Stress research

It seems that the stress RI topic is posing the most problems in terms of finding suitable background research for your write-ups.

Some general comments:

1) It is hard to find stuff specifically on things like GSR (skin conductivity) and heart rate because these tend to be viewed as primarily biology rather than psychology. However, most psychology books will contain an overview of how the stress response works on a biological level.

2) Health psychology has a strong crossover with these areas, but do not put too many of these studies in if not directly relevant. For example, you are not studying immune function, so go easy on that. If you are looking at heart rate, studies like the Friedman and Rosenman (1974) study of heart disease could be used.

3) I have tended to warn against including stress reduction stuff. However, there are exceptions - some stress reduction studies are closely linked with your research. For example, the technique of biofeedback uses measures such as GSR and heart rate in an attempt to teach people to relax.

4) The SQA handout only has referenced to studies by Selye, but this in itself should give you a clue to what is expected. If anyone wants to look at Selye's book 'The Stress of Life' (1956) I have a copy, it is an easy read and you could probably find a good quote or two.

5) A lot of the research that I have found on the internet is very applied, i.e. it concerns using the concepts for practical purposes. This is ok, and in fact I think it would be very good if you worked in some applications of your research, perhaps towards the end of your intro and again in the discussion section.

Elite athletes

From BPS Research Digest:

It's reassuring to learn that even the most elite athletes can suffer frommental frailties. Maurizio Bertollo and colleagues interviewed 13 members ofItaly's 2004 pentathlon squad and a common theme to emerge was the curse ofso-called "ironic effects". As one athlete explained: "In some circumstancesmy intention is not to do the best but to avoid making a bad shot. That iswhen I make a bad shot. When I think about avoiding the error, I make the error."

The modern pentathlon involves pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200m freestyleswimming, show jumping, and a 3km cross-country run, all conducted on thesame day. Bertollo's research team transcribed the interviews they conducted with the pentathletes.

Several of the athletes said that during the days before an event they attempted to recreate the emotional stress of a real competition.They also said they prioritised relaxation time, set themselves goals andmentally rehearsed success.

During a competition, the athletes performed an opposite mental exercise tothat conducted prior to the event, attempting to recreate the feelings, such as of muscle relaxation, that they achieved during training. They also revealed that they tried to avoid dwelling on mistakes; that they reassured themselves that dysfunctional emotions usually stop once a contest getsstarted; and that they strive to focus their attention in useful ways, such as on the sight and target during shooting.

REFERENCE: Bertollo et al (2009). Mental preparation strategies of elite modern pentathletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10 (2), 244-254.

RI update

Ok, some great work on the RIs so far, lots of data gathered, and most people have made a positive start on the first draft. These are due in soon, though, so we really really need to get on with these quickly now.

If you haven't already gathered your data, there is no more class time for that, so please use your free periods or lunchtimes.

In class we will be working on write-ups. Start with the introduction section, with all your background research, and the method, where you say what you did.

If you haven't finished data gathering, this should not hold you back from writing 90% of your write-up. It will be easy to go back and change your data tables and conclusions if you need to.

One other thing - use past tense throughout, and avoid 'I' and 'we', just use the passive voice (e.g. 'the participants were told to sit down' instead of 'we told the participants to sit down').