Real simple states stressed1/28/2024 ![]() Adam Fenster) What happened to the “reappraisal” students versus the control group? Psychology professor Jeremy Jamieson researches how experiences of and responses to stress affect decisions, emotions, and performance. It does not encourage relaxation, but instead focuses on changing the type of stress response: If we believe we have sufficient resources to address the demands we’re presented with-it doesn’t matter if the demands are high-if we think we can handle them, our body is going to respond with the challenge response, which means stress is seen as a challenge, rather than a threat. Stress reappraisal is not aimed at eliminating or dampening stress. Instead of thinking of everything as “bad” stress, stress responses, including the stress arousal, can be beneficial when it comes to psychological, biological, performance, and behavioral outcomes. People experience increases in sympathetic arousal-which can be sweaty palms or a faster heartbeat-during stressful situations. So, for people to thrive in modern life and overcome threats to personal and global survival, they must find a way to embrace and overcome the stressful demands. Furthermore, if people simply disengaged from the stressors they faced, it could put them at a serious disadvantage. This process is inherently stressful, but it’s also essential to being a productive member of society. ![]() ![]() Throughout the lifespan, people must acquire a wide and varied array of complicated social and intellectual skills, and then apply those skills to thrive. For instance, a student preparing for their first job interview might perceive their racing heart and sweaty palms as signs they are nervous and about to “bomb” when, in fact, the stress response is helping deliver oxygen to the brain and releasing hormones that mobilize energy. This may sometimes be misguided, however, because stress is a normal and even defining feature of modern life. How can stress actually be a good thing?Ĭonventional thinking suggests that stress is inherently bad and should always be avoided. Stress Response Q&A Stress often gets a bad rap. The study builds on his earlier research on optimizing stress responses. He researches how experiences of stress affect decisions, emotions, and performance. “We use a type of ‘saying is believing’ approach whereby participants learn about the adaptive benefits of stress and they are prompted to write about how it can help them achieve,” says lead author Jeremy Jamieson, a Rochester associate professor of psychology and the principal investigator at the University’s Social Stress Lab. To reframe their understanding of stress, the students completed a standardized reading and writing exercise that taught them that their stress responses had a function in performance contexts that applied directly to them, such as test taking. The team found that in addition to reducing their anxiety, that “good stress” mindset reset helped the students score higher on tests, procrastinate less, stay enrolled in classes, and respond to academic challenges in a healthier way. B.įor their latest study, which appears in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Rochester researchers trained adolescents and young adults at a community college to treat their stress response as a tool rather than an obstacle. Rochester psychologist Jeremy Jamieson talked about stress response and its benefits on WXXI’s Connections radio program and also on the PBS science show QED with Dr. Learn more about or participate in the research efforts around stress response at the University of Rochester’s Social Stress Lab.
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