception of work overload by a worker rather
than simply the number of hours worked. In this sense, work overload is a perception
held by a worker that he is required to work too long/hard. Something only becomes a
stressor when the individual perceives it as such. Therefore, every individual is making
transactions with the environment around him throughout his life.

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3. Personality factors, including Type A behaviour

Psychologists investigating stress have focussed on two personality types: Type A and
Type B.

Characteristics of Type A include an overriding need to achieve, a highly competitive
nature and a tendency to show anger and hostility. In contrast, Type B individuals tend to
be more relaxed and are far less hostile and aggressive.

Research has shown that Type A individuals respond more actively to stressors; they are
more easily “wound up”, tend to overreact, and are often at “boiling point”. This may
cause excessive wear and tear of their bodies, especially the cardio-vascular system.

The Type A personality has been associated with hypertension, chronic high blood
pressure. Chronic hypertension puts strains on both the heart and the arteries.

Friedman & Rosenman (1974) found evidence for the role of individual differences in
men’s ways of dealing with stressful situations. They concluded that men who displayed
Type A behaviour (TAB) were far more likely to develop CHD than other men.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the biggest single cause of death in modern
industrialised societies. In Britain, almost 50% of all deaths result from CHD. Around
half of these deaths may be related to stress, and stress may be related to individual
personality types.

Friedman & Rosenman (1974) assessed the personality types of 3500 healthy middle-
aged men as part of a 12 year longitudinal study. Participants were asked questions
relating to impatience, competitiveness, motivation for success, frustration at goals being
hindered, and their feelings towards being under pressure.

High scorers were described as ‘Type A’ personalities while low scorers were described
as ‘Type B’ personalities. More than twice as many of the Type A personalities went on
to develop cardiovascular disorders than did Type B personalities.

They concluded that men who displayed Type A behaviour (TAB) were far more likely
to develop CHD than other men.

Further research revealed that angina sufferers tended to be Type A personalities who
were impatient with other people and susceptible to feeling pressure at work. Those with
heart failure tended to comprise Type A personalities who rushed through life with hasty
personal habits and over-loaded schedules.

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4. Emotion-focused and Problem-focused Approaches to Coping with Stress

David has unexpectedly been made redundant. David sits down and considers the options
open to him and their likely outcomes. He decides on his priorities and acts directly to
deal with the stressful situation. David has adopted a problem-focused approach to
coping with stress.

Jon has unexpectedly been made redundant. He feels angry and frustrated, and he vents
those feelings. He then tries to keep up his hopes about the future, and he works hard to
control his emotions. Jon has adopted an emotion-focused approach to coping with
stress.

Individuals cope with stressful situations in different ways. Endler and Parker (1990)
devised the Multi-dimensional Coping Inventory to describe three major coping
strategies:

 Task-oriented or problem-focused strategy: obtain information about the stressful
situation – consider alternative courses of action and their likely outcome – decide
on priorities – put plan into action.

 Emotion-oriented or emotion-focused strategy: remain hopeful – try to control
emotions – vent feelings of anger and frustration as safety valve, especially when
it is difficult to see the way ahead.

 Avoidance-oriented strategy: bury head in the sand – deny or minimise the
seriousness of the situation – consciously suppress stressful thoughts – replace
negative thinking by self-protective thoughts.

Which kind of coping strategy is best at reducing stress? The answer depends on the
nature of the stressful situation. Generally-speaking, problem-focused strategies work
best when the individual has the resources and means to resolve the situation. In contrast,
emotion-focused strategy may be preferable, at least on a temporary basis, when the
individual lacks the means to resolve the situation. However, you may not be surprised to
learn that individuals with the Type A behaviour pattern, including an overriding need to
achieve, often rush to the problem-focused approach even when it is not appropriate.

Avoidance approaches are rarely effective because stressful situations rarely resolve
themselves; avoidance is best left to ostriches. To be fair, avoidance strategies can be
useful at times. For example, if you are in hospital it’s best not to dwell on all the things
that might go wrong; most of them won’t; and lying there worrying about what might
happen is simply going to increase the stress, not reduce it.

Most people, as we might expect, use a combination of emotion-focused and problem-
focused strategies to deal with stressful situations. Fontenot and Brannon (1991)
discovered that individuals in the work place tend to use the problem-focused approach in
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