Chapter 22. Coping with Stress Textbook Solutions

NIOS Class 12 Psychology Chapter 22 Answers

INTEXT QUESTIONS 22.1

1. Briefly discuss the different types of stressors.

Ans: 

• 1. Daily hassles stress:-This kind of stress results from too many minor sources of stress. It can range from making meals to reaching the office on time, etc.
• 2. Major life events stress: Death of a loved one, divorce, transfer from one place to another, losing a job etc.
• 3. Job stress:-The stress related to the working environment more.

2. Positive aspect of stress is called _____ and the negative aspect of stress is called _____ .

Ans: Eustress, Distress

3. What are catastrophic life events, and how can they create stress among individuals?

Ans: Catastrophic events: These are stressors that are beyond the control of a person. Such stressors might include devastation after wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. These might result in individuals losing all the assets they have. Therefore, these have devastating effects on the psychological well-being of individuals.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 22.2

1. Match the following.

(a) Physiological response to stress	(i) impaired decision making
(b) Cognitive response to stress	(ii) crying
(c) Affective response to stress	(iii) irritability and anxiety
(d) Behavioural response to stress	(iv) trembling and tense muscles

Ans: 

a iv

b i

c iii,

d ii

2. How can noise acts as a stressor to an individual?

Ans: The environment of an individual, like background nois,e can create stress among individuals. It disrupts, distracts, or detracts from regular functioning.

3. a) Highly motivated people are more prone to stress. True/False

b) People with internal locus of control are likely to experience more stress as compared to people with external locus of control. True/False

Ans: 

(a) T

(b) F

4. How can poor health of family member create stress?

Ans: Caregiving to a family member often results in stress, affecting the caregiver’s physical and psychological well-being.

5. Discuss how the attitude of an individual contributes to the experience of stress.

Ans: Individuals with an optimistic attitude believe that good things will happen to them as compared to those with pessimistic feelings. This is mainly because optimism is related to dedication and determination, which help to adapt to stressors more effectively than pessimists.

INTEXT QUESTIONS 22.3

1. Prolonged stress adversely affects the immune system of the body. True/False

Ans: True

2. Parasympathetic division is related to the fight or flight response to stress.True/

False

Ans: False

3. Sympathetic division conserves and maintains energy.True/False

Ans: False

TERMINAL EXERCISE

1. What do you understand by stress and its types?

Ans: Hans Selye has defined stress as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change. Stress is an indispensable part of human life. It makes life challenging and interesting. Stress can be defined as a psychological pain where small amounts of stress are necessary to improve performance, whereas negative stress can hamper one’s day-to-day functioning. The experience of stress depends upon an individual’s ability to perceive the situation as challenging or threatening, depending upon the resources available to deal with the situation. Stress can be caused by a number of reasons, which can be internal or external to an individual. Such a stimulus or an event that causes stress in an individual is known as a stressor.

2. How stress affects the physiological and psychological well-being of an individual?

Ans: Stress can cause many physiological reaction,s such as

• Dryness of throat or mouth
• Low energy level
• Indigestion
• Rapid pounding ofthe heart
• Lack of sleep
• Tense muscles, frequent cold

These responses may result from the weakened immune system due to continuous exposure to stress.

Stress can also lead to some of the cognitive symptoms.

• Poor concentration
• Forgetfulness
• Confusion
• Poor judgement
• Negativity in thoughts
• Racing thoughts

3. What are the different strategies that are helpful in coping with stress?

Ans: 

• Problem Focused Coping strategy in which an individual tries to work on the problem to find a solution and get relieved.
• Emotion Focused Coping: In situations when, as individuals, we find that the situations or circumstances are not under our control, we tend to take breaks from the situations. This is what Pratigya did in the above example. This kind of coping strategy is known as emotion-focused coping. Sometimes in emotion-focused coping, people may delay the process of resolving the issue at hand.
• Cognitive Response to Stress: It is when you are facing any problem at a given moment try to help yourself by gathering information about it. It helps reduce stress by understanding what to expect and what can be done. 
• Social Support. This is another coping strategy where an individual tries to seek help from the immediate environment to deal with stressful situations.

4. What is the role of physical exercise and nutrition in enhancing the well-being of an individual?

Ans: The lifestyle of a person has an important role to play in the overall well-being of an individual. When we are under stress, we often resort to unhealthy eating habits and refrain from keeping up a healthy lifestyle. However, physical exercise on a regular basis and healthy eating habits boosts self confidence and also bring discipline in life. 

• Physical exercise has been associated with bringing positivity to individuals. It has proven to be beneficial in reducing stress. 
• Physical activity helps in releasing endorphins from the brain, which are the feel-good neurotransmitters of the brain. 
• Endorphin release has been associated with producing a positive feeling in the body. 
• Physical exercise does not always mean going for rigorous exercise every day. 
• Walking, jogging, and skipping can also work well for the individual. 
• Physical exercise combined with yoga and meditation is an age-old technique in the Indian tradition that reduces stress and is effective in calming the minds of individuals.

5. Discuss in detail about the role of cognitive strategy in dealing with stress.

Ans: If we try to gather information about our problems, then it generally gives us a clear picture of the problem and also tells us the strategies that help in effective dealing. This is also known as an information-seeking approach to stress reduction. If you are facing any problem at a given moment, try to help yourself by gathering information about it. The problems may range from daily hassles to examination stress to major issues in life, but gaining knowledge helps to empower the individual in effectively dealing.

6. What are the different factors leading to stress?

Ans: There are internal and external factors that result in stress.

External factors

• i) Catastrophic events like earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, wars, etc.,
• ii) Prevailing situations around an individual, like poor health of family members, financial problems, unhealthy family environment, divorce, death of a loved one, etc.
• iii) Environment of an individual, like background noise, pollution, overcrowding, job-related factors such as workload or work underload, relationship with colleagues and boss, unhealthy relationship with the neighbours, etc.
• iv) Culture stress: this may refer to the culture shock that one may experience as a result of adapting to new cultures. 

Internal factors

• i) Personality factors of an individual. People who are highly motivated, competitive and perfectionists are more prone to stress.
• ii) Locus of control: People who have an internal locus of control take charge of the events and situations happening around them and believe in a sense of control. However, those with an external locus of control believe that such events and situations are beyond their control. Such individuals are likely to feel more stress than those with an internal locus of control.
• iii) Attitude: Individuals with an optimistic attitude believe that good things will happen to them as compared to those with pessimistic feelings. This is mainly because optimism is related to dedication and determination, which help to adapt to stressors more effectively than pessimists.
• iv) Poor health: Think of a situation in your life where your health became a reason for your stress. If an individual is not in good mental or physical health, then it also leads to the experience of stress for the individual.

7. Describe General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and how does it impacts the individual.

Ans: Hans Selye proposed a three-stage model of stress to explain the physiological changes that take place in the body as a result of stress. It was popularly known as General

Adaptation Syndrome(GAS).

• Stage 1- Alarm: This means that the stressor, which is ‘term end examination’, will ring an alarm in the body or come as a shock to the learner. During this phase, the blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tone of the learner may be affected. This is a natural reaction to stress-provoking situations and prepares the learner to either flee or fight the situation.
• Stage 2 – Resistance: After fight or flight responses, the body begins to repair itself with the help of the parasympathetic system and tries to maintain homeostasis.
• Stage 3 – Exhaustion stage: If the stressor continues to be present even after the resistance stage, then this leads to the exhaustion stage. The continuous effort of the body’s ability to deal with stress-provoking situations depletes its ability to fight stress. This is regarded as dangerous to one’s health as it weakens the immune system and the organism becomes more vulnerable to stress induced illness.

8. Effective time management helps in planning and prioritizing of work, how does it helps the individual in dealing with stress?

Ans: The biggest hurdle to time management is procrastination. It happens when we delay important assignments and waste time on less important things. We may procrastinate for several reasons, like keep on thinking and plan and never executing the plan to finish the task, or we may procrastinate because we feel that we might not be able to perform the task and thus we do not make an effort, or we procrastinate because we think that we will do it perfectly.

Effective time management requires planning and prioritizing.

• Planning: It is very important to plan for what is to be done. Make a list of activities to be done for the day. Every single day and each moment in the day counts. It is important to set short-term goals for the day to achieve the big targets in life. Those who are successful in life plan and manage their time effectively
• Prioritizing: It is very important to prioritize what is to be done first while planning for the activities. Prioritizing is the key to successful time management. You must differentiate between the tasks that demand urgent attention over all others. Sometimes we spend our time on things that are not very important and realize that even after spending time working on tasks, we are still not able to achieve our targets.

9. Outline the different general skills to cope up with stress.

Ans: General skills to cope with stress

• Take time out for yourself:- If you think that the daily hassles have taken a toll on you, then you must find leisure time for yourself. It can be anything that you like doing, for example, going for a walk, going out with friends, spending time doing nothing at home, etc.
• Physical exercise:- As already discussed in the previous section, any kind of physical exercise is positively related to the well-being of an individual. Spending at least 20 minutes a day can act as a stress buster for individuals.
• Watching movies: Watching comedy series or movies helps in relieving the stress of an individual, as when you watch such movies, you just enjoy and do not give stress to your brain for thinking about anything else. Such movies relieve stress. Funny content also makes you laugh, which relieves stress and loosens your brain, allowing you to think without stress blocking the way of your thoughts. Laughing is good medicine for preventing stress, so funny movies are a good choice.
• Social support: A problem shared is a problem halved. Sharing problems with people who really care helps in relieving stress. It helps in ventilating emotions. Also, if sometimes, because of stress, we are not able to find solutions to our problems, then others can suggest better ways to deal with the situations.
• Learn to say ‘ NO’: No one can do everything all at once. It is good to set priorities and say NO to some activities if you think that you are not ready for a task.

10. Attitude plays an important role in our life, how does an optimistic attitude and pessimistic attitude impacts the individual?

Ans: Individuals with an optimistic attitude believe that good things will happen to them as compared to those with pessimistic feelings. This is mainly because optimism is related to dedication and determination, which help to adapt to stressors more effectively than pessimists.

Additional Study Materials

• NIOS Class 12 Psychology Syllabus Bifurcation
• NIOS Class 12 Sample Question Paper
• Group Processes
• Attitude
• Pro Social Behavior