Psychology A2 · Health Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
Stress can be measured through the body or by asking the person. Biological measures are objective. Heart rate monitors show arousal. fMRI shows which brain areas receive more blood flow during a stressful task: Wang et al. (2005) found more blood flow in the right prefrontal cortex while people did difficult mental arithmetic under pressure. Saliva samples show the level of the stress hormone cortisol: Evans and Wener (2007) used them with train commuters and found more stress when people had to sit close to others.
Self-report questionnaires are quick and cheap but subjective. Examples are Type A questionnaires and Holmes and Rahe's life events questionnaire.
Objective does not mean valid. A raised heart rate or cortisol level is measured accurately, but it may be caused by exercise, caffeine or the time of day and not by stress.
Answer: The questionnaire has good test-retest reliability; its validity still has to be checked.
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