Two Key Studies of Cognitive Explanations of Stress (DP IB Psychology)
Revision Note
Key study one: Gomes et al. (2013)
Aim:
To analyse the mediating role of cognitive appraisal in the relation between occupational stress and burnout
Participants:
An opportunity sample of 333 academic teaching staff (129 males; 194 females; 10 gender not given) from a public university in Portugal
Participants’ ages were between 23 and 65 years old (mean age = 42.67 years)
Procedure:
Participants completed the following questionnaires:
A demographic questionnaire (age, gender and employment details)
A stress questionnaire evaluating the teachers’ sources of stress
A cognitive appraisal scale identifying primary cognitive appraisal:
work importance – how important participants felt their job was to them
threat perception – how difficult participants felt job their job was
challenge perception – whether or not the job was dull or stimulating
A cognitive appraisal scale measuring secondary cognitive appraisal:
coping – how well the participant felt they could cope with their work
control – how much control they felt they had over what they did in their job
Responses were measured on a 7-point Likert scale
Participants who attached very little or no importance to their work were removed from the data (they would have been unlikely to experience stress from something they considered to be unimportant)
Results:
Stress was positively correlated with:
work overload
the need to increase scientific productivity (research and publication)
the home-work relationship (pressure at work affecting quality of home life)
threat perception
emotional exhaustion
depersonalisation
All of the above were found to contribute to burnout
Stress was negatively correlated with:
challenge perception
coping potential
control potential
personal accomplishment
Even when the cognitive appraisals were taken into account, the positive correlation between stress and burnout was still present
Conclusion:
The results demonstrate distinct sources of job stress and a relation between stress, cognitive appraisal and burnout
Primary and secondary cognitive appraisals partially mediated the relationship between occupational stress and burnout at work, though they did not remove it
Stress is positively correlated with work overload and a feeling of not being able to cope
Examiner Tip
If a question asks you to discuss one or more cognitive explanations for stress, and you answer it using cognitive appraisal, remember to explain the difference between primary and secondary appraisal and their effects in order to develop the depth of your analysis.
Evaluation of Gomes et al. (2013)
Strengths
The results from this research could be used to identify ways for management to reduce job stress and for employees to increase coping mechanisms through modifying their primary and secondary cognitive appraisals
The quantitative measurements of the stress, appraisals and burnout were objectively taken using the Likert scale, which increases the reliability of the findings
Limitations
There may be a bidirectional relationship between stress and burnout, with burnout affecting stress levels rather than vice-versa; this would need to be tested using a longitudinal design
The participants were all Portuguese university teachers, which limits the generalisability of the findings
Key study two: Jamieson et al. (2011)
Aim:
To investigate whether reappraising stress-induced arousal could improve cardiovascular outcomes and decrease focus on threat-related information
Participants:
A volunteer sample of 50 USA university students (25 male, 25 female) was recruited
The mean age of participants was 21.88 years
Participants were pre-screened to ensure they had no previously undetected heart problem
Procedure:
Each participant underwent a 5-minute baseline cardiovascular recording
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions:
reappraisal – in which participants were instructed that arousal (i.e. some degree of stress) is functional and aids performance
ignore external cues – a distraction task
a ‘no instructions’ control group
The reappraisal and ignore conditions began with scripted instructions about the benefits of reappraising arousal or ignoring stress, respectively
Participants then read three summaries of journal articles (to match the message conveyed in each condition) on the computer
Participants then completed a stressful public-speaking task while their cardiovascular responses were recorded
The speech was followed by a test of attentional bias, measuring how long they spent stating the print colour of 100 threat-related words compared with stating the colour of 100 neutral words
Results:
Participants in the reappraise arousal condition exhibited no attentional bias towards the threat-related words
Participants in the other two groups showed significant attentional bias towards the threat-related words, which interfered with their speed in stating the colours
Participants instructed to reappraise arousal also showed improved cardiovascular functioning compared to the other two groups
Conclusion:
Interpretation of bodily signals impacts how the body and mind respond to acute stress
This supports the CAT, as those instructed to reappraise their bodily responses to stress anticipated being able to regulate these signals and achieve a positive outcome
Evaluation of Jamieson et al. (2011)
Strengths
The findings could lead to interventions being implemented for those affected physically by stress
The three conditions and a single-blind design, where the researchers involved in the testing did not know the participants’ groupings, increased the reliability of the findings
Limitations
The study only conducted research into an artificially-induced acute stress situation and so the results may not apply to chronic stress
The study should be replicated with an older and more diverse group of participants to test the validity of the theory with those who may be more resistant to reappraising the physiological symptoms of stress
Worked Example
The question is: ‘Contrast two explanations of one or more health problems.’ [22]
The command term “contrast” requires you to give an account of the differences between two explanations of one or more health problems, referring to both of them throughout. Here is a starting paragraph for guidance.
Two contrasting explanations for the health problem of stress are the biological explanation and the cognitive explanation. In this essay I will contrast Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) with Lazarus’s cognitive appraisal model as examples of the difference between these two approaches to stress. There are two main points of difference: the GAS model proposes a universal physiological response involving three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. However, the cognitive appraisal model emphasises the individual's perception and interpretation of stress, suggesting that the same stressor can elicit varying responses depending on the primary and secondary appraisal. The second main difference is that the GAS model stresses the inevitability of reduction in immune system protection with prolonged stress, as this interferes with the body’s ability to fight off bacterial infections and viruses. In contrast, the cognitive appraisal model explains stress is by no means inevitable, especially long-term stress. Lazarus’s explanation of the role of appraisal suggests that individuals can control their interpretation of the situation to reduce the physiological response and avoid chronic illness. Therefore it is less deterministic than the biological explanation.
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