A-Level Psychology: Stress

Stress is one of the option topics in A-level Psychology and draws on biology, research methods and applied psychology in equal measure. This material covers the stress content of current specifications (for example AQA's A-level Psychology for first teaching from September 2025, where drug therapy remains in the topic but specific named drugs are no longer listed).

The physiology questions ask you to place a case in Selye's general adaptation syndrome, to order the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis from CRH through ACTH to cortisol, and to separate the effects of cortisol from the immediate effects of adrenaline. Stress and illness is represented by Kiecolt-Glaser's study of natural killer cell activity in students during exams, with cardiovascular disorders covered in the flashcards and written work.

Sources of stress are handled through data and research. You add up life change units for a fictional person using values from the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and compare the total with Holmes and Rahe's high-risk threshold, identify valid criticisms of the scale, recall why daily hassles may predict health better than life events, and draw conclusions about workload and control from the Swedish sawmill study, with Marmot's Whitehall II findings as a comparison.

Further questions cover the skin conductance response as a physiological measure, Type A behaviour and the Western Collaborative Group Study, Kobasa's hardy personality and the three phases of stress inoculation therapy. The flashcards and written work add biofeedback, drug therapy, gender differences in coping and the three types of social support.

The material offers four formats. The 12-question quiz gives an explanation after every answer. The 17 flashcards cover every key term and study. The printable written work sets eight open questions, including a comparison of stress inoculation therapy and biofeedback, with ruled space for handwritten answers that are then checked. In the oral exam an examiner asks one question at a time, probes your evidence and gives precise feedback at the end.

It suits students taking stress as their second option and anyone who wants to practise applying research to short cases before the Paper 3 options.

• Describe the general adaptation syndrome, the HPA axis, the sympathomedullary pathway and the role of cortisol
• Explain the role of stress in illness, including immunosuppression and cardiovascular disorders
• Evaluate life changes, daily hassles and workplace stress as sources of stress
• Compare self-report and physiological measures of stress
• Explain how Type A, B and C personalities and hardiness relate to stress
• Evaluate drug therapy, stress inoculation therapy, biofeedback and social support as ways of managing stress

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Stress option in A-level Psychology specifications (for example AQA A-level Psychology 7182, specification for first teaching from September 2025, section 4.3.7). Life change unit values in the quiz are taken from Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale (1967).