Which monkey had the ulcers? The Executive monkey, who had to execute behavioural control over the shock. Well-done if you got it correct by reasoning. (If you got it correct by guessing, that is chance and doesn’t count). The passive monkey had no ulcers (of course it may have felt pretty depressed as it had no control at all, a situation called helplessness, which is a risk factor for depression!!).

Stimulus conditions which indicate potential for serious harm that is imminent and for which there is little or no clear warning, coupled with respondent (personal) conditions where the person’s belief about environmental events is that they are seldom or only marginally controllable, where they have little motivation to try to respond, and where available intellectual resources are low, are the circumstances that generate most stress for a majority of organisms.

Of course, most of these criteria have been determined in laboratory experimentation and in the real world, circumstances are much less “pure” and difficult to study. Can you think of examples of real world circumstances which have the features of these high stress situations?

How do you think a person embodying the TABP views the world? The TABP description certainly suggests that they might perceive the stimulus conditions and the borderline control respondent feature described in the slide.

Under borderline control conditions individuals often strive to maintain control and implement problem-focussed coping. Where control is impossible, problem-focused coping is pointless, so persons may become passive or adopt other emotion-focused coping. If an individual comes to believe their world is mostly uncontrollable, they may try to exert control through superstitious acts, like making offerings to gods for luck, or they may become quite fatalistic and passive in the face of demands. At other times they may seek other persons whom they believe can exert control, such as doctors, if the problem is perceived as a health problem.

Studies of people caring for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease, who face continual demands from having to provide continuous round the clock care and watch loved ones deteriorate, have shown they have poorer immune function and slower wound healing times compared to controls.