Stress (Psychology)

A B S T R A C T Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because " stress " is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processes alone have been labeled as " stress. " Stress science would be further advanced if researchers adopted a common conceptual model that incorporates epidemiological, affective, and psychophysiological perspectives, with more precise language for describing stress measures. We articulate an integrative working model, highlighting how stressor exposures across the life course influence habitual responding and stress reactivity, and how health behaviors interact with stress. We offer a Stress Typology articulating timescales for stress measurement – acute, event-based, daily, and chronic – and more precise language for dimensions of stress measurement.

This article explores histories of the science of stress and its measurement from the mid 19th century, and brings these into dialogue with critical sociological analysis of emerging responses to work stress in policy and practice. In particular, it shows how the contemporary development of biomedical and consumer devices for stress self-monitoring is based on selectively rediscovering the biological determinants and biomarkers of stress, human functioning in terms of evolutionary ecology, and the physical health impacts of stress. It considers how the placement of the individual body and its environment within particular spatio-temporal configurations renders it subject to experimental investigation through standardized apparatus, electricity, and statistical normalization. Examining key themes and processes such as homeostasis, metricization, datafication, and emotional governance, we conclude that the figure of the ‘body electric’ plays a central limiting role in current technology-supported approaches to managing work stress, and that an historical account can usefully open these to collective scrutiny.

The development of systems capable of recognizing and categorising emotions is of interest to researchers in various scientific areas including artificial intelligence. The traditional notion that emotions and rationality are two separate realms has gradually been challenged. The work of neurologists has shown the strong relationship between emotional episodes and the way humans think and act. Furthermore, emotions not only regulate human decisions but could also contribute to a more satisfactory response to the environment, i.e., faster and more precise actions. In this paper an analysis of physiological signals employed in real-time emotion detection is presented in the context of Intelligent Inhabited Environments (IIE). Two studies were performed to investigate whether physical exertion has a significant effect on bodily signals stemming from emotional episodes with subjects having various degrees of affect intensity: 1) a statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon Test, and 2) a cluster analysis using the Davies- Bouldin Index. Preliminary results demonstrated that the heart rate and skin resistance consistently showed similar changes regardless of the physical stimuli while blood volume pressure did not show a significant change. It was also found that neither physical stress nor affect intensity played a role in the separation of neutral and non-neutral emotional states.

Extreme rituals entail excessive costs without apparent benefits, which raises an evolutionary cost problem (Irons, 2001). It is argued that such intense rituals enhance social cohesion and promote cooperative behaviors (Atran & Henrich, 2010; Durkheim, 1912). However, direct evidence for the relation between ritual intensity and prosociality is lacking. Using economic measures of generosity and contextually relevant indicators of group identity in a real-world setting, we evaluated pro- social effects from naturally occurring rituals that varied in severity.

Salivary alpha-amylase has been implemented as renewed noninvasive
biomarker of interest to measure the levels of stress in
humans. In the current clinical study, two-factor repeated-measures
cross-sectional design was implemented to determine the salivary
alpha-amylase levels and its rhythm characteristics in newly
diagnosed female breast cancer in- and out-patients. Alpha-amylase
levels were determined using the Salimetrics® salivary alpha-amylase
assay kit. Rhythm characteristics of alpha-amylase were computed
using the Cosinor Rhythmometry technique. Results showed that the
levels of alpha-amylase significantly increased from/to the increasing
number of chemotherapy cycle in patients of both group; however the
levels were higher in in-patients. Further, results revealed significant
differences in rhythm characteristics of alpha-amylase characterized
by higher MESOR, lower amplitude, and advanced acrophase in inpatients
as compared to out-patients. Current findings indicate that
patients of both the groups were associated with progression under
stress levels across the number of chemotherapy cycle; however, the
levels of stress were higher in in-patients as compared to out-patients.
Higher level of stress in cancer in-patients could be attributed to the
possible effect of hospitalization and/or relative social isolation.

Veterans are having a difficult time re-integrating back into the civilian sector following their service, with nearly 44% reporting some type of problem (Morin, 2011).  The experienced stress and resultant strain associated with this re-integration may be caused by an incongruence between veterans’ military identities and their civilian work environments, a form of strain we term Veteran Identity Strain (Vet-IS).  To better understand the experienced strain associated with incongruent veteran and civilian work identities, we examine the effects of military rank on Vet-IS, the moderating role of political skill on the relationship between rank and Vet-IS, and how this relationship affects the outcomes of work intensity and vigor.  A mediated moderation analysis of 251 veterans provided support for most study hypotheses, which predicted that rank would have an indirect effect on work intensity and vigor through Vet-IS, conditional upon veterans’ levels of political skill.  Contributions to research, practice, and future research directions are discussed.

Резюме. Мета. Встановити значення аматорського спорту як основи копінга емоційного вигорання у студентської молоді, виявити психологічні особливості студентів, які визначають уразливість до стрес-умов і схильність до формування емоційного вигорання. Методи. Пси-ходіагностична процедура була розділена на чотири частини: вимірювання емоційного виго-рання, дослідження індивідуально-типологічних властивостей, визначення психічного стану респондентів та їх емоційних реакцій, діагностики антиципаційних здібностей. Результати. Встановлено, що заняття аматорськими видами спорту допомагають запобігти емоційному вигоранню у студентів. За всіма показниками в групі спортсменів-любителів і симптоми, і фази емоційного вигорання менш виражені. Редукція особистісних досягнень за методикою К. Мас-лач більше виражена в групі спортсменів, що можна пояснити можливими розчаруваннями як в навчальній діяльності, так і незадоволеністю спортивними успіхами. Можна стверджувати, що спорт має сильний позитивний вплив на емоційний і психічний стан людини, захищаючи психіку від дії стресорів, навчаючи спортсменів справлятися з труднощами, привносячи гар-монію у фізичне і психічне буття. Ключові слова: любительський спорт, емоційне вигорання, індивідуально-психологічні та типологічні властивості особистості. Amateur sport as a means of preventing emotional burnout Abstract. Objective. To determine the significance of an amateur sport as the basis of emotional burnout coping in university students and reveal student psychological peculiarities that define the vulnerability to stressful conditions and the tendency to form emotional burnout. Methods. The psychodiagnostic procedure was divided into four parts: measurement of emotional burnout, study of individual-typological properties, determination of the mental state of respondents and their emotional reactions, diagnosis of anticipatory abilities. Results. It has been established that practicing amateur sports helps to prevent emotional burnout in students. The data support the initial assumption that the group of sport amateurs have less pronounced symptoms of burnout in comparison to those who do not practice any sport. However, the index of the reduction of personal achievements according to K. Maslach methods was more significant in the group of athletes, which can be explained by possible disappointment in studying activities and dissatisfaction with achievements in sport. It can be concluded that practicing sports has a strong positive impact on the emotional and mental state of a person, protects an individual from stress factors, helps athletes to cope with difficulties, and brings harmony to one's physical and mental being.

Sexual desire and testosterone are widely assumed to be directly and positively linked to each other despite the lack of supporting empirical evidence. The literature that does exist is mixed, which may result from a conflation of solitary and dyadic desire, and the exclusion of contextual variables, like stress, known to be relevant. Here, we use the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds as a framework for examining how testosterone, solitary and partnered desire, and stress are linked over time. To do so, we collected saliva samples (for testosterone and cortisol) and measured desire as well as other variables via questionnaires over nine monthly sessions in 78 women and 79 men. Linear mixed models showed that testosterone negatively predicted partnered desire in women but not men. Stress moderated associations between testosterone and solitary desire in both women and men, but differently: At lower levels of stress, higher average testosterone corresponded to higher average solitary desire for men, but lower solitary desire on average for women. Similarly, for partnered desire, higher perceived stress predicted lower desire for women, but higher desire for men. We conclude by discussing the ways that these results both counter presumptions about testosterone and desire but fit with the existing literature and theory, and highlight the empirical importance of stress and gender norms.

Video games, and especially roleplaying games offer a way for players to escape stress and cope with stressors. Video games are a new, and potentially unique, mechanism for telling stories. They allow a player to not only interact with a world, but to fully immerse themselves in a digital world. Being able to quite literally escape to a fantasy world where your actions matter, and you"re given control can be a great form of self-therapy for players. This study aims to examine the results of a global pandemic and quarantine on player motivations and the reasons they play video games. The study collected detailed information on the video games genres and play time of each user and how it has been affected during self-isolation. Participants were also asked a series of questions that required them to evaluate their gaming habits both prior to and during the pandemic. This information was analysed to attempt to further understand players choices, in particular during a pandemic where there is an increased need to alleviate stress and experience a sense of escapism.