Stress: Portrait of a Killer Worksheet Key
Extra credit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYG0ZuTv5rs
1. How are baboons stressed (in comparison to the typical ways animals are stressed)?
They are being stressed by social and psychological tumult invented by their own species.
2. What does Sapolsky measure in the blood of baboons?
From each baboon blood sample, Sapolsky measured levels of hormones central to the
stress response.
3. What does it mean that human beings can’t find their “off switch?”
By not turning off the “off switch” we wallow in a corrosive bath of hormones. Humans
will hyperventilate; heart rate will increase, muscles tense, and all these stress responses
are more damaging than the stressor itself.
4. In baboons, how are stress hormones, heart rate, and blood pressure related to one’s position in
the social hierarchy?
A baboon’s rank determines the level of stress hormone in his system. For example, a
dominant male baboon can expect to have low stress hormones but a submissive
baboon’s stress hormones would be much higher. He also found that low rankers had
increased heart rates and higher blood pressure.
5. What does Sapolsky say about the physical and neurological consequences of stress?
A stressed, unhealthy baboon in a typical troop with high blood pressure, elevated levels
of stress hormones, an immune system that doesn’t work as well, and your reproductive
system is more vulnerable to being knocked out of whack. The brain chemistry is one that
has some similarity to clinically depressed humans and all that stuff are not predictors of
a hale and hearty old age.
6. Why are workers in the British Civil Service good to study when considering stress?
They are good to study when considering stress because every job is ranked in a precise
hierarchy, which will help make a link between rank and stress.
7. What did the Civil Service study discover about hierarchy and health?
The lower they were in the hierarchy the higher the risk of heart disease and other
diseases. Your position in the hierarchy intimately relates to your risk of disease and
length of life.
