422 CHAPTER 11
Stress and Stressors
Life is really about change. Every day, each person faces some kind of challenge, big or
small. Just deciding what to wear to work or school can be a challenge for some people,
whereas others find the drive to the workplace or school the most challenging part of the
day. There are decisions to be made and changes that will require that you adapt already-
made plans. Sometimes there are actual threats to well-being—an accident, a fight with
the boss, a failed exam, or the loss of a job, to name a few. All of these challenges, threats,
and changes require people to respond in some way.The Relationship between Stress and Stressors
11.1 Distinguish between distress and eustress.
Stress is the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral
responses to events that are appraised* as threatening or challenging.
Stress can show itself in many ways. Physical problems can include unusual fatigue,
sleeping problems, frequent colds, and even chest pains and nausea. People under stress
may behave differently, too: pacing, eating too much, crying a lot, smoking and drinking
more than usual, or physically striking out at others by hitting or throwing things. Emo-
tionally, people under stress experience anxiety, depression, fear, and irritability, as well
as anger and frustration. Mental symptoms of stress include problems in concentration,
memory, and decision making, and people under stress often lose their sense of humor.I feel like that most of the time!Most people experience some degree of stress on a daily basis, and college
students are even more likely to face situations and events that require them to
make changes and adapt their behavior: Assigned readings, papers, studying for
tests, juggling jobs, car problems, relationships, and dealing with deadlines are all
examples of things that can cause a person to experience stress. Some people feel
the effects of stress more than others because what is appraised as a threat by one
person might be appraised as an opportunity by another. (For example, think of
how you and your friends might respond differently to the opportunity to write
a 10-page paper for extra credit in the last 3 weeks of the semester.) Stress-causing
events are called stressors; they can come from within a person or from an external
source and range from relatively mild to severe.
Events that can become stressors range from being stuck behind a person in
the 10-items-or-less lane of the grocery store who has twice that amount to dealing
with the rubble left after a tornado or a hurricane destroys one’s home. Stressors
can range from the deadly serious (hurricanes, fires, crashes, combat) to the merely
irritating and annoying (delays, rude people, losing one’s car keys). Stressors can
even be imaginary, as when a couple puts off doing their income tax return, imagining
that they will have to pay a huge tax bill, or when a parent imagines the worst happening
to a teenage child who isn’t yet home from an evening out.
Actually, there are two kinds of stressors: those that cause distress, which occurs
when people experience unpleasant stressors, and those that cause eustress, which results
from positive events that still make demands on a person to adapt or change. Marriage,
a job promotion, and having a baby may all be positive events for most people, but they
all require a great deal of change in people’s habits, duties, and often lifestyle, thereby
creating stress. Hans Selye (1936) originally coined the term eustress to describe the stress
experienced when positive events require the body to adapt.Taking a test is just one of many possible stressors in
a college student’s life. What aspects of college life
have you found to be stressful? Do other students
experience the same degree of stress in response to
the same stressors?
*appraised: in this sense, evaluated or judged in terms of importance or significance.stress
the term used to describe the physical,
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral
responses to events that are appraised
as threatening or challenging.
stressors
events that cause a stress reaction.
distress
the effect of unpleasant and
undesirable stressors.