Chapter 6: Stress

The chapter traces historical stress models beginning with Cannon's fight-or-flight framework, which describes rapid sympathetic activation in response to perceived threats, followed by Selye's general adaptation syndrome that characterizes stress as a three-stage process involving initial alarm, sustained resistance, and eventual exhaustion of physiological reserves. Contemporary models including the tend-and-befriend response highlight alternative coping pathways beyond aggression or avoidance, while Lazarus and Folkman's cognitive appraisal theory emphasizes that stress emerges from subjective evaluation of events and available personal resources rather than from events themselves. The chapter details how stress activates two primary biological systems: the sympathetic-adrenomedullary pathway produces immediate catecholamine release increasing cardiovascular activity, while the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis triggers glucocorticoid secretion affecting metabolism and immunity. Individual differences in physiological reactivity accumulate over time as allostatic load, representing cumulative biological wear that accelerates aging and disease vulnerability. The chapter identifies characteristics rendering events stressful including negativity, uncontrollability, ambiguity, and overload, noting that mere anticipation produces measurable physiological strain comparable to actual stressor exposure. Methodological approaches to studying stress include acute laboratory paradigms, controlled viral exposure to examine illness susceptibility, and measurement inventories tracking major life events and daily hassles alongside perceived stress ratings. The chapter concludes by examining chronic stress sources including adverse childhood experiences that dysregulate developing stress systems, socioeconomic disadvantage and racial discrimination producing sustained elevation in cardiovascular risk, workplace demands with inadequate personal control, and multiple role demands that create conflict though supportive contexts can buffer negative outcomes.