1. Development of Stress Model
1. Stress is….
Stress as a physical response
2. Stress is….
The things in your life
3. Stress is….
The things in your life that make you feel stressed
Development of Stress Model
This model focused on physiological responses to stress How it makes you feel (fight or flight)
Stress as a stimulus – Life Events Theory. This theory focused on things in your life which could be classified as major or minor stressors in life
Physiological responses to stress. This was the first model and just focused on what happened to you when you are stressed. It did not really ascertain why people were getting stressed, but it was the beginning point for realising that stress can have real implications for people’s health.
Big stressors: Divorce, Moving House, getting married, bereavement
Small stressors: waiting in queues, automated phone systems, things being late, noises.
Can small stressors build up to be a big stressor?
Students to list something that makes them feel stressed, everyone to pick them out, and see whether it makes them stressed. This is to show that the same situation does not stress the same people out. This is the last model of stress, things are only stressful if we perceive them to be.
Transactional Models of stress – This model suggests that an event is only stressful if a person THINKS about it in that way.

2. 1.Stress as a physical response
This was the first model of stress and just focused on what happened to you when you are stressed.
It did not really ascertain why people were getting stressed, but it was the beginning point for realising that stress can have real implications for people’s health.

3. Stress makes your heart beat faster It gives you sweaty palms

4. It can make you feel shaky all over
Or all of a quiver

5. Stress can make your mouth feel as dry as a desert

6. It causes an ‘Alarm Reaction’ in your body resulting in Fight or Flight

7. It can disrupt your reproductive system

8. It can down-regulate your immune system so that you are more susceptible to illness

9. 2. Stress as a stimulus – Life Events Theory.
Life events researchers agreed a list of what they determined were major or minor stressors, eg:
Big stressors: Divorce, Moving House, getting married, bereavement
Small stressors: waiting in queues, automated phone systems, things being late, noises.
They did not really account for individual differences. They measured how stressed you were by seeing how many major and minor stressors you were under on a daily/annual basis.
Do you think this is right? Do you tihnk it’s self-fulfilling prophecy – you are told you will be stressed because you are moving house so you are stressed. What makes things stressful? They were more concerend with what made you stressed in the first place rather than just what stress did to you. What’s the benefit of this?
They told YOU what makes you stressed

10. 3. Transactional Model of stress
This model says that an event is only stressful if a person THINKS about it in that way.
Does the same situation stress everyone out? Lets see…. Class activity
Everyone write down something that makes you stressed and we will see whether these things makes everyone stressed or not.
There are individual differences for what makes you stressed.
This is the last model of stress, its suggests that things are only stressful if we perceive them to be. We are all affected by things in different ways.
The model says you can’t generalise and presume that events act as stressors for everyone.