Stress: The Cognitive Appraisal Model

This assignment will explore the concept of stress by firstly distinguishing between the definitions set out by Selye 919560 and Cox (1976). Following this assignment will critically evaluate the General Adaption Syndrome, SRRS and Daily Hassles explanations of stress and finally, conclude with a discussion on individual differences based on Friedman and Rosenman’s research.

Society defines stress as anything which forces us to change. Through technical terms stress is defined as “a negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taking or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope.” To explaining stress researchers came up with the “Cognitive appraisal model”, this system works to tell us whether we believe we have enough resources to deal with the situation without becoming stressed. For instance as a now college student those who have had previous experience taking finales in high school can have less stress than those who have not taken it. This is because they have previous experience with taking the tests and learning how to study while those who have never taken one can become extremely stressed over the unknown of the test. Stress is one of the sub branches that is attached to the world of health psychology. Health psychology is a quickly growing branch that deals with the way the mind and body work together. Psychologists that work in the health field came up with the biopsychosocial model. This model explains the complex interaction with biological, psychological, and social factors.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

The nervous system is activated, releasing hormones that prepare the body to take off or fight. This is called the "fight or flight" response. Your body’s heartbeat speeds up, your rate of breathing increases, muscles are tense, and you start to sweat. This is short-term and temporary (acute stress), and usually your body recovers quickly. Long term stress, when stress stays activated for ‘n long period (chronic stress), can lead to serious health problems. The constant rush of stress hormones will wear your body down, causing it to age quicker and be more prone to illnesses. When stress is not properly addressed it can lead to serious health

The critical appraisal process is implemented to examine the reliability and validity of a research study by evaluating relevance in practice and how to improve the quality of medical care. The focus of this assignment is to critically appraise the article The lived experience of parents and guardians providing care for child transplant recipients by focusing on the study methods, design, sample, data collection, and findings to measure significance of execution in the clinical setting. According to Williams, Eilers, Heermann, & Smith (2012), with a statistical increase in children living “normally” post transplant, there lies a demand to understand the reality of patient’s and family’s experiences and potential stressors presented throughout this financially, physically, and emotionally taxing process.

The major focus of this chapter was stress and the effect it has on the body. Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging. The concept of appraisal is the important part here. Stress can be affected through this psychological filter, either making the stressor feel threatening or challenging. The way we perceive it can have either positive or negative effects. Stress, when perceived negatively can lead to issues such as coronary heart disease or increased susceptibleness to colds (Myers, 2014).

The meaning of each person is thinking about the stress is unique. For example, Hans Selye(1936) who is regarded as the stress father of stress. He defines it as “When the body is threatened (Stressor) will cause stress. This may be good and bad. It will change the balance of the body. And the response of the person to the stressor, the response is expressed in terms of non-specific symptoms.”Moreover, Steinberg and Ritzman (1990) defined that “stress has enormous destructive power.” In addition, Skinner (1985) explained stress that “reaction to the

Cooper & Marshall (1976). A response based definition; this comes in three stages, first being the body is alerted and responds with a reaction. Moving on to the next stage being autonomic activity is activated so the body prepares to deal with the stress, but if the stress becomes overbearing the body cannot handle this and begins to breakdown and become damaged Selye (1956) And lastly stress as a dynamic process; this definition of stress which has contributing factors to the other two definitions of stress. This suggests stress is a dynamic process including internal and external factors, the characteristics of an individual and also the interactions between them. Cognitive factors are more focussed upon in this definition; the amount of stress experienced by a person is determined by demands. This definition suggests there is a link between emotional and environmental factors Sulsky and Smith (2005). The definition of stress is subjective to an individual and each have their own perceptions of what stress is. Stress is the concept how well a person can deal with lifestyle factors but in fact there are many ways stress can impact in anyway, it depends on the individual’s tolerance and view of a situation. In addition to Butler.G., the researchers Kranner, I., Minibayeva, F. V., Beckett, R. P., and Seal, C. E. (2010) definitions of stress were largely

Stress is majorly is a physical response. When the individual is under stress, his body perceives that it is under pressure (attack) and consequently switches to flight or fight mode; thus producing various chemical and hormones such as norepinephrine, cortisol, and adrenaline to prepare body to become active for physical action (Field, McCabe, Schneiderman, and Field, 2013). This triggers various reactions such as blood moves to the muscles (to close down unnecessary functions of the body like digestion), muscles tighten, senses become more focused, blood pressure increases, and heart beats faster. Such physical changes increase stamina and strength, speed the person’s reaction time, and improve

Scientist Hans Selye once said, “It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” Stress is one of the most common emotions that a person can feel. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is important that a person know their limits when it comes to stress, to avoid more serious health effects. In the United States, one common misconception about stress is that people of lower socioeconomic status chose to be there and are too lazy to change their circumstance; therefore, it is obvious that they have fewer responsibilities, and in turn less stress than those of high socioeconomic status. Research proves this to be a fallacy.

What is stress? Stress is defined as the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are viewed as threatening or challenging (Ciccarelli and White 2009). Stress differs from person to person and can be experienced in many difference ways. Also, what may be stressful to me may not be stressful to someone else. In this paper I plan on discussing how people can be affected by stress positively and negatively. I will go specifically go over a few ways people are affected by stress; aches and pains you may feel from stress, effects of prenatal stress, and positive stress.

Much empirical evidence has been collected over 40 years, to such a point where there is now overwhelming evidence that there is clinical value in utilising cognitive behavioural therapy (Dobson & Dozois, 2003). However the evidence lies in the notion that cognitive appraisals of events can affect the response of those events and that there is clinical value in modifying the component in these appraisals. Whereas others (e.g., Coyne, 1999; Held, 1995, cited in Dobson & Dozois, 2003) debate about the degree and exact nature of the appraisals an individual makes in different contexts. This is known as the first fundamental proposition of CBT and the second proposition of CBT is that cognitive activity may be monitored and altered. This assumes

In this set of materials, the article brings three hypotheses to explain the decline of population of the yellow cedar which is common in northwestern North America; however, the speaker is in disagreement with whatever the author mentions.

Stress forces humans to cope, adapt, and adjust to the world around us. It is the body’s way of responding to demands that occur all around us and is apart of how we evolved. The fight or flight instinct is an example of this. There are two types of stress, eustress and distress. Eustress is defined as being more positive. It motivates people to reach a goal or do well on a test, while negative stress, distress, causes prolonged anxiety and can inhibit pleasure. Stress can place strain on ones body. It affects the immune system by preventing white blood cells to create antibodies by spending the energy producing steroids for stress. Stress also increases the risk of heart disease and cancer (Psychology). Not only does stress affect the body, it also affect the mind.

Stress affects the body in many different ways. Many doctors estimate that stress is involved in more than half of all illnesses (Sapolsky, 21). Stress may cause or prolong an illness or increase its severity. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are hormones that are released during a stress reaction that affect organs throughout the body. As a result from the hormones being secreted, the heart begins to beat more rapidly, muscle tension increases, blood pressure raises, and heavy breathing may occur. This reaction is known as the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight response energizes the body to either confront or flee from a threat. Heredity, learning, and injuries all play a role in determining where or when a stress related illness may occur in a particular individual (Sapolsky, 22).