Question

What would you define as the key mechanisms of the stress response incorporating the Seligman, et al. and Crum et al. articles? In what ways does the information presented by these authors increase personal awareness of system one thinking? Support your position.

Answer 1

Martin Seligman attributes expectations and loss of control as the reasons for stress. Certain situations that we face in our day to day life can be considered as stressful ones. Whether a situation is stressful or not is decided by the body and if a situation happens to be stressful, corresponding responses are released. An individual feels stressed when the situation is overwhelming and he feels he can no longer take charge of those situations. When a person feels he has lost control over something, then he stands a risk of being stressed.

When the body is stressed, the sympathetic nervous system generates the fight or flight syndrome that invests energy in either fighting or fleeing from the source of stress.

Being stressed can also take a toll on several of your habits. For example, when stressed, you may eat a lot less than you used to. You may experience a change in your appetite and start eating more than usual which can cause something as serious as heartburn. It also affects your bowel systems.

Acute stress causes an increase in your heart rate. It is only after the stressful episode has passed, that the body returns back to its normal state. Chronic stress which is constant, might lead to more serious problems in the long run such as stroke or heart attack. It also affects your breathing system and causes heavy breathing. It leads to hyperventilation which may cause panic attacks.

The information presented by these authors leads to self awareness of system one. It is a type of thinking that does not require much of active participation from our side. It is habitual and heuristic-based thinking that may not yield good results in the long run.

Any form of personal growth does not demand full consciousness and awareness at all times. That is where system one comes into participation since it does not require our effort all the time.