feel that the stress response is not nearly as general and non- specific as Selye suggests. Different stressors may produce somewhat different patterns of stress reaction, and different individuals may have different characteristic modes of response. You may recall the case of an opening batsman mentioned earlier. Each one of us will see the situation through our own eyes and it is our perception of the demands, and our ability to meet them, which will determine whether we are feeling ‘stressed’ or not.
Stress is not a factor that resides in the individual or the environment, instead it is embedded in an ongoing process that involves individuals transacting with their social and cultural environments, making appraisals of those encounters and attempting to cope with the issues that arise. Stress is a dynamic mental/cognitive state. It is a disruption in homeostasis or an imbalance that gives rise to a requirement for resolution of that imbalance or restoration of homeostasis. The perception of stress is dependent upon the individual’s cognitive appraisal of events and the resources available to deal with them.
The stress process, based on the cognitive theory of stress propounded by Lazarus and his colleagues, is described in Figure . . An individual’s response to a stressful situation largely depends upon Fig. .
: Psychological Meaning of Stress the perceived events and how they are interpreted or appraised. Lazarus has distinguished between two types of appraisal, i.e. primary and secondary. Primary appraisal refers to the perception of a new or changing environment as positive, neutral or negative in its consequences.
Negative events are appraised for their possible harm, threat or challenge. Harm is the assessment of the damage that has already been done by an event. Threat is the assessment of possible future damage that may be brought about by the event. Challenge appraisals are associated with more confident expectations of the ability to cope with the stressful event, the potential to overcome and even profit from the event.
When we perceive an event as stressful, we are likely to make a secondary appraisal , which is the assessment of one’s