Terms
Perceive stress as a demanding or threatening event/situation (e.g., high-stress job) and characterize stress as a stimulus that causes certain reactions.
Stimulus-based definitions
Judgement of the options available to cope with a stressor, and perceptions of how effective such options will be. A threat is less stressful if we believe something can be done about it.
Secondary appraisal
Judgement about the degree of potential harm/threat to well-being that a stressor might entail.
Primary appraisal
Emphasize physiological responses that occur in response to demanding or threatening situations, thus characterizes stress as a response to environmental conditions.
Response-based definitions
Individual attempts to manage or alter the problem that is causing them to experience stress. Proactively addresses the problem. More likely to be used when the stressor is perceived as controllable.
Problem-focused coping
A process whereby an individual perceives and responds to events he appraises as overwhelming or threatening to his well-being.
Stress
Stress that can be positive and motivate us to do things in our best interests.
Eustress
First articulated and named the fight-or-flight response, which he suggested is a built-in mechanism that stabilizes physiological variables at levels optimal for survival.
Walter Cannon
A stressor that carries the potential for gain/personal growth.
Challenge
The soothing impact of friends, family, and acquaintances. Provides comfort when faced with life stressors. A psychosocial factor affecting health outcomes.
Social support
A stressor that could lead to harm/loss/negative consequences.
Threat
The body’s immediate reaction upon facing a threatening situation or emergency. This is the physiological reactions that provide energy to manage the situation. (Fight or Flight – Sympathetic Nervous System)
Alarm Reaction as defined by the general adaptation syndrome
Discovered the general adaptation syndrome which he described as the body’s nonspecific physiological response to stress.
Hans Selye
”Bad” stress, causing people to feel burned out, (fatigued and exhausted), and performance to decline.
Distress
Uses electronic equipment to measure a person’s involuntary (neuromuscular and autonomic) activity and provide feedback to help the person gain a level of voluntary control over these processes.
Biofeedback
Research indicates that these are a better predictor of physical and psychological heath than Holmes and Rahe life change units.
Frequency of daily hassles
An acquired belief that one is powerless to do anything about a situation.
Learned helplessness
Hypothesized that life events requiring significant change are stressful, whether they are desirable or undesirable. Developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) to help categorize levels of stress.
Holmes and Rahe
A stress hormone that helps provide a boost of energy when we first encounter a stressor, preparing us to flight or flee. Continuous elevated levels through chronic stress weaken the immune system.
Cortisol
Pleasurable engagement with the environment, such as happiness, joy, enthusiasm, alertness, and excitement.
Positive Affect
a recurring state of subjective well-being consisting of joy, contentment, and other positive emotions, plus the sense that one’s life has meaning and value.
Happiness
The general tendency to look on the bright side of things with a tendency to expect that good things will happen. A view that life’s stressors and difficulties as temporary and external to oneself.
Optimism
Urged psychologists to focus more on understanding how to build human strength and psychological well-being. Established Positive psychology to help identify and promote those qualities that lead to greater fulfillment in our lives.
Martin Seligman
Efforts to change or reduce the negative emotions associated with stress which may include avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from the problem, or positive comparisons with others, or seeking something positive in a negative event. More often used for stressors we feel powerless to change.
Emotion-focused coping
A particular experience that is so engaging and engrossing that is becomes worth doing for its own sake. Provides a feeling of losing oneself in an activity and a state of effortless concentration and focus.
Flow