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Related Concept Videos

Psychological Responses to Stress01:20

Psychological Responses to Stress

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Psychological responses to stress encompass the various cognitive and emotional reactions individuals experience when faced with challenging or threatening situations, such as a job loss. Prolonged exposure to stressors can disturb emotional balance, increasing negative emotions (e.g., anxiety and sadness) and diminishing positive emotions (e.g., joy and satisfaction). These persistent emotional shifts are associated with an increased risk of both physical illness and mental health issues, such...
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Introduction to Stress and Lifestyle01:27

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Stress is a multifaceted response to events perceived as challenging or threatening, highlighting physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions. Physically, stress can lead to fatigue, sleep disruptions, and various health issues such as frequent colds, chest pains, and nausea. Emotionally, it can manifest as anxiety, depression, irritability, and anger triggered by both minor and major life events. Cognitively, it may result in difficulty in concentration, memory, and...
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Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques II01:23

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Personality types, particularly Type A and Type B, significantly influence how individuals respond to stress. These personality distinctions are marked by varying levels of ambition, competitiveness, and coping styles, all of which shape an individual's resilience to stressors.
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Emotion-focused coping refers to a set of strategies aimed at managing the emotional impact of stressors, rather than directly addressing their causes. This approach involves altering one's emotional response to stressful situations to reduce their psychological effects. For example, individuals might talk with a friend or engage in activities like journaling to express their feelings. Such actions can help achieve emotional clarity or release, providing the psychological stability needed...
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Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques V01:28

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A social support system is a structured network of personal relationships that provides assistance to individuals facing various challenges, offering a buffer against psychological and physical stressors. This network may consist of family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, or other community members who provide resources and companionship. Social support can take many forms, including advice, emotional comfort, practical help, and companionship. Research indicates that these networks can...
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Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques I01:26

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Stress prevention and management are crucial for maintaining well-being and building resilience. Techniques to manage stress include cultivating qualities like conscientiousness, a sense of personal control, and self-efficacy. Each of these traits significantly reduces stress and promotes healthier lifestyle choices and outcomes.
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Updated: Jul 6, 2025

Chronic Stress Shifts Effort-Related Choice Behavior in a Y-Maze Barrier Task in Mice
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Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour.

Paul A G Forbes1, Gökhan Aydogan2, Julia Braunstein1,3

  • 1Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Elife
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Summary

Acute stress reduces prosocial effort, making individuals more likely to exert effort for themselves than others. This effect is pronounced in selfish individuals and linked to neural changes in the brain.

Keywords:
acute stressefforthumanneuroimagingneuroscienceprosocial behavioursocial preferences

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Behavioral Economics

Background:

  • Acute stress impacts cognition and emotion, but its effects on human prosocial behavior remain unclear.
  • Previous research on prosociality, often using financial incentives, yielded conflicting results.
  • Prosocial behaviors frequently require effort, a factor less explored in stress-related prosociality studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how acute stress influences the willingness to exert physical effort for self- versus other-benefitting outcomes.
  • To differentiate the effects of acute stress on prosocial effort from self-benefitting effortful behavior.
  • To explore the neural mechanisms and individual differences underlying stress-induced changes in effortful prosociality.

Main Methods:

  • Healthy male participants were subjected to an acute stressor or a control condition.
  • Participants decided whether to exert physical effort for personal gain or to benefit another person.
  • Neuroimaging (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula activation) and computational modeling were used to analyze neural responses and subjective value.

Main Results:

  • Participants under acute stress exerted effort more frequently for self-rewards than for other-rewards, particularly at low effort levels.
  • The negative impact of stress on prosocial effort was more significant in individuals with more selfish tendencies.
  • Increased activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula was observed in stressed participants when effort benefited themselves compared to when it benefited others.

Conclusions:

  • Acute stress diminishes prosocial effort, shifting preference towards self-benefitting actions.
  • Individual differences in prosocial tendencies moderate the effects of stress on effortful behavior.
  • Neural mechanisms involving the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula may underlie stress-induced alterations in prosocial effort.