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 ThreatsSimeons 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.