Text 5. Long-Тerm Arousal

Long-term arousal can have a lot of harmful effects, including interfering with our physical health. We call it stress, and it is one of the most-studied areas of psychology ─ mainly because it is such a big problem in modern society. Long-term stress suppresses the action of the body's immune system, making us much more vulnerable to colds, infections and more serious illnesses. In the long term, too, it can make us more liable to contract heart disease. Long-term stress also makes us very jumpy and alert to potential threats – which means that quite often we see something as a threat when it is really quite harmless. Because we over-react to what people say or do, we become more likely to quarrel with the people around us.

Clearly, this is not a psychologically healthy condition to be in. But there are ways of coping with long-term stress, so that we do not suffer these effects. Many psychological researchers have investigated coping mechanisms: ways of minimising or cancelling out the effects of long-term stress, and making sure that we deal with it in a positive kind of way. Not all stress is bad, and we need to understand how it can be helpful as well as damaging if we are to use it positively. In order to do this, we need to understand how different levels of physiological arousal affect us.

A small amount of arousal is stimulating. Many people have a cup of coffee in the morning because the additional stimulation helps them to feel more alert. People exercise for the same reason. In fact, up to a point increased arousal helps us to do things better.

But only up to a point. If we become too aroused – then it can actually stop us doing things well. You might find, for instance, that you do better in an argument if you are annoyed by what the other person is saying. Your irritation helps you to find words, and to argue more fluently. But if you become enraged by the other person's comments, so that your arousal level becomes too high, then you might find that you become speechless, and unable to put what you want to say into words. Up to a point, the increased arousal brought on by irritator has improved your performance in the argument; but when the level of arousal went past that point, it interfered with it. This principle is known as the Yerkes-Dodson law of arousal and it can be applied to almost every task. Being angry or upset might mean that you do the washing-up more quickly and efficiently – but if those feelings were too intense, you might become more careless, and break things or drop them.

(Nicky Hayes. Psychology. – Great Britain; Cox & Wyman Ltd., 1994, – 260p.)

Assignments

I. Memorise the following words and phrases:

to suppress	пригнічувати
vulnerable	уразливий
to contract	підхопити (хворобу)
jumpy	нервовий, неспокійний
alert	пильний, обережний
to feel more alert	почуватися бадьорішим
arousal	збудження
irritation	роздратування
argument	спір, дискусія
enraged	розгніваний, розлючений
to interfere	бути перешкодою
annoyed	невдоволений, роздратований

II. Suggest the Ukrainian equivalents of the phrases below:

harmful effect; long-term stress; to suppress the action of the body’s immune system; vulnerable to colds; serious illnesses; to contract heart disease; alert to potential threat; to over-react: to quarrel with the people around us; ways of coping with long-term stress; to suffer; coping mechanism; ways of minimising or cancelling out the effects of long-term stress; to make sure; to deal with; a small amount of arousal is stimulating; up to a point; to put into words; arousal brought on by irritator; to improve smb’s performance in the argument; the level of arousal went past the point; to apply; harmless.

III. Find English equivalents to the following phrases:

шляхи подолання довготривалого стресу; підхопити серцеву хворобу; механізми подолання; невелике збудження стимулює; збудження, викликане подразником; рівень збудження перевищив межу; пригнічувати роботу імунної системи; обережний до потенційної загрози; шляхи мінімізації або усунення наслідків довготривалого стресу; до певної межі; шкідливий вплив; уразливий до застуди; надто емоційно реагувати; переконатися; поводитися; серйозна хвороба; сваритися з людьми, які нас оточують; страждати; висловити словами; покращити ефективність участі у спорі.

IV. Translate into English:

1. Довготривалий стрес пригнічує роботу імунної системи, роблячи нас уразливішими до застуди, інфекцій та більш серйозних хвороб.

2. Методами подолання довготривалого стресу є мінімізація, або усунення його наслідків.

3. Підвищений рівень збудження (до певної межі), викликаний подразником, підвищує ефективність участі у спорі.

4. Ми надто емоційно реагуємо на те, що говорять інші, тому частіше сперечаємося з людьми, які нас оточують.

V. Answer the questions:

1. Give examples when up to a point arousal increases performance.

2. What can excessive arousal cause?

3. What harmful effects may long-term stress have on our health?