The Schematrix: Theory of Stress & Coping

8/11/2019 The Schematrix: Theory of Stress & Coping

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Dissertation on a new causal theory of stress

The Schematrix Conflict Theory of

Stress & Coping

by

Sarah L. Macdonald

Submitted in part assessment for Bsc Honours Psychology

At: Northampton ni!ersity" Northampton

Date: April #$$%


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Declaration

This study was carried out in totality by myself and is the responsibility of myelf alone.

Signed S.L.Macdonald

Dated

Scientists should aim to develop theories which are simple, true and have a high

degree of explanatory power (arl !opper" The Logic of Scientific Disco#ery"

$%%'


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bstract

Thirty years of stress and coping research has produced little in the way of fundamental"

testable theory" as declared in publications by ma)or stress research groups. This study

proposes" describes and tests a new causal theory" of stress based on an expansion of the

traditional concept of schemata. The theory postulates the existence of a matrix of

schemata (The Schematrix' made up of all manner of types of psychological structure and

co#ering all aspects of mental (and physical' functioning. The theory hypothesises that

stress occurs when the schematrix conflicts with so called *real life+. That is to say what is

expected is confounded by actuality. ,llustrations are gi#en of the way the theory might

wor- in explaining current obser#ations. There is discussion around ways of testing the

theory including difficulties and ideas for o#ercoming these problems. These ideas are

de#eloped into protocols and tested with results intriguingly suggesti#e of the #alidity of

the theory. uture possibilities for research are explored and extended discussion

underta-en around the implications of the theory for understanding mental illness as well

as normal functioning" therapy enhancement and other applications in the wor-place and

home.


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C/01L2D3M2/TS

( would li)e to than) a number of people for their help and ad!ice while compiling this study"

*he tutors and lecturers ( would especially li)e to than) +of Northampton ni!ersity, are:

Dr raham .itchell +my dissertation super!isor, for his support and ad!ice/ Dr 0e!in

Buchanan and Dr ose 2apede!ila for suggestions on *hematic Analysis"

(f nothing else/ ( ha!e immensely en3oyed this attempt to push bac) frontiers" 4ith anyone else

as tutor ( don5t thin) ( would ha!e had the courage to ma)e the attempt"

*han) you/

Sarah .acdonald


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C0/T2/TS

Page unfinished

*itle Page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 1

Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page #-&

Ac)nowledgements --------------------------------------------------------------------- Page '

2ontents ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 6-7

8ist of tables ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 9-

2HAP*;


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ualitati!e !ersus ?uantitati!e ------------------------------------------------------- Page '1-'#

>uestionnaire ---------------------------------------------- Page '#-'&

;thical consideration ------------------------------------- Page ''

Population = study group -------------------------------- Page ''-'6

Pilot study ------------------------------------------------- Page '6

.aterials --------------------------------------------------- Page '%

2arrying out the study ----------------------------------- Page '%-'7

2HAP*; @


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2onclusion --------------------------------------------------

eferences ----------------------------------------------------

Bibliography -------------------------------------------------

Appendi A ---------------------------------------------------

Appendi B ---------------------------------------------------------

Appendi 2 ---------------------------------------------------------

Appendi D ---------------------------------------------------------

Appendi ; ---------------------------------------------------------

Appendi @ ---------------------------------------------------------

Appendi ---------------------------------------------------------

8(S*


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Definitions of ey Terms

Stress 4 the dictionary definition is*A mentally or emotionally disrupti!e or upsetting condition

occurring in response to ad!erse eternal influences and capable of affecting physical

health/ usually characteriCed by increased heart rate/ a rise in blood pressure/ muscular

tension/ irritability/ and depression5 +Heritage Dictionary of the ;nglish 8anguage "

#$$$$,"

Howe!er/ there has been much disagreement and uncertainty in the research literature o!er a

definition"

specific to the etremely general/ encompassing both stimulus and response" e/

Beehr E oberts +1#6, eamined 61 articles in si ma3or 3ournals and found multiple

definitions of stress/ and 2o +1&7, suggests that stress can be defined as Fa

psychological state which is part of and reflects a wider process of interaction between

indi!iduals and their en!ironment5" 8aCarus and @ol)man/ +19' p1#, suggest stress

cannot be considered a single !ariable but a Frubric of many !ariables and processes5"

Studying an element which has hitherto escaped clear definition is etremely problematic"

Participants in this study puCCled on many occasions as to whether their Ffrustration5 or

Faniety5 or Firritation5 ?ualified as stress" *his decision was always left to their discretion in

the absence of a clear definition"

Coping


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esearch into coping started as part of psychoanalysis whereby @reud defined it as a Fdefence

mechanism5 which too) a !ariety of forms such as repression/ sublimation/ pro3ection

or rationalisation +Brown/ 1%'," *he dictionary definition is to Fcontend with

difficulties and act to o!ercome them5 +Heritage Dictionary of the ;nglish 8anguage/

#$$$," As for stress there is little consensus among modern researchers of the

definition"

Schema

FA pattern imposed on comple reality or eperience to assist in eplaining it/ mediate

perception/ or guide response5 +Heritage Dictionary of the ;nglish 8anguage/ #$$$," *annen E

4allat +197%, describe a schema as a Fpre-eisting cogniti!e structure5"

Schematrix

*he theory re?uires that the concept of Fschemas5 be epanded into the concept of a schema

matri or Fschematri5 consisting of associated/ interloc)ing/ o!erlapping and connected schema

structures"

Schematrix conflict

4hen one schema is opposing another schema" @or eample/ the schema for disli)e of a

particular class of food conflicts with the schema that to refuse to eat a prepared meal is Fnot

done5" *he theory says this leads to stress"

2ngram +to be completed,

Somatic mar-er (to be completed,

!aradigm +to be completed,


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Chapter 0ne

,ntroduction

Lac- of theoretical basis in stress & coping research

4hen researching the topic of stress for my dissertation/ despite the crucial nature of the topic

and the large numbers of papers/ it was apparent that !ery little is )nown or understood about

stress" *here ha!e been well o!er #$$/$$$ research papers published on stress and coping since

17% to date +Pubmed #$$%7, which represents an enormous research effort o!er the past &$

years to increase )nowledge on the sub3ect" Howe!er/ leading researchers in the field admit to

the lac) of progress and the poor ?uality of the research" 2oyne E acioppo +#$$$, refer to

?uantitati!e stress research as Fin crisis5/ as it has Ffailed to yield any substanti!e findings5 and

is Ffruitless and potentially misleading5/ *hey also e!aluated applied research aimed at practical

solutions to stress-related problems" 4hile research supports some ad!anced therapies for

stress-related problems/ such as cogniti!e beha!ioural therapy +2B*,+ Bisson and Andrew/ #$$6

9G ranath et al/ #$$%,/ according to 2oyne E acioppo +#$$$,/ this has lead to impro!ed

understanding/ unco!ered mechanisms or established any strong theoretical bases" *ennen et al

+#$$$, described the gap in stress between theories=ideas and research as being Fan abyss5/ and

point out/ that the pioneer in the field/ ichard 8aCarus/ accepted the failure of ?uantitati!e

research in progressing a fundamental undertanding of stress" 8aCarus appealed for more

?ualitati!e research designs in the hope of bridging the gap +8aCarus E @ol)man 19',/

howe!er/ they continue to be !ery rare"


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mechanism +2ramer/ #$$$, are Fconceptually and empirically problematic5" ones and Bright

attribute the lac) of focus and producti!ity in stress research to Fa shortage of ade?uate models

and theories to guide research and practice5 +ones and Bright/ #$$'1$,"

Current Stress Models and Theories

*here are se!eral models for the stressed state" *he physiological model relates to the Ffight or

flight5 response and in!ol!es a biochemical cascade in!olcing adrenocorticotrophic hormone

+A2*H,/ adrenaline/ cortisone and hydrocortisol"


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1$, and Bromet et al +199, present e!idence in fa!our of the model/ other studies ha!e not

done so +Payne E @letcher/ 19&/ Spector 197/ .c8aney and Hurrell/ 199/ Sauter/ 19/

4arr/ 1$a, and an eprimental study also failed to pro!ide any e!idence for the model

+Perrewe E anster/ 19," 8andsbergis5 +199, study produced some/ though ambiguous

e!idence/ and there animal studies which seem to offer support +4eiss/ 17#,""

Transactional Models of Stress.

*he most common type of stress theory currently are termed Ftransactional5+eg" 2o/ 179/

Schuler/ 19#/ ;dwards/ 1#," *hese models en!isage stress as a process in!ol!ing continual

transaction between the eternal pressures and internal demands +2o E .ac0ay/ 191," *he

theory allows that the indi!idual !aries in withstanding these forces and percei!ing the

pressures and deciding whether and to what etent they ha!e importance +.crath/ 17%/

Beehr E Bhagat/ 196," *his model is all cogniti!e-based but still highly comple and suggests

internal and eternal aspects be studies togethter

Social support and the buffering hypothesis.

Social support is the reciprocal care ta)en by indi!iduals for each other +4illiams E House/

196," *here are two hypotheses that are categorised within social support +Henderson/ 19',"

*he first suggests that social support direct affects well-being - that is your stress is lower

because you are feeling happier/ while the second/ buffering hypothesis/ is similar ecept that

the effect is not directly on well-being but acts as a Fwindbrea)5 between the stressor and the

indi!idual ameliorating the stressors damage"

(n an etensi!e re!iew/ 2ohen E 4ills +196, found e!idence for these hypotheses" Howe!er/

wor) place research studies ha!e found little support of buffering/ although some studies find

some e!idence +8aocco et al/ 19$/ 0irmeyer E Dougherty/ 199/ Buun) et al/ 19, and


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others none +eg" anster et al/ 19%/ Dooley et al/ 197/ 0aufman E Beehr/ 19," *he

buffering hypothesis is similar in concept to 0arase)5s 3ob-demands-control model" Both 3ob-

demands-control and buffering models indicate that some !ariable +wor)er control or social

support, interacts with stressors such that the damaging effect of stressors upon well-being is

lessened" Both social support and wor)er control are therefore hypothesiCed to pro!ide

resources by which the nature of the en!ironment can be changed/ thus lessening the impact of

stressors" *herefore/ social support/ in some circumstances/ may pro!ide a means of controlling

the wor) en!ironment" Neither theory/ howe!er/ encompasses the influence of cogniti!e

!ariables"

Predictability/ control and stress"

Predictability may be considered to be pre!ious a!ailability of information about an e!ent"

Although you cannot ha!e control without predictability +if you ha!e no forewarning of

something you cannot be in control with respect to it,/ being able to predict a stressors reduces

its effects/ both beha!ioural and physiological +.iller/ 19$/ 191," Howe!er/ A!erill et al

+17, demonstrated that people prefer to try and a!oid the stressor if at all possible" Studies in

organisations support the idea that predictability is associated with contentment" 4arr5s

F!itamin model5 +197, proposes that an orgnanisation which operates in a clearly !isible way

impro!ed staff well-being"

Percei!ed control and its relation to actual control"

*he facet model of wor) stress +Beehr E Newman/ 1791'," Beehr and Newman +179,

identifies more than 16$ !ariables in!ol!ed in stress/ gi!ing recognition to the compleity of the

problem" Based largely on occupational stress/ this model in!ol!es changes occurring o!er

time/ feedbac) to the indi!idual/ which then results in personality and other changes"


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2o and .ac)ay +17%, suggested that stress is due to a dynamic transaction between the

indi!idual and the en!ironment +see @igure 11"6," (mportant to this model is the indi!idualJs

cogniti!e assessment of the percei!ed demands made on him or her/ and that indi!idualJs

percei!ed capability to deal with those demands" Stress is the result of the percei!ed demand

outweighing the percei!ed capability"

Theories of Coping

Any theory of stress needs to include coping in its eplanations" *hree le!els ha!e been

described/ coping styles that reflect the broad !iew + monitoring-blunting +.iller and .angan/

19&16G .iller et al 1%1%" !igilance-a!oidance/ approach-a!oidance,/ strategies that reflect an

intermediate le!el +e"g"/ confrontation/ see)ing social support/ planned problem sol!ing,G and

coping acts or beha!iours that reflect specific/ situation-determined/ responses that are

idiosyncratic for the indi!iudal+;ndler E Par)er/ 1$17G 0rohne/ 1%G SchwarCer E

SchwarCer/ 1%,"

4hen confronted with traumatic life e!ents/ an indi!idual will resort to a wide range of

strategies to cope with/ reduce or remo!e the resulting stress" .ost of the recent de!elopments

in the field of coping with stress and trauma can be traced to the wor) of 8aCarus and

colleagues +e"g" 8aCarus/ 1&G 8aCarus E @ol)man/ 19'," *hey see coping made of two

phases: Fprimary appraisal5/ which is a cogniti!e assessment of the stressful e!ent and its

potential for damage/ and Fsecondary appraisal5/ which refers to a cogniti!e assessment of what

to do abnout it"


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;ndler/ 1%G *obin/ Holroyd/ eynolds/ E 4igal/ 19,"

comple/ multidimensional/ and Fsensiti!e to the en!ironment/ the personality and a!ailable

resources5 +@ol)man E .os)owitC/ #$$', @ol)man E .os)owitC +#$$', also state/ howe!er/

that despite significant efforts that research Fseems only to ha!e scratched the surface5 of how

coping affects people and they also draw attention to methodological problems" aillant +#$$$,

describes three classes of coping/ Fsee)ing help5/ Fconscious cognition5 and Fin!oluntary mental

mechanisms5" (n fact there is still significant contro!ersy about whether and to what etent

coping mechanisms are conscious or unconscious"

.ost recently 8aCarus and colleagues ha!e turned increasingly to coping in relation to emotion"

He ma)es the case for studying discrete emotions in the contet of four processes that represent

the central features of a theoretical system: appraising/ coping/ Kow of actions and reactions/

and relational meaning with coping the )ey feature of the emotion process/ +8aCarus/ #$$%19,"

Stress and ,llness

(n the absence of a comprehensi!e theory of stress on which to base/ there has/ apparenetly/

been little in the way of fundamental )nowledge outcomes arising from research" Howe!er/

some more practical ?uestions ha!e been diligently studied/ in particular that relating to whether

stress produces illness" (t would seem from the large number of papers that there is a definite

connection between stress and medical conditions" Stress and depression ha!e shown

correlations/ although the nature of that connection is uncertain +Hammen/ #$$6," Stress has

also been associated with a wide !ariety of other medical conditions/ including cardio!ascular

disease/ H(/ colds and psychiatric problems li)e P*SD/ aniety +Schneiderman/ #$$6 , and

bipolar disorders +Pay)el/ #$$&," 8arge numbers of papers co!er presumed stressful situations

such as coping with cancer +Lenet al #$$%1G 4ong et al/ #$$%#$G Smith et al/ #$$6#1/ eiche/

Nunes E .orimoto/ #$$'##,/ trauma +Budur/ @alcone E @ranco/ #$$%#&G 0a3antie E Phillips/

#$$%#',/ gut problems +Buret / #$$% #6,/ allergies +4right/ #$$6#%, and a !ast number of other

conditions and situations +*hoits/ 16#7," Stress and the immune system has spawned a new


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discipline/ that of psychoneuroimunology" Although it is not pro!en that stress negati!ely

affects the immune system/ there are many suggesti!e papers 8us) and 8ash/ #$$6#9G Ben-

;liyahu/ #$$G obins et al /#$$%&$,"

Stress and 3ender

(t might seem li)ely that gender would ha!e some impact on stress and coping and se!eral

papers find 3ust that" a!ranidou and osner/ +#$$&&1, found that men eperience traumatic

e!ents more often than women/ women and men differ in the type of traumatic eperiences they

eperience/ and women more often de!elop P*SD after the eperience of a traumatic e!ent"

;planations they eamine are methodology used/ the higher pre!alence of childhood seual

abuse and rape in women/ the different coping styles of women and men/ or the more limited

socio-economic resources of women"


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Se!eral countries/ such as Sweden and Norway/ ha!e seen a dramatic increase in absenteeism

during the last 1$ years/ particularly among women/ due to health problems +8undberg/ #$$6&%,"

*hese includee burnout/ depression/ muscular pain/ headache/ gastrointestinal problems/ and so

on" .ost of these disorders ha!e been regarded as stress related/ and described as Fmedically

uneplained symptoms5" Although it is tempting to blame this on the more rapid pace of modern

life/ increased wor)load/ and continuous ad3ustment to change/ ;ri)sen et al" +#$$'&7,/ found

that sub3ecti!e health complaints are not restricted to modern ci!iliCation but are also fre?uent

among indi!iduals li!ing under primiti!e conditions"

A paper which demonstrates what women already )now to be ob!ious/ loo)s at the trait of

dominance and finds that men ha!e blood pressure rises when con!ersing with una?uainted/

more dominant person +either gender, whereas women do not show this trait at all +Newton/

#$$6&9,"

*here is also an abundance of indi!idual papers which are re!ealing on a small scale about

some important aspects of stress/ for eample/ Allen et al +11, show that the presence of a

dog/ e!en when you don5t touch it/ is better at moderating stress than ha!ing a non-3udgemental

supporti!e friend/ especially in women

(t has been remar)ed that there is Fa shortage of ade?uate models and theories to guide research

and practice5 in psychological stress +ones and Bright/ #$$' &,"

ones and Bright +#$$', contemplate the possibility that there might ha!e to be an array of

Fmicro and meta theories5 to co!er as broad an area as stress" Somerfield +17 '$, suggests it

may only be possible to produce theories rele!ant to specific situations"


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*aylor et al +#$$$, made and substantiated the fascinating suggestion that there are

fundamentally different mechanisms operating/ relating to stress and coping in men and women"

ather than the traditional idea that the origin of coping is the Ffight and flight5 response they

postulate that in women it is a F*end-and-Befriend5 mechanism" Arising from women5s

nurturing e!olutionary role/ this seems intuiti!ely possible and their arguments are plausible"

eary E @linn +#$$#, epands *aylor5s notion to include paternalacti!ities in men"

*aylor5s response to this/ howe!er/ is dismissi!e +*aylor et al #$$#," Since then there seem to

ha!e been no follow up studies on this"

8ife orientation test

*he 8ife


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percei!ed as stressful" *his measure calls for the indi!idual to self-appraise le!el of stress/ so

the Percei!ed Stress Scale +PSS, accounts for indi!idual differences in the assessment of

en!ironmental demands" *he PSS is a 1'-item instrument which as)s participants to respond to

a series of statements designed to e!aluate the degree of stress eperienced" (t has been used to

show the heritability of percei!ed stress +@ederen)o/ #$$% '7, as a measure of global stress

during cancer treatment +'9olden-0reutC et al/ #$$', in which it showed significant factor

stability" (t has been used as a measure of stress diseases li)e in chronic fatigue syndrome

+0elly et al/ 1'/ chronic )idney disease +


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representations. The >uestion of the mind?s representation of the world has long been

posed by philosophy" and philosophy may therefore be considered the founding

subdiscipline of cogniti#e science (3ardner" $%@'. 0ne of the greatest philosophers"

ant" employed the concept of the schema precisely in order to discuss the possibility of

-nowledge. ant attempted to go beyond the impasse between the empiricists" who

argued that -nowledge has its origins in the external world" and the rationalists" who

argued that -nowledge is a product of the mind. :e argued that schemas interdigitate

between properties of the mind (the a priori categories' and raw sensory data (of a

posteriori experience'. AThis representation of a uni#ersal procedure of the imagination in

pro#iding an image for a concept" , entitle the schema of the conceptA (>uoted in

3ardner" $%@'. ,n more contemporary terms" mental schemas are acti#ated by the

external world" and simultaneously pro#ide an interpretation of it. b' /euroscience

Cogniti#e science ac-nowledges that structures of the mind ha#e a biological basis" and

neuroscience is therefore an important subdiscipline of cogniti#e science. urthermore"

the neurologists :ead and :olmes ($%$$' were among the first to use the concept of the

schema. These wor-ers were interested in the spatial perceptions of patients of their

bodies" and referred to the basis of these as the postural schema. The postural schema

integrated sensations which were triggered by postural change. ,n lesions of the parietal

lobe the schema may be destroyed" with the possible outcome that patients ignore part of

their body" treating it as if it were not their own. Con#ersely" an amputee may ha#e an

intact brain schema" and therefore experience mo#ements in the missing phantom limb.

Today the more widely used term is the body schema (rederi-s" $%B%'" and

contemporary neuroscience has ad#anced to the point where it can begin to consider the

biological underpinnings of more complex schemas such as cogniti#e and affecti#e

schemas (LeDoux" $%@%'. c' De#elopmental !sychology lthough de#elopmental

psychology is not usually considered one of the subdisciplines of cogniti#e science" !iaget

is one of the most important figures in the prehistory of cogniti#e science. The notion of

the schema was central in !iaget?s wor-. ccording to !iaget" the initial schemas of the


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child comprise biologically based sensorimotor reflexes which coordinate the child?s

interactions with the en#ironment. 3radually these biological schemas allow adaptation

to the en#ironment by two complementary processes. 9ia assimilation the schema grasps

some no#el aspect of the en#ironnment" so modifying itself to cope with the en#ironment

better. 9ia accomodation the schema is differentiated and elaborated so as to be

consistent with the en#ironment. 1ith time" the schemas are transformed to the point

where the organism reaches a new stage of de#elopment. !iaget succeeds in pro#iding a

detailed description of these transformations from the point of sensorimotor schemas to

the operations of formal thought (!iaget" $%5'. d' Cogniti#e !sychology The concept of

the schema in contemporary cogniti#e science is perhaps most directly traceable to the

wor- of the ritish cogniti#e psychologist artlett ($%65'. artlett" a onetime student of

:ead" was interested in memory" and in particular in the notion that the context of an

experience had crucial effects on what was retained and how well this was recalled.

2bbinghaus had pioneered the experimental study of memory using nonsense syllables"

but this approach did not seem ade>uate to artlett?s concerns. con#ersation with

/orbert 1einer" one of the founding figures in cogniti#e science" ga#e artlett an

experimental methodology for de#eloping his ideas. 1einer?s idea was to use the

;ussian Scandal parlor game in which a story is passed around the room" and then the

original and final #ersions compared. artlett found that sub)ects showed consistent

patterns of error in the recall of narrati#es. Thus" for example" an merican ,ndian

narrati#e would regularly be re#ised by sub)ects until it came to resemble a 1estern tale.

artlett de#eloped the construct of the schema to explain this" describing a schema as a

component of memory which is formed from encounters with the en#ironment" and which

organies information in specific ways. Such schemas aid the recall of a typical (1estern'

narrati#e" but systematically distort the recall of an unusual (merican ,ndian' narrati#e.

artlett ($%65' wrote" A;emembering is not the re8excitation of innumerable fixed"

lifeless" and fragmentary traces. ,t is an imaginati#e reconstruction" or construction"

built out of the relation of our attitude towards a whole acti#e mass of past


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experience....,t is thus hardly e#er really exact" e#en in the most rudimentary cases of

rote recapitulation" and it is not at all important that it should be so. The attitude is

literally an effect of the organism?s capacity to turn round up upon its own AschemataA

and is directly a function of consciousness.A :e defined a schema as Aan acti#e

organiation of past reactions or of past experiences which must always be supposed to

be operating in any well8adapted organic repsonse. 1hene#er there is any order or

regularity of beha#ior" a particular response is possible only because it is related to other

similar responses which ha#e been serially organied" yet which operate not singly as

indi#idual members coming one after another" but as a unitary mass.A #ariety of

definitions of schemas ha#e been offered subse>uently. Thorndy-e and :ayes8;oth

($%E%' describe three uni#ersal assumptions made by different authorsF that a schema is

an organiation of conceptually related elements representing a prototypical abstraction

of a complex concept= that a schema gradually de#elops from past experience= and that a

schema guides the organiation of new information. schema comprises an architectural

element (its structure' and a propositional element (its content'. Cogniti#e schemas are

in#ol#ed in cogniti#e operations (e.g. encoding" retrie#al'" in which cogniti#e e#ents (e.g.

thoughts" images' are produced and processed. Schemas are highly interdependent and

hierarchically organised" they may in#ol#e #erbal or non#erbal8elements" and they may

be more or less open to awareness (Crai- and Loc-hart" $%E5= ,ngram and endall"

$%@B'. Schema theory has pro#en #aluable in accounting for a #ariety of psychological

phenomena. Schema theory has been used in contemporary studies of memory (Schacter"

$%@%'" concept representation (Smith" $%@%'" problem sol#ing (9anLehn" $%@%'"

mo#ement (Gordan and ;osenbaum" $%@%' and language (rbib et al" $%@E'. Schemas

ha#e been found to facilitate recognition and recall" to influence speed of information

processing and problem sol#ing and allow for the chun-ing of information into more

meaningful units to enable inference about missing data" and to pro#ide a basis for

prediction and decision ma-ing. ,t is thought that schemas engender bias by relying on

confirmatory e#idence at the expense of disconfirming e#idence" but that this process


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maintains schemas (;umelhart" $%@7= Meichenbaum and 3ilmore" $%@7= 1infrey and

3oldfried" $%@B'. #ariety of other constructs ha#e been used by cogniti#e scientists and

their forerunners to describe mental structures. Many bear a good deal of family

resemblance to the idea of schemas. /otable examples include belson and Shan-?s

($%@$' AscriptsA" andura?s ($%E@' Aself8systemsA" elly?s ($%' Apersonal constructsA"

Miller" 3alanter and !ribram?s ($%BH' AplansA" and Mins-y?s ($%E' AframesA. The

notion of the connectionist networ-" currently extremely popular in the field of artifical

intelligence" has been argued to represent a microle#el description of the schema concept

(en Iee#" $%@@'.

2T122/ C03/,T,92 /D CL,/,CL SC,2/C2

This re#iew of the schema construct in cogniti#e science demonstrates that schema theory

has been widely employed by cogniti#e scientists. :owe#er" it may be ob)ected that the

#ery di#ersity of the use of schema theory points to the problematic nature of the schema

concept. Different cogniti#e scientists operationalie and measure schemas in different

ways. Similarly the #ersatility of the concept may reflect only a lac- of theoretical rigor.

0n the other hand the concept of schemas has general heuristic #alue insofar as it allows

different cogniti#e scientists to theorie about mental structures from the perspecti#e of

their particular subdiscipline. The schema construct allows different cogniti#e scientists

to begin to build an integrati#e framewor- that addresses such >uestions as how the

structures of the mind enable representation" how they are based in biology" how they

de#elop and change" and how they account for a #ariety of psychological phenomena.

Certainly there is room in schema research for impro#ement in both empirical

measurement and theoretical rigor (is-e and Lin#ille" $%@H= 1illiams et al" $%@@'.

/e#ertheless" the de#elopment of the schema concept as a broad heuristic is important

insofar as it represents a mo#e in cogniti#e science away from a molecular and bottom8up

approach (concentrating on the elementary units of processing and on the influence of


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- #' -

the details of a tas- on performance'" and toward a molar and top8down approach

(highlighting the large8scale properties of processing and the influence of strategies and

contexts on performance'. Similarly schema theory represents a mo#e away from the

laboratory and artificial 2bbinghausian methodologies to a concern with the

in#estigation of day8to8day human acti#ity. These shifts in cogniti#e science are reflected

in increasing interest in using schema theory to in#estigate such phenomena as self and

other representation" and the representation of emotion. Schema theory has been applied

to concepts of the self by a number of wor-ers (Mar-us" $%EE= ;ogers" $%@$'. This

research follows the line of earlier wor- on schemas. Thus" self schemas are #iewed as

generaliations about the self that de#elop out of past experience and that organie the

processing of self8related information in the social en#ironment. This in turn results in

#arious forms of bias" but allows the maintenance of a consistent self8concept (3reenwald"

$%@H'. Similarly a number of authors (Cantor and Mischel" $%EE= is-e" $%@$= Taylor and

Croc-er" $%@5' ha#e described e#aluati#e schemas for assessing others. ,n this -ind of

research" schemas ha#e been used as to explain such phenomena as stereotypes and the

reactions they elicit. inally" schema theory has begun to grapple with the problem of

emotion. 2arly authors suggested that affect and cognition are seperate but interacti#e

systems. ffect was argued to be either postcogniti#e (/eisser" $%EB= Mandler" $%E' or

precogniti#e (Ia)onc" $%@H'. 0n the other hand" Le#enthal ($%@5' and 3reenberg and

Safran ($%@7' ha#e offered schema models which attempt to synthesie affect and

cognition. Le#enthal ($%@5'" for example" writes that emotions A....can be regarded as a

form of meaning. They ha#e significance for the person experiencing and expressing

them. Their meaning has two aspectsF they ?say? something about our organismic

state...and they ?say? something about the en#ironmentA. ,n this line of thin-ing" schemas

ha#e both an ideational and an affecti#e component. ll these areas re>uire further

empirical and theoretical de#elopment (:iggins and argh" $%@E= lein and ihlstrom"

$%@B'. s cogniti#e scientists begin to research these sub)ects" their interests begin to

approximate those of clinicians. Let us mo#e" then" to clinical theory and practice.


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CL,/,CL SC,2/C2 /D SC:2M T:20;uences for beha#ior and for the clinical situation. 0n the

other hand" reud ne#er really escaped his natural science bac-ground. The theory of

dri#e permeates all his wor-s. 1hile the dri#e model constitutes a good model for such

phenomena as mo#ement and momentum" it fails to pro#ide an ade>uate account of the

subtle meanderings and manipulations of the mind. Dri#e and force are too cumbersome

for meaning and cognition. urther" reud?s notion of dri#es is one which concei#es of

the child?s unconscious as identical to that of the adult" and his notion of memory traces

is in terms of a passi#e perceptual apparatus= his usual penetrating focus on de#elopment

and transformation blurrs at this crucial point. inally" the inherently conflicted notion

of an energy that is psychic exemplifies reud?s failure to resol#e the relation between

psyche and soma. Modern analysts ha#e retained aspects of dri#e theory" but ha#e shifted

their emphasis to the construction of the self" of the other" and of the space between them

(Mitchell" $%@@'. This #iew re)ects dri#es (as energetic or psychological concepts'" without

going to the opposite extreme of denying that psychoanalysis is a science concerned with

models. ,t is at this point that psychodynamic theory begins to adopt a schema model.

3i#en the -inds of approximations outlined here" it is not surprising to find an o#erlap of

#arious techni>ues in clinical practice. Modern cogniti#e therapists wor- with dreams

and spontaneous images (ues (1achtel" $%EE'. urther" the

possibility of increasing theoretical integration emerges. y way of example let us use

schema theory to consider some central focuses of psychotherapy 8 the unconscious"

dri#es and defenses" symptoms and therapeutic change. ,nsofar as schemas are not

-nown to the person" they are unconscious. The importance of unconscious processes has

become increasingly apparent in cogniti#e science (ihlstrom" $%@@'. ,t is clear that the

processes that ta-e place out of awareness are not only extremely important" but can be

scientifically described. 1hile empirical clinical research on the relation between schemas

and the unconscious is limited (She#rin" $%@@'" schema theory may be theoretically useful


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- -

in the clinic. Consider" for example" a female #ictim of incest" who describes difficulties in

relationships with men" but who is largely unaware of how these relationships reflect

earlier familial patterns. ,t is possible to conceptualie this patient as ha#ing particular

schemas about herself" about men" and about her interactions with men= schemas of

which she may be or less aware. Thus this patient may ha#e schemas in which atttention

is gi#en her by men only when she is seducti#e" and in which all men are untrustworthy.

The patient may consciously deny the presence of such schemas but ne#ertheless her

thoughts" feelings and actions may entail their existence. Thus a clinical formulation is

constructed which posits particular unconscious schemas" and which is employed to

account for consciously reported psychological phenomena. This schema #iew of the

unconscious discards the classical analytic metaphor of the unfettered beast lur-ing in

the mind" as well as the modern analytic metaphor of the damaged baby at the core of

the patient. ,t also departs from the beha#iorist a#oidance of the unconscious. The

schema #iew" howe#er" maintains the classic analytic ideas of psychic determinism and of

the existence of unconscious processes" and also conforms to the attempts of modern

analysts and beha#ioral8cogniti#e therapists to describe how the past repeats itself

unwittingly in the present. ,nsofar as schemas direct beha#iors" cognitions" and emotions

in a particular way" they result in repetiti#e patterns of beha#ior" thought" and feeling.

:owe#er" schemas de#elop in adaptation to life" and can therefore be seen not only as

constricti#e (defensi#e' but also as creati#e (strategic'. Thus in the patient discussed

earlier the schema in which all men are #iewed as untrustworthy" may ha#e pro#ed

helpful at home" but may ha#e lead to inappropriate affect in later relationships. nalysts

may ob)ect to this -ind of thin-ing for it appears to downplay the libidinal and

aggressi#e phenomena which are highlighted in analytic defense theory. Certainly

schema theory has only begun to theorie affect" sexuality and aggression (:orowit"

$%@@'. /e#ertheless" the idea that schemas ha#e defensi#e and strategic aspects discards

the classical notion of energetic forces being defended against by the ego" and downplays

the modern analytic emphasis on psychic deficit as accounting for the repetiti#e patterns


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- && -

of the present. :owe#er" this #iew can perhaps incorporate the classic analytic concern

with affect" as well as the modern analytic and cogniti#e8beha#ioral emphasis on the

adapti#e or strategic aspects of fixed patterns of beha#ior" thought" and feeling. ,nsofar

as the beha#iors" cognitions" and emotions directed by schemas are abnormal" they

constitute symptoms. !sychotic symptoms may" for example" point to the absence or lac-

of de#elopment of certain symptoms (!erris" $%%H'. Character symptoms may indicate

the presence of maladapti#e schemas (


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- &' -

encouraged to practice new ways of relating to others. This -ind of theoriing contrasts

with the classic analytic model of cure as the result of dynamic catharsis" the modern

analytic model of cure as the result of empathic reparenting" and the cogniti#e8beha#ioral

models of reinforcement or relearning. Schema theory ne#ertheless maintains the

reudian emphasis on insight" the modern analytic emphasis on empathy" and the

cogniti#e notion of the remodelling of mental structures. ,n similar #ein" transferance

in#ol#es not so much a distorted neurotic repetition" nor a genuine holding en#ironment"

but rather an entry into and reshaping of the patterns of the patient. The cumulati#e

effect of these s-etches of the clinical application of schemas hopefully indicates the

integrati#e potential of this construct. /e#ertheless much wor- remains to be done. 2ach

of these clinical s-etches re>uires theoretical expansion. Theoretical wor- at the o#erlap

of cogniti#e and clinical science" such as the use of schemas to understand self and affect"

also re>uires further de#elopment (1illiams et al" $%@@'. urthermore" such theory must

be complemented by empirical research. ,f schemas are to be accepted as real mental

structures which explain mental and clinical phenomena" then their accurate definition"

and documentation become paramount. The operationaliation and measurement of

deep constructs is" howe#er" difficult (Segal" $%@@'. Schemas are measured only indirectly"

for example" by pencil8and8paper methodologies (Coyne and 3otlib" $%@B'. urthermore"

different cogniti#e scientists and clinicians ha#e defined schemas in somewhat different

ways" with each wor-er attaching his or her theoretical framewor- to the construct.

1hile schemas ha#e a degree of constancy" they may also be dynamic and multifaceted"

so exacerbating the difficulties of the empiricist. ,n sum" both theoretical inno#ation and

detailed clinical obser#ation will be necessary in order to ad#ance an ade>uate account of

schemas in the clinic.

SKMM;< , ha#e shown that schema theory is used by a #ariety of cogniti#e theorists

and clinicians. , ha#e suggested that schema theory allows a focus on mental structures"

their biological basis" their de#elopment and change" and the way in which they direct


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- &6 -

psychological e#ents. These focuses are important not only in cogniti#e science" but also

in the clinic. Schema theory therefore allows cogniti#e scientists and clinicians to conduct

a con#ergent discourse. urthermore" schema theory may be useful in allowing different

clinicians to employ a unified framewor-. , ha#e also indicated that a great deal of wor-

in both the cogniti#e and clinical sciences remains to be done. !roblems in the

operationaliation and measurement of schemas remain to be sol#ed" and a #ariety of

theoretical areas need to be de#eloped further. /e#ertheless" the use of schema theory in

the clinic opens up cogniti#e science to a whole series of phenomena. The clinic confronts

schema theory with a #ariety of psychological structures (cogniti#e and affecti#e'"

processes (top8down or molecular and bottom8up or molar'" and forms of representation

(fantasies" dreams" hypnotic recollections" hallucinations" delusions'. Such a

confrontation benefits cogniti#e science insofar as it shifts its focus away from the

laboratory and toward man in all his complexity. Con#ersely" by loo-ing at cogniti#e

science" clinicians may begin to incorporate empirical and experimental methodologies.

Cogniti#e theory may pro#ide a unified model of the mind to underpin an unified clinical

approach. :opefully this paper will encourage the dialogue between the cogniti#e and

clinical sciences" and will encourage empirical and theoretical research on schemas.


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- &% -

Dissertation topic

@ollowing *aylor5s *end-and-Befriend *heory/ the original intention was to pursue the

influence of gender in stress and coping" (ntuiti!ely it would seem li)ely to be in!ol!ed/ but

in!ol!ement of genderMdifferences in stress E coping would seem to ha!e been somewhat

neglected in research" *here are eceptions to this of course" Han)in E Abramson +#$$1, ha!e

loo)ed at gender and depression and attempt to eplain why more women than men suffer from

depression and why it should start around age 1&" *heir theory is based on women being more

!ulnerable in transactions 1:T T;/SCT,0/SJJ which cause depression which

increase !ulnerability" 4ilson/ Pritchard E e!alee +#$$6, found gender differences in coping

strategies but with no connection to any particular theory" *roisi +#$$1, loo)s at gender

differences in vulnerability to social stress with respect to seual selection theory and life

history theory" a!ranidou E osner +#$$&, loo)ed at gender and Post-*raumatic Stress

Disorder +P*SD," *hey found that men ha!e more traumatic e!ents/ women ha!e more P*SD5s/

howe!er the traumas are different and the coping styles are different"

differences are not apparent"

*his is supported by the British Household Panel Sur!ey of 1$/$$$ participants +Buc) et al

1'6%," sing the eneral Health >uestionnaire +Duncan-ones/ 1767, no significant

differences were found between genders" lthough there are studies where stri-ing affecti#e

gender differences ha#e been obser#edJJJJJthese do not seem to ha!e been conducted with

any particular hypothesis in mind" *herefore/ the original rationale for my research was to focus

on gender differences using as far as possible a process approach 1:T ,S !;0C2SS

!!;0C:JJand with a !iew to eploring *aylor5s F*end and Befriend5 hypothesis in the

hope of potential important steps forward"


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- &7 -

Howe!er/ in trying to ma)e this theory open to testing/ and reading around the literature/ it

became apparent that it was possible to formulate a general theory of stress which

seemingly fits all the re?uirements according to ;ulberg/ 4ee)ley and Bhagat5s

criteria +199@, of clarity/ internal consistency/ falsifiability/ eternal consistency/

comprehensi!eness/ parsimonious +concise, and original"

(t is with trepidation ( submit this new theory and my attempts to test it"

The Schematrix Conflict Theory of Stress

,S T:,S 0K; T:20;


38/62

- &9 -

?uic)ly" *hey are also intimately in!ol!ed with our emotions/ in that people with brain damage

leading to reduced emotions +a la age, cannot access these"

+.ore to go in here,


39/62

- & -

,MF

*he aim of the study is to eplain/ propose and defend a hypothesis for the causation of stress/

to identify testable aspects of the hypothesis and test them"

1:< D0 12 :92 0G2CT,92 ,/ JJJ


40/62

- '$ -

Chapter 6

M2T:0D0L03uantitati!e in!estigation lends itself to statistical analysis/ and can be used to pro!e or

dispro!e a theory" Howe!er/ because the ?uestions as)ed are closed/ patients are not

able to introduce new areas into the study" *he only information gi!en is what is as)ed

for"

*he chosen method of in!estigation in this study was closed ?uestions in a ?uestionnaire

+?uantitati!e analysis," *his method would allow hypothesis to be pro!en/ or not/ and

would allow a comparison to be carried out between two groups of patients 10KLD

2 300D ,D2 T0 M2/T,0/ T:,S 2;L,2;" S T:,S ,S ,;ST

12+92 ;2LL< TL2D 0KT ,/T2;9,21N.JJJ


42/62

- '# -

!ilot Study

As a composite ?uestionnaire was used during this study/ made up of three separate

?uestionnaires all using different scoring methods/ a small pilot was run to loo) for ade?uacy of

the briefing and instructions" (t was also useful to loo) for ease of use or any other factors

interfering with the intended testing" *his in!ol!ed as)ing two !olunteers to run through the

process as if they were being tested and gi!ing feedbac)" As a result of this some of the

?uestions were modified as being contradictory/ and a few remo!ed altogether as the o!erall test

was too long" *he briefing document was also modified as it was important that participants

were not aware of what was under test/ and also were not aggra!ated by not )nowing"

lso a pilot inter#iew was employed to get the most out of the inter#iewees.

Method $ 8 !sychometrics

D2S,3/ NN. !!;0C:" ,9+S /D D9+S

!;T,S,!/TSN. :01 T:2< 12;2 S2L2CT2D /D /


43/62

- '& -

*he first study uses a correlated between-sub3ects design to in!estigate connections between the

measured !ariables of life orientation/ percei!ed stress/ and decisi!eness/ and the factors of

gender/ occupation/ leisure time/ pet ownership/ hobby types/ age grouping/ and unepected

e!ent response in %' participants"

*he study aimed to test for any correlations between gender/ occupation type/ free-time/ pet

ownership/ hobby types/ age grouping/ and unepected e!ent response with measures of

percei!ed stress and optimism"

*here were se!en independent !ariablesG gender/ occupation/ free-time +6 groupings,/ pet-

ownership/ hobby type/ age +four groups,/ and unepected e!ent response" *here were three

dependant !ariables/ perception of stress +PSS,/ life orientation +optimism, +8


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- '' -

Bo5s . test contradicted the null hypothesis that the obser!ed co!ariance matrices of the

dependant !ariables are e?ual across groups/ and also 8e!ene5s test showed that the error

!ariance of the D was not e?ual across groups" *his warned against reliability of .AN


45/62

- '6 -

*he specific structure of the ?uestionnaire was:-

A Basic data on gender and age - recorded

B Sur!ey 1 M 8ife


46/62

- '% -

Table $ 3roupings of charcteristics from extra >uestions for S!SS purposes

:obbies ree time hours per

wee-

Knexpected e#ents O

stressJ

!etsJ

/ame Score ;ange Score ;esponse Score ;esponse Score

music 1 $ to 6 1Les/

definitely1 yes 1

reading 1 6 to 1$ # Not at all # no #

cinema 1 1$ to 16 & Not sure &

gym 1 16 or more '

painting 1

singing 1

sleeping 1

sport #R

crafts 1

friends #R

R Q sociable pastimeG solitary pastime

!rocedure

*he testing occurred o!er a period of se!eral wee)s according to each participant5s a!ailability

and at their con!enience" ;ach participant was gi!en the briefing document and ?uestionnaire to

complete whilst alone and in a ?uiet en!ironment" No time limit was imposed" *he completed

?uestionnaire was to be replaced in an en!elope pro!ided and returned to the researcher"

(t was eplained that participation was !oluntary and that they could withdraw at any time"

*hey were as)ed to complete the ?uestionnaires as honestly as possible" After completing the

?uestionnaires they were debriefed by eplaining pre!ious research findings/ and the aims and

hypotheses of the present study and were as)ed if they had any ?uestions" (f they had they were

answered"


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- '7 -

2thical Considerations

*o ensure the in!estigation conformed to the BPS ethical guidelines +see Appendi % for ;thics

form, participants were told that participation was !oluntary and they could withdraw at any

time" All indi!iduals approached were willing to gi!e informed consent" Participants were told

before they completed the ?uestionnaire that it would as) ?uestions about their stress le!els and

opinions about life situations" No deception was used other than the concealment of the o!erall

purpose of the study" *he ?uestionnaires were anonymous and coded" After completing the

?uestionnaires participants were !erbally debriefed to ensure all ?uestions or concerns were

addressed/ they were told that the study aimed to test the relationship between stress/ optimism

and the other factors measured and that past research on the sub3ect is inconclusi!e"


48/62

- '9 -

Method !;T 5

Semi8structured inter#iews

olunteers from the group completing the ?uestionnaires were in!ited/ and four responded/ to

ta)e part in the inter!iew part of the study" *hey in!itation was worded: 4ould any

indi!iduals completing the ?uestionnaires be willing to ta)e part in further analysisT *his was

to in!ol!e responding to three general ?uestions F*ell me about stress in the wor)place5/ F*ell

me about stress in the family5 and F*ell me about stress in your personal life5 by tal)ing freely

about your own life" *hey were told it was epected to ta)e about &$ minutes in all/ that their

words would be taped and transcribed into tet and analysed by loo)ing at recurring themes"


49/62

- ' -

Chapter our

esults

S< !,L0T 1S SKC2SSKL

!;09,D2 o#er#iew of the statistical procedures used to analyse the data12 S:0KLD KS2 M0ST ,M!0;T/T ;2SKLTS ,;ST

LS0Clarify the meaning 0 3;!:STL2S in text.

Method $ 4 !sychometric tests.

;ach participant was gi!en a JscoreJ for each section of the ?uestionnaire/ and also gi!en an

o!erall total score" *he scores were calculated from the answers gi!en on the ?uestionnaires

according to the instructions +see Appendi,

S!SS

*here were no correlations between the dependant !ariables according to Pearson5s r +see

Appendi O," *his is essential for multi!ariate analysis as correlation between dependant

!ariables could lead to comple interpretation +*abachni) and @idell/ #$$1,"

.ulti!ariate AN


50/62

- 6$ -

raphical representation of results

student professional

job_type

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

@ig O Scatterplot of D decisi!eness against occupation

:orrible graphN

yes no

surprise

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

@ig O Scatterplot of D decisi!eness !ersus stress-inducing unepectedness


51/62

- 61 -

10 20 30 40

pss

0

10

20

30

male f emale

10 20 30 40

pss

@ig & Histogram of D PSS !ersus gender

1hat does count meanJJJ /eed to do graphs again" titles need to be better


52/62

- 6# -

;esults of Thematic nalysis of Semi8structured ,nter#iews

,nter#iew $N..

1" ;lements of not being able to be genuine or Foneself5

#" ;lements of epectations - especially those unfulfilled

&" se of the words should or ought

'" Any )ind of 3udgement

6" Anything epressing something not being right

%" Anything where a preference is epressed for something other than what actually

happened"


53/62

- 6& -

,nter#iew 5N


#" ;lements of epectations - especially those unfulfilled

&" se of the words should or ought

'" Any )ind of 3udgement


%" Anything where a preference is epressed for something other than what actually

happened"


54/62

- 6' -

,nter#iew 6N


9" ;lements of epectations - especially those unfulfilled

" se of the words should or ought

1$" Any )ind of 3udgement


1#" Anything where a preference is epressed for something other than what actually

happened"


55/62

- 66 -

,nter#iew 7N

1&" ;lements of not being able to be genuine or Foneself5

1'" ;lements of epectations - especially those unfulfilled

16" se of the words should or ought

1%" Any )ind of 3udgement


19" Anything where a preference is epressed for something other than what actually

happened"


56/62

- 6% -

Discussion

,n many ways it is the re#erse of the introduction.

the discussion is a discussion of the results

;estatement of the main research >uestion and to pro#ide a summary

of the rele#ant results

include an attempt to relate your findings to pre!ious research in the

area and place the results in a theoretical contet

Draw attention to differences between your results and those of other

researchers

Lou should consider ?uestions raised by the results of your researchor ?uestions which ha!e not been answered by your study

;nd the discussion by bringing the reader bac) to a general point


57/62

- 67 -

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2osta/ P" *"/ r"/ Somerfield/ ." "/ E .c2rae/ " " +1%," Personality and coping: A

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2oyne/ "2" E acioppo/ ."4" +#$$$, Ne!er the twain shall meet 2losing the gap

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adaptation"Am PsycholJun;55+%,:%&7-'%"

@ol)man/ S" E .os)owitC/ "*" +#$$$, Positi!e Affect and the


58/62

- 69 -

Newman/ 8"S" +#$$1, 2oping E Defense: No clear distinction American Psychologist6%+,

7%$-%%"

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psychology of what wor)s +pp" '-&&&," New Lor):


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- 6 -

Ieidner/ ."/ E Sa)lofs)e/ D" +1%," Adapti!e and maladapti!e coping" (n ." Ieidner E N"

S" ;ndler +;ds",/ Handboo) of coping +pp" 6$6-6&1,"New Lor): 4iley"


60/62

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The Schematrix: Theory of Stress & Coping

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