Queen Essays

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Stress and Decision Making

Ebony Noble

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

RSCH 202: Introduction to Research Methods

Dr. Karim Hardy

November 5, 2023

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Stress and Decision Making

Introduction

The complex and multifaceted relationship between stress and bad decision-making

significantly impacts understanding the link between stress and hazardous activities. In modern

life, stress is normal and often follows situations involving important decisions. Stress can

occasionally be a motivating factor, but it can also impede cognitive function and lead to hasty,

thoughtless decisions that could have unfavorable effects. There are important practical

implications for behavior management and mental health; hence, it is imperative to look at the

relationship between stress and making bad decisions. This essay looks into why people are

more likely to make bad decisions when under stress, focusing on childhood stress exposure

and its long-term effects on destructive behaviors in adulthood, gender differences in stress

responses, and the influence of stress on decision-making, impulse control, and risk

assessment.

Literature Review

Understanding stress and decision-making is complex, yet doing so significantly affects

behavior and mental health. Stress is a common part of modern life, which can make making

big decisions challenging. Although stress has the potential to inspire, it may also impair

judgment and lead to rash, destructive actions. This literature overview examines how stress

impacts emotions, thoughts, and decision-making. It looks at how everyday stress affects

mental health, how gender differences in stress reactivity occur, and the long-term implications

of childhood stress.

According to Brown (2011), decision-making is significantly influenced by stress and

emotions. Prolonged stress alters brain chemistry, making balancing activities' benefits and

drawbacks difficult. This impairment might lead to poor judgments made by stressed

individuals (Brown, 2011).

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Colman et al. (2013) examine the impact of childhood trauma on adult depression and

binge drinking. They discovered that experiencing trauma as a child significantly increases the

likelihood of depression and binge drinking as an adult. The stress sensitization theory states

that people who experience trauma as children have a lower stress threshold as adults, which

increases their risk of developing depression following stressful life experiences (Colman et

al., 2013). This study highlights the long-term impacts of childhood stress on mental health and

harmful behavior.

Stawski et al. (2023) examine the impact of daily stress on mitigating gender

differences in mid- and later-life mental health. According to their research, women are more

prone than men to experience depression, particularly in their middle and older years. Stawski

et al. (2023) want to demonstrate how daily stressors impact men's and women's mental health

in distinct ways. This source highlights differences in stress responses and mental health

between genders. Stawski et al. (2023) discovered that how men and women respond to

everyday stressors may differ, potentially impacting their mental well-being.

Long-term stress exposure can result in chronically high stress levels, which can wear

down the immune system and other physiological systems, according to Wemm and Wulfert

(2017). Furthermore, stress has an impact on cognitive performance. Most studies on the

relationship between stress and mental functioning have focused on memory, with less

emphasis on other cognitive processes like decision-making because many judgments are made

under pressure, such as when an urgent situation calls for immediate action. The decision-

making process is a particularly important subject to study. Making a decision can be stressful

in and of itself, especially if it is high-risk and has an unpredictable conclusion. As a result,

there may be a reciprocal relationship between stress and making decisions since stress can

both influence and be provoked by the decision-making process. The Iowa Gambling Task

(IGT), a popular decision task featuring a virtual card game, was given to participants in a study

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on the impact of stress on decision-making after they had completed a taxing public speaking

assignment (Wemm & Wulfert, 2017). According to the study, those under stress took longer

than controls to figure out which decisions would result in better outcomes when playing the

gambling task. On the other hand, the performance-stress connection exhibited an inverted U-

shaped curve, suggesting that performance improved temporarily before declining. This result

is in keeping with the Yerkes-Dodson Law and previous studies demonstrating a curvilinear

link between cognitive task performance and arousal (Wemm & Wulfert, 2017).

Hengen and Alpers (2021) have presented compelling evidence that anxiety and stress

alter the human ability to weigh the pros and cons of various options and have a significant

impact on our decision-making process. They may impede adaptive emotional processing in

addition to cognitive conflicts, which could, for example, lead to longer reaction times. They

also both use up cognitive resources throughout the processing of information. They view the

situation differently even though their physiological reactions follow a similar pattern. Stress

occurs when an organism is subjected to demands too great, whereas anxiety is the emotional

response to a perceived threat.

Although the exact direction is unknown, stress can have a significant impact on

decision-making, particularly loss aversion (Margittai et al., 2017). There are currently two

competing theories. According to the "salience-of-losses" theory (Metz et al., 2020), acute

stress shifts mental resources in a way that favors the salience-network engagement. The

amygdala, one of the primary brain foundations of loss aversion, constitutes one of the

locations found in this network. Stress should naturally increase loss aversion (Metz et al.,

2020). The "alignment" hypothesis (Metz et al., 2020), which is backed by the "STARS

model" (Stress Triggers Additional Reward Salience), is the most widely accepted, however.

It comes from research showing that acute stress in rats raises dopamine levels extracellularly

in the nucleus accumbens and increases the firing rates of dopamine neurons in the midbrain.

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Theoretical Framework

Emotional regulation and cognitive abilities are impacted by long-term stress,

particularly stress experienced as a kid, which raises the likelihood of negative adult behavior.

The stress sensitization paradigm, which contends that childhood trauma increases an adult's

susceptibility to stress, serves as the foundation for this idea. Early trauma alters the brain and

psychologically, leaving us more susceptible. These alterations reduce stress tolerance and

raise the risk of mental health problems, including harmful behavior, when exposed to adult

stressors. The framework also acknowledges gender differences in stress responses. It

postulates that how men and women respond to stressful events may differ based on their

unique stress vulnerabilities and coping mechanisms. These gender-specific responses have the

power to shape harmful actions and choices. This theoretical framework clarifies the intricate

relationship between early trauma, ongoing stress, and gender-specific responses to harmful

behavior in adulthood.

Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1: When persistent stress is present in adulthood, those who have experienced

childhood trauma are more prone to act out destructively.

Hypothesis 2: Compared to males, women would exhibit a more significant correlation

between stress and harmful behaviors because of their increased risk of depression in middle

and later life.

Hypothesis 3: People who have experienced childhood trauma in the past are more likely to

make poor judgments due to stress's effects on impulse control, decision-making, and risk

assessment.

Conclusion

It is essential to comprehend the complexity of stress and decision-making. Persistent

stress impairs cognitive and emotional regulation, particularly in childhood, which increases

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the likelihood of poor adult judgments. The stress sensitization idea states that the risk of

dangerous actions increases due to early trauma's long-term impact on the stress response.

Differences across genders in how they react to stress point to distinct coping mechanisms and

vulnerabilities that impact mental health outcomes. We need to comprehend the mechanisms

that connect stress and poor judgment to lessen stress's negative consequences on human

conduct. Knowledge makes making better decisions, managing stress, and supporting mental

health more accessible.

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References

Brown, H. (2011). The role of emotion in decision‐making. The Journal of Adult Protection,

13(4), 194–202. https://doi.org/10.1108/14668201111177932

Colman, I., Garad, Y., Zeng, Y., Naicker, K., Weeks, M., Patten, S. B., Jones, P. B.,

Thompson, A. H., & Wild, T. C. (2013). Stress and development of depression and

heavy drinking in adulthood: moderating effects of childhood trauma. Social

Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(2), 265–274.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0531-8

Hengen, K. M., & Alpers, G. W. (2021). Stress Makes the Difference: Social Stress and

Social Anxiety in Decision-Making Under Uncertainty. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.578293

Margittai, Z., Nave, G., Van Wingerden, M., Schnitzler, A., Schwabe, L., & Kalenscher, T.

(2017). Combined Effects of Glucocorticoid and Noradrenergic Activity on Loss

Aversion. Neuropsychopharmacology, 43(2), 334–341.

https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.75

Metz, S., Waiblinger-Grigull, T., Schulreich, S., Chae, W. R., Otte, C., Heekeren, H. R., &

Wingenfeld, K. (2020). Effects of hydrocortisone and yohimbine on decision-making

under risk. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 114, 104589.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.104589

Stawski, R. S., Cichy, K. E., Witzel, D. D., Schuyler, A. C., & Nichols, M. J. (2023). Daily

Stress Processes as Potential Intervention Targets to Reduce Gender Differences and

Improve Mental Health Outcomes in Mid- and Later Life. Prevention Science.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-022-01444-7

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Wemm, S. E., & Wulfert, E. (2017). Effects of Acute Stress on Decision Making. Applied

Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 42(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-016-

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