PSYCHOLOGY
in Practice

PSYCHOLOGY
in Practice

PSYCHOLOGY
in Practice

One well-known piece of evidence supporting the idea that stress has an effect on health came from the unpleasant ‘executive monkey’ study conducted by Brady (1958). This study demonstrated that prolonged stress led to gastric ulcer formation. Pairs of monkeys were confined in a chair-like apparatus and each had electrodes attached to one of its feet. They both received an electric shock every 20 seconds unless one of the monkeys (known as the executive monkey) prevented it by pressing a lever that was located in front of it. This procedure continued for six hours at a time, twice a day, day in, day out. The executive monkey learned how to prevent the shocks and managed to effectively prevent any further shocks. However, the executive monkeys were found to develop ulcers, although the passive monkeys did not. Although this study has a number of methodological flaws which were later addressed in follow-up studies, the findings of this and other studies suggest that the ulcers came from the prolonged, elevated state of arousal that the executive monkeys experienced in maintaining constant vigilance. The implications of this research to the world of work are evident. Managers can be assumed to suffer more stress than the powerless workers, because they carry the responsibility for the welfare of their companies and employees at all times. Perhaps we should take workrelated pressures far more seriously and provide opportunities for executives to deal with their high levels of arousal in a more effective way.

Karon Oliver