– Explain and evaluate research into Hassles and Uplifts

– Discuss the impact that life changes and Daily Hassles have on health

• How are daily hassles and uplifts measured• Explain whether daily hassles or life changes have the

greatest impact• Evaluate research into daily hassles • Explain real-world applications of research in this area

By the end of the lesson you will be able to answer the following questions

What are hassles and uplifts?• Daily hassles are the little things that happen in

our daily lives that can have a huge effect on how we feel and our overall psychological well being.

• Some psychologists have started to do research investigating the extent these hassles can have on our lives

• There is also research into whether an uplifting experience can help to counteract the damage that daily hassles might be doing to us.

TASK - Write a definition in your daily hassles work sheet and decide on your sheet what is a daily hassle and what is a life change.

Delongis et al (1982)

53

1) Complete the missing word paragraph about Delongis et al (1982) study using the following words below

hassle

both. Left

right

• De longis et al. (1982) mesured the effects of daily hassles on a scale called the Hassles and uplifts Scale (HSUP).

• The scale contains 53 items which are worded such as weather so that the participant can indicate whether a given event is a hassle, an uplift or both.

• Participants indicate that the event is a hassle by circling a number on the Left or uplift by circling on the right (or both).

• They found that the perception of the event is more important than the amount of stressors

Measuring Hassles and Uplifts

Delongis et al (1982)

2) Now we are going to try completing the scale yourself!

Measuring Hassles• Bouteyre et al. (2007) investigated the

relationship between hassles and the mental health of students during the transition between school and university.

• They completed the hassles part of the Delongis et al., 1982 scale

• They also completed the Beck depression inventory which measures mental health

• The results shows that there was a positive correlation between the scores of hassles and depressive symptoms.

Measuring Uplifts• Gervais (2005) asked nurses to keep a diary for a

month to write down all of the hassles they felt they had and all of the uplifts

• At the end of the month Gervais found that hassles had increased job strain and decreased job performance

• However, uplifts had made a difference and seem to counteract the negative effects of daily hassles

• This research shows that…• What is a limitation with this research?

Make a diary

For the past week make a table with two columns.

List all of the hassles and the uplifts in a table

What was the most stressful hassle or uplift?

Write your answer and explain why

Daily hassles vs. life changes

• In the last lesson we saw that there is a relationship between life changes and later illness (Rahe et al., 1970).

• We also found out also that daily hassles can have a negative affect on next day health (DeLongis et al., 1998)

• Today we look at the debate about which one is more likely to cause psychological and physical dysfunction.

Evaluation• Lazarus (1999) argues that the daily

stressors, persistent irritations and frustrations lead to overloads and as a result causes stressful reactions including anxiety and depression. This is called the accumulation effect.

• What theory does this evaluate?• Why is this an evaluation point of the life

changes approach?

EVALUATION• It could alternatively be argued that existing

chronic stress due to problems at work leads to greater stressful reactions when minor stressors occur, the presence of an ongoing stressor might mean that they do not have the resources needed to cope with everyday hassles. This is called the amplification effect

• Why is this an evaluation point of the life changes approach?

EVALUATION• Measures often rely on retrospective information

where the participant must look back at how they felt at a particular time this could affect the validity of the study.

• How have researchers overcome this potential problem?

• Much of the research produces correlational data, which looks for a relationship between two variables eg. Hassles and health.

• What is a problem with this kind of data?

• Curtois et al. (2007) found that daily hassles in young people including family problems and issues at school affected drug use in two ways

1. Earlier use of alcohol & tobacco 2. Increased dependence on alcohol & tobacco

Individual differencesDaily hassles and young people

Miller et al. (1992) found that pets are perceived differently by men and women:1. Pets are an uplift for women (psychological

break from stresses)2. Pets are seen as a hassle for men (money,

vet bills etc.)

What can we find out from this kind of research? Include in your evaluation of research that assumes that all people

are the same.

Complete the relevant sections in your work bookBouteyre et al. (2007) and Gervais (2005)

Explain in this section what they did, who they studied and what the purpose was

Give an example of what the study shows – eg.

Hassles led to symptoms of depression

Explain in here the findings, describe the correlation co-efficient

You need to evaluate using aAO2 and AO3 points, you can include the real-

world applications and individual differences points in here too.

Add your own evaluation points, you should comment on the problems with correlations

CONSOLIDATE• Answer the questions in the ‘can you..?’

section and the research methods Qs.• Read the Jackmans case and answer the

questions.