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Stress

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Health Psychology

Abstract

As Hans Selye (1980), a pioneer stress researcher, pointed out, “stress is a scientific concept which has suffered from the mixed blessing of being too well known and too little understood” (p. 127). Although stress is a difficult concept, or more accurately, construct, to define, as with anxiety or pain, much research has been directed at understanding the various phenomena associated with it. Whether or not stress is a useful construct depends to some degree on whether scientific investigation can unambiguously describe and measure it and whether factors that influence it can be isolated. A construct is only useful in terms of its organizing and explanatory power. The purpose of this chapter is to critically review the stress construct. A historical review, followed by a working or operational definition, will be presented. Models of stress will be reviewed, along with measurement techniques. Factors that influence or modulate the stress response will also be identified. One such factor is the coping process an individual engages in when confronted with a potentially threatening situation. Because of the recent emphasis on the role of cognitive modulation of the stress response, a detailed review of the research in this area will be presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA

    Michael Feuerstein & Andrzej R. Kuczmierczyk

  2. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA

    Elise E. Labbé

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  1. Michael Feuerstein
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Feuerstein, M., Labbé, E.E., Kuczmierczyk, A.R. (1986). Stress. In: Health Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0562-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0562-8_5

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