Most people would like to be less stressed. With our increasingly fast paced
and busy lives it appears that stress related issues are increasing, with the addition of
issues such as terrorist attacks, stress at times can be hard to avoid. Many studies have
found that cooling the brain is beneficial for those who have sustained traumatic brain
injuries and the process of cooling can often stop or prevent further damage (Qui et al,
2006). The body may also use a natural cooling mechanism, yawning, as a way of
keeping the brain at optimum temperature, so it can perform at its best (Gallup &
Gallup, 2008).There seems to be very little research on the effects of head cooling on
psychological variables. It was hypothesised that cooling would reduce stress levels
and when put in conjunction with a self-affirmation manipulation would decrease
stress levels even further. Participants had their ear temperature measured, filled out a
stress questionnaire and then were asked to sit in between two fans for 12 minutes.
Their ear temperature was measured again, they then went on to complete another
questionnaire, some containing a self-affirmation manipulation and then went on to a
stressor task. Lastly, they received a final stress questionnaire. Results were
nonsignificant, yet general trends headed in the hypothesised direction. The
implications of the findings are discussed as are limitations and suggestions for future
research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:canterbury.ac.nz/oai:ir.canterbury.ac.nz:10092/10730 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Robinson, Timothy Donald |
| Publisher | University of Canterbury. Psychology |
| Source Sets | University of Canterbury |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic thesis or dissertation, Text |
| Rights | Copyright Timothy Donald Robinson, http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/thesis/etheses_copyright.shtml |
| Relation | NZCU |
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