What is stress, what causes it, and how can it be managed?
Stress: the nature and physiology of stress, sources and causes of stress, the effects of stress on health, methods of coping with and managing stress, and the supporting research evidence and methods.
The SQA Higher Psychology Individual Behaviour optional topic on stress: the physiology of the stress response, sources of stress, the effect of stress on health, physiological and psychological methods of coping, and the research evidence and methods used to study stress.
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What this dot point is asking
Stress is an optional Individual Behaviour topic, so it can appear as a -mark question in the additional-topic section. The SQA wants you to describe the physiology of stress, explain its sources and its effects on health, explain methods of coping with and managing stress, and use research evidence and methods to support and evaluate these explanations.
The answer
What stress is and how the body responds
The general adaptation syndrome
Sources of stress and effects on health
Coping with and managing stress
Examples in context
Research on immune function is widely used: studies of people under chronic stress, such as carers or students during exams, show slower wound healing and weaker immune responses, supporting a stress-illness link through cortisol. Work on workplace stress shows that low job control, not just high workload, predicts poorer cardiovascular health, fitting the idea that appraisal and control matter. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes and Rahe) is used to show that an accumulation of life events correlates with later illness, but it is also a target for evaluation because it cannot establish cause and ignores how individuals appraise events. Evidence on coping shows stress inoculation produces longer-lasting benefits than drugs, which work fast but treat symptoms not causes. A Higher answer that pairs the physiology with two or three of these studies and judges the strength of the health link reaches the top band.
Try this
Q1. Describe the role of cortisol in the stress response. [4 marks]
- Cue. Released by the HPA axis (adrenal cortex); sustains the stress response, mobilises energy, and in the long term suppresses the immune system.
Q2. Explain the difference between a physiological and a psychological method of coping with stress. [6 marks]
- Cue. Physiological (drugs, biofeedback) reduces arousal directly but treats symptoms; psychological (stress inoculation, reappraisal) changes appraisal and is slower but more durable.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher (optional topic)20 marksDescribe the body's physiological response to stress and evaluate the research evidence on the effect of stress on health.Show worked answer →
A -mark question split between KU and analysis or evaluation. Around to marks reward an accurate account of the stress response: the sympathetic nervous system and the fight-or-flight reaction (adrenaline, raised heart rate), and the longer HPA axis releasing cortisol, often framed by Selye's general adaptation syndrome (alarm, resistance, exhaustion).
The remaining marks reward use and evaluation of health evidence. Strong answers cite studies linking chronic stress to weakened immunity and heart disease, then weigh them: correlational health studies cannot prove stress causes illness, and individual differences in coping and personality moderate the effect. A judgement on how strong the stress-health link is forms the discriminator.
SQA Higher (optional topic)12 marksExplain two methods of coping with or managing stress.Show worked answer →
A -mark question, roughly half KU and half analysis. Markers reward developed explanation rather than a list.
Strong choices pair a physiological method (such as drugs or biofeedback that reduce arousal directly) with a psychological method (such as stress inoculation training or cognitive reappraisal that changes how a stressor is appraised). Analysis marks come from explaining how each works and contrasting them, for example noting drugs treat symptoms quickly but not the cause, whereas psychological methods are slower but more durable.
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