Aggression and Stress

1. Aggression and Stress

2. Aggression/Anger • Does venting your anger make you less angry? • Catharsis Hypothesis: emotional release • Maintains that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges • Is it true? • More often than not, no • Expressing anger breeds more anger • Aggression and gender • Across every culture and every age, men are more likely than females to act aggressive • Biological or social?

3. Happiness • Happy people perceive the world as safer, feel more confident, make decisions more easily, rate job applicants more favorably, are more cooperative and tolerant, and live healthier and more energized and satisfied lives • Does money buy happiness? • Once you have enough money for comfort and security, piling up more and more matters less and less • Ed Diener

4. Stress and Health Psychology

5. Stress • The unpleasant emotional state that results from the perception of danger • Key word is perception • No one set of stressors will reliably produce stress in everybody • Not always the event, but rather, how we perceive the events • Not just a stimulus or a response • It is the process by which we appraise and cope with environmental threats and challenges • Mobilizes the body’s resources to enhance survival in dangerous situations • Can be good • Can motivate us or make us perform better • Can be bad…

6. What Causes Stress? • Often exists in the eye of the beholder • We appraise potential stressors to determine if they are harmless, positive or negative • Major stressors • Large scale disasters • Changes (good or bad) • Daily hassles • Social relationships and their disruption

7. General Adaptation Syndrome – Hans Selye • Alarm Reaction • A hiker confronts a rattlesnake, freezes in his tracks, and becomes aware of every sound around him - tries not to panic • Not enough? On to stage 2 • Resistance • Isolated mountain hiker is caught in a sudden blizzard • Will use his knowledge of mountains to shelter himself • When his food runs out, all his activities will deplete his internal reserves • Exhaustion • Reaching the breaking point

8. Biology of Stress Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA) Initiates the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine into the bloodstream from the adrenal glands Produces the fight-flight response to stress Hypothalamus communicates with the pituitary gland, which tells the adrenal glands to release cortisol (hormone) Cortisol boosts the energy available for dealing with a stressor Sympathetic Adrenal-Medullary System (SAM) Occur at the same time; HPA can continue much longer than the SAM response

9. Differences in Responding to Stress • Do we all respond with the fight or flight response? • No • Withdrawal • Tend and befriend: More likely to be done by women • Soothing others, hiding, forming social alliances • Probably related to the release of oxytocin a hormone related to social bonding

10. Stress and the Immune System • Stress can have short term benefits, including an improved immune system • The immune system does NOT perform well in the face of long-term, chronic stress • Our body prioritizes body functions during stress (fight-flight response) • This can be very bad if stress is chronic! • Lymphocytes (white blood cells) protect us from invading organisms • Stress hormones suppress the activity of lymphocytes • Stressors that are outside of a person’s control and lead to little hope for improvement have the most damaging effects

11. Other Ill Effects of Stress • Cortisol plays a role in our sleep-awake cycle • Released in large quantities in the morning, contributing to wakefulness • A jolt of cortisol, as a result of a stressor, late at night, will make sleep difficult! • May also interfere with sleep quality • Stress related hormones also cause fat cells to grow in both size and number • Stress can also contribute to obesity because of its interruption of the sleep cycle

12. Type A Personality • Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman • Workaholics • Highly competitive • More susceptible to heart disease • Stress does not allow the blood vessels to expand • Not the competitiveness that does it… • More likely the pattern of interpersonal hostility • Suspicious, angry, resentful of others • Not likely to have the same networks of friends and family

13. How To Reduce Stress • A major variable that predicts our response to stress is the sense of control • People cope the best with stress when they are healthy • Aerobic exercise • Social connectedness and support • Having a pet can provide benefits to your health!

14. Individual Differences in Response to Stress • Affected by genetics • Resilience – ability to adapts to life’s challenges in positive ways • Hardiness – commitment, control, and challenge • Social Skills • Cognitive Skills • Flexibility

15. Types of Conflict • Approach-Approach • Do I want to go to the concert or ballgame on Saturday? • Avoidance-Avoidance • Should I stay up all night studying for my physics or math final? • Approach-Avoidance • Should I ask him to go to the party with me? He could say yes…but he could say no…