Starter Recap of personality

Complete the past-exam question (June 2011)

It is worth 5 marks.

You have 5 minutes in silence to complete the question individually.

Question 4aMark scheme4. Mark is very competitive and he hates losing any game he plays. At work, he is often impatient and likes working to tight deadlines. He can become quite hostile when challenged.

4a) What personality type is Mark likely to have? (1 mark)

1 mark = Type A / A Type / Personality Type A / Type A Personality (TAP) / Type A Behaviour (TAB)

Question 4bMark scheme4b) Using your knowledge of how personality factors can affect the body’s response to stress, explain how Mark might respond to the effects of stress (4 marks).

1 mark = very limited knowledge2 marks = basic knowledge3 marks = reasonable analysis4 marks = detailed and effective analysis

Remember to relate your answer back to the scenario.

Question 4bExemplar answer People with Type A personality are more likely to suffer the

negative effects of stress.

Mark’s behaviour patterns are typical of Type A personality i.e. competitive, impatient and hostile.

These characteristics make him more prone to stress-related illnesses such as coronary heart disease.

This is because these Type A characteristics can lead to raised blood pressure and raised levels of stress hormones, which over a long period of time can lead to a range of stress-related illnesses.

Psychological methods of stress managementStressBiological Psychology

AQA A SpecificationBiological Psychology: Stress

Stress in everyday life 

Life changes and daily hassles as sources of stress. Workplace stress including the effects of workload and control. Personality factors, including Type A and Type B behaviour, and hardiness. Psychological and biological methods of stress management, including stress inoculation therapy and drug therapy. 

Psychological methods of stress management Psychological interventions used by professionals which train individuals to deal with stressful situations, rather than just dealing with the symptoms.

It aims to increase resistance to the negative effects of stress.

Psychological methods

1. Stress Inoculation Therapy (SIT)

2. Hardiness Training

Stress Inoculation TherapyMeichenbaum (1985)

Believed that we cannot change the causes of stress BUT we can change how we THINK about stress.

Emphasis on positive thinking rather than negative thinking to avoid negative effects of stress.

Form of CBT.

Definitions

What is CBT?

Involves changes in the way you think which result in changes in behaviour.

Individuals should develop a form of coping before stress arises i.e. ‘inoculate’ themselves against stress like you would receive inoculations against diseases.

What other word could we use to replace inoculate?

Conceptualisation Phase – learn about nature and impact of stress, view stressors as problems to be solved, break down into smaller components.

Skills Acquisition Phase – coping skills taught and practiced in clinic, skills include positive thinking, relaxation, and time management. Think differently and behave adaptively.

Application Phase – opportunities to apply skills in real life situations which become increasingly stressful. Techniques include imagery, modeling and role play.

Independent taskComplete the colour-code activity in your booklet.

Identify whether the term is a strength or a weakness of SIT and elaborate.

You have 5 minutes.

EvaluationResearch to support SIT effectiveness

Meichenbaum (1977) compared SIT with systematic de-sensitisation.

What is systematic de-sensitisation? The process of gradually introducing an individual to an object/event they feel anxious about to eliminate the anxiety.

EvaluationResearch to support SIT effectiveness

Patients used SIT or de-sensitisation to deal with snake phobias.

Both forms of therapy reduced the phobia; SIT was better as it helped clients deal with a second non-treated phobia.

This shows that SIT can inoculate against future stressful situations as well as offering help in coping with current problems.

Hardiness Training Kobasa identified the ‘hardy’ personality type that was resistant to the negative effects of stress.

Argued that this could be turned into a stress management technique.

I.e. Teach others how to become more ‘hardy’ and thus manage stress better.

Aim is to increase self-confidence and sense of control so individual can more successfully navigate change.

Hardiness TrainingStage 1

Focusing – client is taught how to recognise the biological signs of stress (increased HR) and to identify the sources of stress.

Hardiness TrainingStage 2

Reliving stress encounters - client relives stress encounters and is helped to analyse these situations and their response to them. Gives them insight into current coping strategies and how effective they are.

Hardiness TrainingStage 3 Self-improvement – The insights gained can now be used to move forward and learn new techniques of dealing with stress. In particular the client is taught to focus on seeing the stressors as challenges that they can take control of, rather than problems they must give in to.

Evaluation of hardiness training + College in Utah offered hardiness training to their at-risk students; HT helped them to stay in and graduate from college by helping them to deal with the many stressors they encounter.

- HT must address basic aspects of personality and learned habits of coping which are difficult to change. Not quick solution as it will take time for individuals to change their learned habits.