PYC 3. the Psycho-physiology of Stress p. 334-336

Psychology in Society STRESS 1. The psycho-physio psycho-physiology logy of stress (p. 334-336) 

Stress is the feeling we experience when things are getting too much

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Thus stress is an emotional response to circumstances & events

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It is a physiological response to physical & psychological demands

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Demands are called stressors

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Experience of stress involves combination of psychological and physiological factors

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To try and understand the psycho-physiological processes involved in stress we have to consider both physical tension and emotional tension

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!hysical te tension

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"ll living bodies maintain some degree of tension

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The sympathic and parasympathic divisions of the autonomic nervous system are responsible for physical tension in the body

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Sympathic stimulation increases the body#s degree of physical tension while parasympathic stimulation decreases the physical tension

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The relationship between these $ systems determines the level of physical tension in the body

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In some individuals the sympathic system is more dominant than the parasympathic

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The higher the level of sympathic dominance the higher the level of the person#s basic tension level

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Individuals with a parasympathic system that dominates have lower levels of basic tension

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Everybody has a characteristic level of physical tension

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%our characteristic level of physical tension is expressed by the characteristic ratio of your sympathic activity to your parasympathic activity

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%our basic level of tension is higher than mine when your ratio of your sympathic activity versus your parasympathic activity is higher than mine

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oo'ing at people#s behaviour a person with a basic level of physical tension that is higher will display more restless behaviour

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"lthough we have a natural basic level of physical tension it does not mean it always stays the same

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(hen sense are stimulated the body#s physical tension increases

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)ur level of physical tension is higher if we are active

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!hysical level of tension is higher when we are alert than when we are relaxed

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This difference in physical tension is referred to as the body#s level of physical arousal

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(e react differently to incoming stimuli

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The basic level of tension can affect our reactions to stimuli in adverse ways

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(e also differ in our stability of our nervous system

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Some individual#s systems are more labile *fluctuation+ and others are more stable

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(ith a labile system you are more li'ely to react more ,uic'ly and more intense to incoming stimuli because the balance between the sympathic and parasympathic systems are disturbed

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Emotional tension

The physical alertness of the body is not only factor that plays a role in physical tension

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!hysical tension also depends on the way we experience the situation

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If we experience the situation as threatening our physical tension increases

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!hysical tension together with the cognitive content *understanding of the particular situation+ leads to the conscious experience of feeling tense

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The feeling of tenseness about a specific situation is called emotional tension

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The degree of emotional tension we experience is lin'ed autonomic homeostasis of our nervous system

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If you have a stable nervous system *high autonomic homeostasis+ our physical arousal is smooth and steady  you are less li'ely to experience emotional tension

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)ur physical arousal together with the amount of treat in a situation hold for us determines the degree of emotional tension

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Thus our emotional tension varies as our level of physical arousal & our perception of the threat changes

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The difference between no emotional tension and the level of emotional tension experienced in a specific situation indicates our level of psychological arousal

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!sychocho-ph phyysiolo iologi gica call aro arouusal

(e can now put physical and emotional tension together to form the concept of psycho-physiological arousal

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!sycho-physiological arousal usually called arousal consists of a+

Physical tension / difference between our basic tension level and the actual

tension level in a particular situation and b+ Psychological arousal / difference between our feeling of no emotional tension & the feeling of emotional tension that we experience in that situation 