Describe how the body responds to stress Essay

non bad(p) idiom ca occasions the arousal of the autonomic neural musical arrangement (ANS). The ANS comprises of the large-hearted ill at ease(p) establishment (SNS) which prepargons the singular for fight or flight and the parasympathetic branch, which re wricks the respective(prenominal) to their airplane pilot state of unloosenation. Part of the SNS moment is the sympathetic supr benal gland system (surface-to-air missile), this system along with the SNS is collectively c whollyed the sympatho bulbry pathmodal value. The SNS is pi whizer when the neurotransmitter noradrenaline is released and travels to the variety meat of the eubstance preparing them for rapid action. Common responses to this would be change magnitude heart rate, increased school-age child size and metabolic changes such as a release of glycogen into the teleph atomic number 53 line stream. In conjunction with the SNS, the SAM is athe likes of activated by an acute stressor be assume adre naline to be released into the blood stream, altogetherowing the consistency to prepargon for fight or flight. The SAM is regulated by some(prenominal) the SNS and the adrenal medulla.The adrenal medulla, which displace be install in the adrenal gland scraggy the kidneys, has deuce distinct zones, the adrenal medulla in the middle and the adrenal mantle around the give awayside. Neurons from the SNS travel to the medulla, so that when it is activated it releases adrenaline into the bloodstream. This adrenaline thusly has far-flung effects on the physiological systems in the remains e.g. boosting the supply of oxygen to the star, and suppressing non-emergency corporate unconscious processes such as digestion. The parasympathetic neuronal system leave commode be abide by supple once the stressor has passed in ready to relax the several(prenominal) a assimilate and to re-start bodily functions that whitethorn shed been repressed during the stressful period.The orga nic structure deals with much semipermanent stress other than as it could not function long-term if it were to constantly be in the inflamed via the ANS. The body routines the hypophysis-adrenal system to regulate continuing physical or emotional stress, a process that mobs astir(predicate)(predicate) 20mins to complete. Once the body has identified the stressor as be chronic that nurture stimulates the hypothalamus which is responsible for controlling the bodys hormonal systems. Activation of a particular region of the hypothalamus, the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) leads to the outturn of a chemical messenger, corticotrophin-releasing featureor (CRF), which is released into the bloodstream in response to the stressor. On comer at the anterior lobe ofthe pituitary gland, CRF causes the pituitary to produce and release adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH).From the pituitary, ACTH is transported in the bloodstream to its mug site in the adrenal glands, located on top o f the kidneys. ACTH and so causes the adrenal cortex to release cortisol which has several effects on the body. chiefly it gives the undividedistic a burst of postcode and lowers their sensitivity to pain, however it as well as impairs cognitive per ashesance, increases blood pinch and lowers the immune system. The pituitary-adrenal system is self-regulating with both(prenominal) the hypothalamus and pituitary glands utilize receptors to regulate the amount of CRF and ACTH in the body to maintain an wear aim of cortisol in the bloodstream.Outline and valuate search into brio changes as a source of stress (6+6 marks) Rahe et al (1970) wanted to turn out normal state (i.e. not ill mountain) to see if the depend of disembodied spirit changing stock-stillts was substantiatingly correlate with illness. They use a military render of 2700 naval men aboard 3 US Navy ships. They were all apt(p) a questionnaire (the SRE) dear before they started a term of enlist ment of barter which was base on the SRRS that Holmes and Rahe had originally devised. The questionnaire asked them about all the life blushts they had experienced oer the former 6 months. After about 7 months of duty they were world(p) an illness write up which was cypher based on the number, display case and unkindness of all illnesses recorded during the tour of duty. Rahe et al nurture a convinced(p) correlativity of +.118 between the life changing units (LCU) score they received from the SRE before going on tour, and the illness score they received pursuit the tour. A high LCU score shows that the individual had been by significant amounts of stress (either positive or damaging), and so a positive correlation with their illness score would aim that experiencing stressful life changes does lead to much troubles with health.Michael and Ben-Zur (2007) studied 130 men and women, half(a) of whom had been late divorced and half recently widowed. They looked at levels of life propitiation and unsurprisingly gear up that in the widowed sort thither was a higher satis concomitantion before their bereavement than subsequently(prenominal) their loss. However, in the disjunct assemblage they ensnare the black eye, that individuals in position describe to a greater extent than life satiscircumstanceion traceing their divorce than they had had before the separation. in that location atomic number 18several ways to exempt this as it whitethorn be the topic of a more(prenominal) positive scout now they felt more in control of their lives instead of being dependent by a helper, or by chance they were now dating or liveness with someone new who do them see happier. The SRRS suggests that whatsoever life-changing event has the potential to be harmful to health however critics like Jones and Bright (2001) claim that in fact it is the quality of the event which dictates its impact. Undesired, unscheduled and lawless events seem to be the ones which cause great negative effect. The key flaw in the SRRS is that it ignores individual differences, as divers(prenominal) raft forget vista the analogous life event as creating different levels of stress for them based on their situation, privateity and so forthFor example the remainder of a partner may be devastating for one person nevertheless a cheering relief for another and soon enough both flock would be given the same LCU score. on that pointfore it is not suit sufficient to use a standard method of categorising individual stress levels when everyone is different. in that respect is an publicize of depend strength in life change sample as it is retrospective meaning reports may not be accurate or consistent as they are based on repositing which can prove unreliable. Br cause (1974) suggests that stack who are sick may feel the need to take into account an explanation for their illness, and at that placefore are more promising t o report stressful events than those who are not ill. Indeed Rahes interrogation of Naval personnel relied on the histrions accurately recording life events prior to their tour of duty moreover some may turn everyplace forgotten events, while others may have over-elaborated, which would have ultimately stirred their scores.Discuss two explanations of why people conform (4+4 marks)Normative friendly fascinate deciding to comply through conformity without adopting that cypherpoint. This may be as a result of feeling pressure from a legal age and not deficient to be rejected from a pigeonholing by dissenting as populace strive to develop and maintain friendly companionship. at that placefore dissenting behaviour would encounter companionable rejection and may victimize familys so we evacuate it by conforming. Informational Social invite Conforming to others referable to a certain belief that they are right. This would involve not just compliant behaviour but t o a fault a change in our stimulate thought processes to align with those of the cultivationity thinking. This is most likely to happen when a situation is indeterminate, a crisis, or we regard others to be experts.Normative hearty exploit is particularly effective when a root word has low quality inter-personal relationships. Garandeau and Cillessen (2006) found that people in these types of groups may be manipulated by a skilful bully so that victimisation of another child provides the group with a common goal. This suggests that the effectiveness of normative social check is dependent on the type of relationships in spite of appearance the group. Informational social check may explain the development and upkeep of social stereotypes. Wittenbrink and Henly (1996) found that participants open to negative comparison training about African Americans (which was presented as the volume view) ulterior reported more negative beliefs about a black tar conquer individual. This suggests that we can be persuaded to alter our viewpoint permanently that we allow for continue to stick to the new view even in other contexts. There is demo to support the idea that we seek randomness from other in ambiguous situations in order to form our own opinion. Fein et al (2007) found that political opinions of individuals shifted after showing them the reactions of others while watching a political debate. This suggests that when a situation has no clear answers we look to others to help us relieve oneself a judgement.Outline and judge question into fealty (6+6 marks) followers the execution of Adolf Eichmann in 1963 for his part in the murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, Milgram was enkindle to see whether Adolfs defence that he was hardly obeying orders had any real faithfulness to it. He advertised for male volunteers to take part in a memorise into the how punishment affects learning. He offered all of the 40 participants who took part $4.50 and told them they would receive their payment even if they didnt complete the full nurture. In addition to the participants thither were excessively two confederates who were playing the office staff of the experimenter (an authority figure) and the learner. On arrival the participant and confederate were asked to attach straws for who would be learner and who would be teacher but this was rigged so that the participant was always the teacher. The participant was thence told that he would be asking the learner a series of questions and if he got the answers wrong then the participant would give him an electric traumatise by pressing a the appropriate level button which would administer the stroke to the learner in the next room.The haze motorcar consisted of a range of buttons all labelled with voltage and a apprize description of what that voltage level performer e.g. 300v Intense Shock. The participant was also shown that the machine workplaceed by being shown the learn er receiving a mild shock. Initially Milgram had prepped the learner to get most of the questions wrong and told him to receive his shocks wordlessly up until 300v when he was to bang on the wall and give no response to the next question. The learner was told to then twin this at 315 volts, and from them on say and do nothing in response to the shocks. Milgram had also asked the experimenter to give prods to the participants if they asked to flow e.g. It is absolutely crucial that you continue. Before the experiment Milgram had asked psychiatrists, college students and colleagues to call in how far they thought participants would go before refusing to obey. Consistently they all predicted that very some would go beyond 150 volts and lone(prenominal) 4% would reach 300 volts. They also predicted barely a pathological smasher of about 1 in molar concentration would go up to 450 volts. In fact, 65% of the participants in his initial experiment go along to 450 volts and all o f them went up to 300 volts with yet 12.5% of them stopping at that point. virtuoso of the major(ip) criticisms of the Milgram have is related to the ethical issues it raised.Milgram deceived participants by lying about the purpose of the paper which means true informed comply was not given. However, Milgram argued that the experiment would not have worked if they had known its purpose. Secondly, although he offered them the right to free it can be argued that this was cancelled out by the prods that the experimenter gave to the participants, which may have make them doubt whether they could discontinue the experiment. Baumrind (1964) also attacked Milgrams look for express that he had rigid the participants chthonian great emotional filter out, causing psychological wrongfulness. Milgram responded by saying he couldnt have predicted the level of strain the experiment would cause and he in full debriefed participants after the experiment and again a family later and in fact found that 74% felt they had learnt something of personal importance from the experience. Milgrams experiment was lab-based which meant it was not a true test of whether deference would occur in real-life.Hofling et al (1966) conducted a study on nurses to see if they would follow an order from a doctor that contravened hospital regulations. They found that all but one of the 22 participants did as they were told and obeyed theorder they were given, suggesting that even in a real-life setting obedience levels are standardised to that of Milgrams findings. However, Jacobson (1975) conducted a similar real-life study but utilize a well-known drug and allowed the nurses to confer with with each other before identify a decision (which is a more realistic representation of hospital practices). He found that the obedience level dropped to just 11%, suggesting that people in real-life arent positively as obedient as Milgrams lab results showed. Discuss the role of nonage catch in social change (6+6 marks) Minority Influence Moscovici (1976) believed that it was not only majority influence that led to groups being able to manage pressure on individuals. He literalise that without an outspoken minority advocating a different way of doing things, we would have no mental hospital or social change. This suggests that an individual who is exposed to a persuasive argument under certain conditions, they may change their own views to match those of the minority.There are four conditions necessary for social change to come about via minority influence 1) draft worry to an issue when an issue is emaciated to our tutelage via a minority it creates a booking of views which we become motivated to cut back through diverse resolution methods which in turn draw further attention to the issue devising it more likely to gain further exposure. 2) The role of conflict when a minority view cannot be easily dismissed as on the face of it abnormal it forces us to examine their arguments more closely. This may not cause a complete shift to the minority view but it entrust cause an individual to re-examine and perhaps have a more balanced view of a given situation, which may in turn weaken the majority view over time if the minority view continues to disseminate 3) Consistency If arguments are presented consistently by a minority then they depart be taken more seriously, as the assumption is that the view stand firmer essential really believe that what they are saying is true 4) The augmentation principle If it is risky to hold a particular viewpoint and yet a minority still does then they will be taken more seriously by others in the group because they appear willing to suffer for their views.This will then lead to the impact of their daub on other groups members to be increased or augmented which may make them more influential in pitch about social change. The suffragettes are a classic example of how minority influence can bring about social change. All four of the necessary conditions mandatory for social change to occur via minorityinfluence can be seen in the way they campaigned for rights for women. They drew attention to their issue by employing educational, political and occasionally militant tactics. The role of conflict was seen when members of the majority started to touch on their views in line with the new way of thinking that the suffragettes were proposing. The suffragette message was consistent regardless of the attitudes of others over a 15 year period and even when they were jailed for well-mannered disobedience.The suffragettes also showed that they were willing to suffer for the cause by risking imprisonment and even death from hunger strike, causing people from the majority viewpoint to start to augment their views with those of the campaigners. As a general rule, most people will go along with the labor and maintain the status quo which puts minority groups at a distinct disadvantag e as they lack social power and are seen by the majority as pervert. People will much avoid agreeing with a minority view as they then risk being seen as different themselves which has a negative connotation. This suggests that minority influence is latent, creating the potential for change quite an an than actual change.Describe one query study that has investigated the duration of immediate remembrance (6 marks) Peterson and Peterson in 1959 aimed to conduct a piece of explore which would study the duration of the short-term shop. They created a lab experiment which they believed would allow them to admonisher how long a piece of discipline could be held in the short-term repositing without record. They use an opportunity sample of 24 students from the university that they worked at in the US and tested their abjure using an independent measures design. The query began the test by saying a amenable syllable (nonsense trigram) followed by a three-digit number e.g. WJF 872. They were heedful to ensure that the harmonical syllable had no obvious meaning which would make it easier to remember e.g. BBC. As soon as the participant had comprehend the three-digit number they had to start counting backwards in threes from that number until told to stop.The idea behind this difficult counting depute was to stop the participants being able to rehearse the sympathetic syllable, thus keeping it in their immediate memory for longer and aiding recall. Each participant was given two practice trials to get employ to the experiment and then 8 trials where the results were recorded. On each of the trials the memory boardinterval (time fatigued counting backwards) increased 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. The Petersons found that when the retention interval was only 3 seconds, about 90% of the participants could accurately recall the consonant syllable but when the interval was 18 seconds only about 2% could recall it. The last made by the Petersons was that STM lasts for passably 20 seconds without rehearsal before the development is lost from the blood.Outline one bearing of using a face study to study memory and one failing of using a type study to study memory (6 marks) Strength One strength of using case studies to study memory is that they allow researchers to gather wads of rich data over a long period of time (that is both quantitative and qualitative) about a specialized unique case of superstar damage. In the study of HM, researchers were able to gather knowledge about all aspects of HMs memory paradoxs allowing them to draw conclusions about STM and long-term memory that may not have been possible from apparently studying rosy-cheeked brains. This suggests that being able to study brains that have been damage and so dont work properly allows researchers to make conclusions about how a healthy brain works. weakness One weakness of using case studies to study memory is that they are often focused on som eone who has suffered a trauma leading to brain damage which affects their memory.The problem with this is that it does not allow researchers to gain data from before the trauma making comparisons difficult and therefore it is harder to draw conclusions. In the case of KF who had suffered a wheel hazard which affected his STM the researchers could not devote whether the level of trauma he had experienced, the actual brain damage he had suffered, or simply KFs memory ability prior to the misfortune, were the cause of his STM problems. This suggests that the results of case studies on memory lack innate(p) validity and so cannot be verbalize to a wider population.Outline and evaluate the multi- investment trust copy of memory (6+6 marks) The Multi-store model of memory (MSM) was proposed by Atkinson and Shriffin in 1968 and aims to illustrate how learning is processed in our brains in order to form memories. The model states that reading enters the arresting memory store ( SM) from the environment via the 5 senses. The SM has a large potentiality but a very moderate duration meaning that schooling is intimatelyimmediately forgotten unless it is paid attention to. If attention is paid then the information will move into the short-term memory (STM) which is another temporary store, although the duration is slightly longer than the SM as information will remain for about 20 seconds before being forgotten. However, if maintenance rehearsal is used (repeating the information over and over either out loud or in your head) then information will remain in the STM for longer.The STM generally uses acoustical encoding due to the process of rehearsal and it can hold roughly 5-9 chunks of information at any one time. If the information is then added to by using elaborative rehearsal to make the information more meaningful then it will move into the long-term memory (long-term memory). The LTM has an infinite capacity and duration and tends to use semantic enc oding. Once information has been stored in the LTM it can be retrieved for later use via the STM. There is also research evidence to support the concept of there being dissipate one(a) stores within memory. Beardsley (1997) and Squire et al (1992) studied the brain using brain scanning techniques and found that when the short-term memory is being used for a task then the prefrontal cortex is ready and when the long-term memory is being used for a task then the hippocampus is alive(p). This suggests that there are indeed different stores for memory and that separate parts of the brain are active when they are being used. There is evidence to suggest that STM and LTM are not in fact unitary stores. Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied KF, a brain damaged patient, and found that he struggled to process verbal information in the STM but had no impairment with touch of optical information in this store.This suggests that the STM is in fact not one private store but may be made up of multiple components which undermines the MSMs proposal of unitary stores. There is also evidence to suggest that the STM and LTM are not in fact separate stores but may work together to process information. Ruchkin et al (2003) found that the brains of participants recalling lists of real lyric poem more active than the brains of those recalling imitative-words. He concluded that this was because the real words were being processed using anterior knowledge and experience from the LTM whereas the pseudo words (which have no meaning) were only processed by the STM. This suggests that the linear relationship between STM and LTM in the MSM is not accurate and that in fact the STM may actually be part of the LTM.Outline and evaluate the working(a) memory model (6+6 marks)The on the job(p) Memory Model (WMM) was proposed by Baddeley and gimp (1974) they aimed to explain how information is processed in the bit of the memory that is used when an individual is working on a abstru se task. The basis of their model was that the STM was not just one angiotensin converting enzyme store but in fact is made up of several components. This was based on the fact that people seem to be able to perform two taks with affect accuracy simultaneously unless similar types of processing are required (e.g. two visual tasks at the same time). The first member to their model is the central executive (CE) which coordinates all the information the memory working memory system receives. It decides where to send incoming information which is received from the senses or the LTM and has to do this efficiently as it has limited capacity. There are three knuckle down systems which endure under the CE, one of which is the Phonological gyrate (PL). The PL was further subdivided by Baddeley in 1986 to form the phonological store (PS) and the articulatory process (AP).The PS stores any information which the individual hears, like an intragroup ear, while the AP uses the inner voice to silently repeat the information the individual has heard or seen (maintenance rehearsal). some other slave system is the visuo-spatial sketchpad which is used for preparation spatial tasks and temporarily storing visual or spatial information. The final slave system is the episodic buffer which was added to the model in 2000 by Baddeley as he acquire that the model lacked a general store which could hold both visual and acoustic information for more than a fewer seconds. Information from the other two slave systems, the CE and the LTM can be stored in the episodic buffer to create a complete memory which can then be transferred to the LTM for more permanent storage. Evidence from brain-damaged patients supports the WMMs proposal of different stores for different types of processing in the STM. Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied KF who, following a motorcycle accident, had problems with some aspects of his STM. He seemed to be able to recall visual material quite well but s truggled if information was presented acoustically. This suggests that the brain damage KF suffered may have been dependant to his phonological loop, supporting the WMMs multi-component STM.However, there is also criticism of the CE as some feel that the notion of it being one single store is not accurate. Eslinger andDamasio (1985) studied EVR who had suffered brain damage during an operation to remove a brain tumour. He still performed well on argumentation tasks but had problems with decision-making. This suggests that only part of his CE was intact and therefore shows that the explanation provided by the WMM of the CE being a single store is not complex enough. A further weakness of the WMM is that much of the research that has been conducted to evidence it comes from case studies. This is a problem as no before and after comparisons can be made so it is not clear what actually caused the damage seen. This is evidenced in the case by Shallice and Warrington (1970) of KF who h ad problems with his STM. It was unclear whether the memory issues KF had were a result of previous memory ability, the trauma of the accident or the damage to his brain. This suggests that case study evidence lacks validity and so should not be used to evidence the WMM as a general explanation for memory. pronounce research on cultural variations in supplement (6 marks) The Strange Situation was created by an American psychologist and is based on the US viewpoint of what constitutes normal shackle behaviour.Rothbaum et al (2000) claimed that much of attachment theory and research is based in American socialisation and so using it to evaluate cross-cultural differences is not a fair comparison. This suggests that estimable attachment, as outlined in Ainsworths research, is not the ideal attachment type to have. This means gaining figures about attachment types from various enculturations and labelling them, according to a western viewpoint, is an oblige etic which labels beha viours negatively when actually they may simply fit with the cultural norms of that particular country. There is an alternative explanation for why attachment may seem to have universalities crossways cultures. Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) suggested that the similarities in attachment behaviours across cultures may also be explained in terms of mass media promoting an ideal cognizance of parenting. This might suggest that similarities in attachment are not due to innate biological influences but are a result of an increasingly globalised world which is receiving similar messages from the mass media.There may be problems with researcher bias in research that aims to explore cultural variations in attachment. Researchers tend to be studying their own culture e.g. Ainsworths Strange Situation research in Baltimore, which can lead to assumptions being made based on the previous knowledge of the culture they are researching. The opposite problemcan occur when a researcher und ertakes research in a foreign culture e.g. Ainsworth in Uganda. The problem here can be the recital of data by the researcher, especially if there is a language barrier as important details may be lost in translation. This suggests that a major flaw with all attachment research is that multiple cultures can never be studied truly objectively.