Lect 13 Stress and Categories of Stressors

7/30/2019 Lect 13 Stress and Categories of Stressors

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Life would be simple indeed if our needswere automatically gratified.

As we know, many obstacles, both

personal and environmental, prevent this

ideal situation.

Such obstacles place adjustive demands

on us and can lead to stress.

All situations, positive and negative, that

require adjustment are stressful. 2


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To avoid confusion, we will refer to

adjustive demands as stressors,

to the effects they create within an

organism as stress,

and to efforts to deal with stress as coping

strategies.

is important to remember in the longrun is that the two concepts- stress and

coping are interrelated and dependent on

each other. 3


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Canadian physiologist Hans Selye (1956;

1976a), said that stress can be broken

down further into positive stress, eustress,and negative stress, distress.

(In most cases, the stress experienced

during a wedding would be eustress;

during a funeral, distress.)

In general, distress has greater potentialfor causing difficulties in adjustment. ,

though distress typily has the potential to

do more damage. 4


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Categories of Stressors

Adjustive demands, or stressors, stemfrom a number of sources.

These sources represent three categories:

frustrations, conflicts, and pressure.

1. Frustrations: When a person's strivings

thwarted, either by obstacles that block

progress toward a desired goal or by

the absence of appropriate goal,

frustration occurs.5
http://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=frustration&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=3d244dd3fc5c9f81c6f310c4a359ffe9&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=1&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=9&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEeOwaP8L6HMTpuIdgMSt6MkxfODVFvFvsVVF%2FM3DjxltaBivjxhH%2FVQKcneJ16D%2F4dk3laiAVtU84a9idLwWkRY%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbthttp://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=frustration&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=3d244dd3fc5c9f81c6f310c4a359ffe9&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=1&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=9&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEeOwaP8L6HMTpuIdgMSt6MkxfODVFvFvsVVF%2FM3DjxltaBivjxhH%2FVQKcneJ16D%2F4dk3laiAVtU84a9idLwWkRY%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbt


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A wide range of obstacles,

Both External internal, canlead to frustration.

Prejudice , discrimination, unfulfillment

in a job, and death of a loved one arecommon frustration stemming from the

environment; physical hacaps, lack of

needed competencies, loneliness, and

inadequate self-control are sources of fru

tion based on personal limitations .6


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2. Conflicts: Inmany instances stress results

from simultaneous occurrence of two or

more incompatible needs or motives: therequirements of one preclude satisfaction

of the others.

In essence we have a choiceto make, and we experience

conflict while trying to make it.

Conflicts are classified as approach-

avoidance, double-approach, and double-

avoidance types. 7
http://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=conflict&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=7bd71e6485de814ee1ee073ad3e7d916&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=2&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=10&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEc7uQJoK55mILOWss9%2FBpcF1kMnGxricRXIqdcxbUR%2FgoKMk4CLt%2FE8QkqE8ZtdzLw%3D%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbthttp://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=conflict&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=7bd71e6485de814ee1ee073ad3e7d916&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=2&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=10&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEc7uQJoK55mILOWss9%2FBpcF1kMnGxricRXIqdcxbUR%2FgoKMk4CLt%2FE8QkqE8ZtdzLw%3D%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbt


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a. Approach-avoidance conflicts

involve strong tendency to approach

and to avoid the same goal.

Perhaps an individual wants to join a high-

status group butcan do so only by endorsingviews contrary to their values

Approach-avoidance conflicts are sometimes

referred to as mixed blessing dilemmasbecause some negative and some positive

features must be accepted regardless of

which course of action is chosen. 8


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Roth and Cohen point out that

being inflexible in making these choices-

that is, in always choosing an approach

strategy or an avoidance strategy-can be

maladaptive.

When dealing with a stressor, sometimes

the best method of coping is to

approach it; at other times, the best thing

to do is to avoid it.

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b- Double-approach conflicts

involve choosing between two or moredesirable goals, such as which of two

movies to see on one's only free night of

the week. To a large extent, such simple plus-plus

conflicts result from the inevitable

limitations in one's time, space, energy,and resources; they are usually handled

in stride.10
http://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=conflict&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=7bd71e6485de814ee1ee073ad3e7d916&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=2&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=10&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEc7uQJoK55mILOWss9%2FBpcF1kMnGxricRXIqdcxbUR%2FgoKMk4CLt%2FE8QkqE8ZtdzLw%3D%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbt


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In more complex cases, however,

as when an individual is torn between two

career opportunities or between present

satisfactions and future ones, decision

making can be difficult and stressful.

Though the experience may cause more

eustress than distress, the stress is stillthere and the choice difficult; in either

case, the individual gives up something.

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c. Double-avoidance conflicts

are those in which the choices are

between undesirable alternatives, such as

either going to a party when you would

rather stay home or being consideredimpolite if you cancel at the last moment.

Neither choice will bring satisfaction, so

the task is to decide which course ofaction will be least disagreeable-that is,

least stressful.

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http://search.mywebsearch.com/mywebsearch/redirect.jhtml?searchfor=conflict&cb=GR&n=77deff8b&ptnrS=GRxdm066YYSD&qid=7bd71e6485de814ee1ee073ad3e7d916&action=pick&ss=sub&pn=2&st=hp&ptb=k6C2q3FJv_4Fjrm20ab72Q&si=6431114&pg=AJimage&pt=PI&ord=10&redirect=mPWsrdz9heamc8iHEhldEc7uQJoK55mILOWss9%2FBpcF1kMnGxricRXIqdcxbUR%2FgoKMk4CLt%2FE8QkqE8ZtdzLw%3D%3D&ct=AR&tpr=sbt


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3- Pressures : Stress may stem

not only from frustrations

and conflicts, but also from

pressures to achieve specific goals or to

behave in particular ways. In general, pressures force a person to

speed up, intensify effort, or change the

direction of goal oriented behavior. All of us encounter many everyday

pressures, and we often handle them

without undue difficulty. 13


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In some instances, however,

pressures seriously tax our coping

resources, and if they become excessive,

they may lead to maladaptive behavior.

Pressures can originate from external orinternal sources.

Students may feel under severe pressure

to make good grades because their parentsdemand it, or they may submit themselves

to such pressure because they want to get

into graduate school. 14


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A given situation may involve all three

categories of stressors- frustration, conflict,and pressure. E.g.A premed student whose

lifelong ambition to become a doctor

received rejection letters from all themedical schools to which he had applied.

This unexpected blow left him feeling, sad

and empty.

He felt extreme frustration his failure

and conflict over what his next should be.15


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He was experiencing pressure from

his family and peers to try again, but hewas overwhelmed by a sense of failure.

He felt so bitter that he wanted to drop

everything and become a beach bum or ablackjack dealer in Las Vegas.

The loss of self-esteem he was experiencing

left him with no realistic backup plans andlittle interest in pursuing alternative

careers.16


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Although a particular stressor may

predominate m any situation, we rarely

deal with an isolated demand, Instead,

we usually confront a continuously

changing pattern of interrelated and

sometimes contradictory demands.

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Lect 13 Stress and Categories of Stressors

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