Chapter 2: Stress Concept and Definition

Contents:

Definition

Stress is a term that has been linked to varied concepts and operations. For some researchers it is stimulus, for others it is an inferred inner state and for still others it is an observable response to stimulus or situation. Thus the use of the term is somewhat hazardous because of the lack of consensus that prevails in stress research. (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974).

Some other researchers prefer to use the term stressor to refer to events that can cause stress, the organism’s biological and behavioral response to the stressor (Davison & Neale, 1994, p.191).

To solve the problem, some researchers suggest to be more precise in our usage of stress we must use stressor when talking about a cause of stress and the word stress when talking about the response to stressor (Holmes, 1994, p.39).

‎2.1

Stress as Stimulus

2.1 Stress as Stimulus 

The most common definition of stress adopted by psychologists has been that it is a stimulus. Stress stimuli are most commonly thought of as events impinging on the person. Stimulus definitions also include conditions arising within the person (like hunger or sex) and arising also from neurological characteristics. There are many kinds of events from environment called stressors, which can classified in three types – according to Lazarus & Cohen: Major changes, often cataclysmic, affecting large numbers of persons, major changes affecting one or a few persons, and daily hassles. (Lazarus & Folkman 1984, p.12).

So we can define stress as challenging event that requires physiological, cognitive or behavioral adaptation (Oltmanns & Emery, 1998, p. 287).

‎2.2

Stress as Response

2.2 Stress as Response 

Selye, for example, continued to consider stress as a response to environmental conditions, defined on the basis of such diverse criteria as emotional upset, deterioration of performance, or physiological changes such as increased skin conductance or increases in the levels of certain hormones (Apply & Trumball, 1967).

Others like Lazarus say that stress cannot be objectively defined. So, he suggests that the way we perceive or appraise the environment determines when stress is present. More specifically, stress is experienced when a situation is appraised an exceeding the persons adaptive resources. This is an important notion, for it allows us to account for individual differences in how people respond to the same events (Davison & Neale, 1994, p.191).

Stress as Relationship

2.3 Stress as Relationship 

Therefore, most definitions of stress emphasize the relationship between the individual and the environment. Stress is the consequence of a person’s appraisal processes; the assessment of whether personal resources are sufficient to meet the demands of the environment. Stress, then, is determined by person-environment fit. When a person’s resources are more than adequate to deal with a difficult situation, he or she may feel little stress. When the individual perceives that his or her resources will probably be sufficient to deal with the event but only at the cost of great effort, he or she may feel a moderate amount of stress. When the individual perceives that his or her resources will probably not suffice to meet an environmental stressor, he or she may experience a great deal of stress. Stress, then, results from the process of appraising events (as harmful, threatening or challenging), of assessing potential responses, and of responding to those events (Lazarus & Folkeman, 1984, p.19; Taylor, 1999, p.169).

Here, stress can be defined as state of an organism subjected to a stressor it can take form of increased autonomic activity and in the long term, cause the breakdown of an organ or development of a mental disorder (Davison & Neale, 1994, p. G. 25)