Chapter 1: Defining Stress
Defining Stress
Pioneers:
Stimulus
Bernard/Pasteur
Response
Walter Cannon
Transaction
Hans Selye
Holistic
Stress
Interior Milieu / Germ Theory
Stressor
Homeostasis
Stress Response
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)
Wear and Tear
Nonspecificity
Adaptation Energy / Vital Force
Fight or Flight
"weak links"
Resistance
Exhaustion
Life Events
Social Readjustment
Symbolic Threats
Simeons
Diencephalon
Eustress vs Distress
Perception of Stress
Daily Hassles
Richard Lazurus
Threat Appraisal Process
Primary Appraisal- threat
degree of threat
imminence of confrontation
ambiguity
Secondary Appraisal Belief in one’s ability to cope
Cognitive Reappraisal- reassessment after primary and secondary appraisal
Personality Factors
motive strength
belief systems and values
intellectual resources
Questions
1. What are the four ways your text cites as how stress is commonly perceived? Define each approach and
give at least one example of each and discuss how each.
2. What is the relationship between a stressor, stress, and a stress response.
3. Who coined the terms milieu interior and homeostasis? What do these terms mean? Give an example of
homeostasis in action and explain. Why was this concept critical to the study of stress?
4. Who was Selye, and how did he extend the findings of Walter Cannon?
5. How did Selye define stress? How was the notion of "adjustment" key to Selye’s concept?
6. Define and explain the parts of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome (GAS). Where does the terms "fight or
flight" and "weak link" fit into this model of stress and disease?
7. What is the "life events" approach to stress? Who popularized it and why was this approach particular
significant to psychology?
8. What was a problem with the life event approach to stress? What did researchers argue was critical to
experience of stress which was missing from the LE research? How did the notion of symbolic threats fit
in. What part of the brain is thought to be where symbolic threats are processed?
9. What is the difference between "distress" and "eustress"? How would proponents of the LE model of stress
view these differences in terms of relationship to potential illness or disease development? How about
someone like Richard Lazurus?
10. What was Lazurus essential contribution of the study of psychophysiological research of stress? Why was
this contribution significant in extended this area of science?
11. What stimulus characteristics (factors) help define the nature of the stimulus in the primary appraisal
process? Explain.
12. How is "ambiguity" of a stimulus particularly important in whether we perceive a stimulus to be
threatening?
13. What are 3 personality factors which Lazarus cites as being important to the perception of a stimulus as
stressful or not. Briefly explain.
14. Briefly, what is secondary threat appraisal and cognitive reappraisal?
15. What does the holistic model of wellness contribute to the understanding of the stress response. What are
the six dimensions of wellness (health) defined by this model? Define and say a little about each.