The document discusses sources of stress in modern life. It describes stress as being experienced through both major stressful events as well as everyday minor hassles. Stress is influenced by individual appraisals and perceptions, with threatening events depending on how they are interpreted. Culture also influences stress experiences, with discrimination and acculturation posing challenges for minority groups. Both environmental factors and socioeconomic conditions can contribute to ambient stress in communities. Overall, the document provides an overview of the nature and sources of stress.

1. Stress and its
effects
Adjustment in the 21st Century
Dr. Mehran Rostamzadeh
INTI International University
Nilai ,2015
Psychology Applied to Modern Life
Chapter 3

2. Learning Outcomes
● Describe the experience of stress in everyday
life,
and distinguish between primary and secondary
appraisals of stress.
● Summarize the evidence on ambient stress,
ethnicity-related stress, and acculturation
stress.

3. The Nature of Stress
• Stress is a part of everyday life. Indeed, a poll by the American Psychological Association (2010) shows
that, for many of us, stress levels are high and are on the rise.
• One third of Americans surveyed reported “living with extreme stress,” and nearly half believed that their
stress had “increased over the past 5 years.”
• It seems that being “stressed out” has become a hallmark of modern life.
Catastrophe or traumatic crises such as
bombings,
floods,
earthquakes,
and nuclear accidents.
Hassles or everyday events, such as
waiting in line,
having car trouble,
misplacing your keys,
and staring at bills you can’t pay, are also stressful.
A major stressful event, such as
going through a divorce,
And other changes
In fact, according to the national APA (2010) survey, daily problems concerning money, work, and the economy
were the top three reported causes of stress.

4. • Research shows that routine hassles may have significant
negative effects on a person’s mental and physical health
(Almeida, 2005).
• Why would minor hassles be related to mental health?
• Many theorists believe that stressful events can have a
cumulative or additive impact (Seta, Seta, & McElroy,
2002).
• In other words, stress can add up. Routine stresses
at home, at school, and at work might be fairly benign
individually, but collectively they can create great strain.
•
Whatever the reason, it is evident that daily hassles make
important contributions to psychological distress (Serido,
Almeida, & Wethington, 2004).

5. • Stress Lies in the Eye of the Beholder
• Not everyone becomes overwhelmed by stress from daily
hassles.
• Certain personal characteristics such as resilience and
optimism can buffer the distressing effects of daily hassles.
• Therefore, individual perceptions are important in how people
experience stress
• The experience of feeling threatened depends on what events
you notice and how you choose to interpret or appraise them.
• Appraisals account for many of the individual differences in
reactions to potential stressors (Folkman, 2011). Events that are
stressful for one person may be routine for another.
• Example, many people find flying in an airplane somewhat
stressful, but frequent fliers may not even raise an eyebrow.

7. Appraisals of stress
Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman (1984) distinguish between primary and
secondary appraisal .
Primary appraisal is an initial evaluation of whether an event is (1) irrelevant to
you, (2) relevant but not threatening, or (3) stressful.
When you view an event as stressful, you are likely to make a secondary
appraisal, which is an evaluation of your coping resources and options for
dealing with the stress.
People’s appraisals of stressful events alter the impact of the events
themselves.
Research has demonstrated that negative interpretations of events are often
associated with increased distress surrounding these events.
In fact, when studying a sample of children after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, Lengua and her colleagues (2006) found that children’s
appraisals of the event predicted their stress symptoms as much as factors such
as their coping styles or pre-attack stress loads.

8. • People are rarely objective in their appraisals of
stressful events and their appraisals are highly
subjective.
• Clearly, some people are more prone to negative
interpretations of life’s difficulties than others
are.
• Research shows that anxious, neurotic people
are more likely to make threat appraisals as well
as to report more negative emotions related to
stress than people with less anxiety (Schneider et
al., 2012).
• Thus, stress lies in the eye (actually, the mind)
of the beholder,

9. Primary and secondary appraisal of stress.
Primary appraisal is an initial evaluation of whether an event is (1) irrelevant to you, (2)
relevant but not threatening, or (3) stressful. When you view an event as stressful, you are
likely to make a secondary appraisal, which is an evaluation of your coping resources and
options for dealing with the stress. (Based on Lazarus & Folkman, 1994)

10. Stress May Be Embedded in the Environment
• Although the perception of stress is a highly personal matter, many kinds of
stress come from the environmental circumstances that individuals share with
others.
• Ambient stress consists of chronic environmental conditions that, are
negatively valued and place adaptive demands on people.
• Features of the environment such as excessive noise, traffic, and pollution can
threaten well-being.
• For example, investigators found an association between chronic exposure to
high levels of noise and elevated blood pressure among children attending
school near Los Angeles International Airport (Cohen et al., 1980).
• Similarly, studies of children living near Munich International Airport (Evans,
Hygge, & Bullinger, 1995) found elevated stress hormones, reading and
memory deficits, and poor task persistence in samples of schoolchildren.

11. 1. Crowding is a major source of environmental stress. Even
temporary experiences of crowding, such as being packed
into a passenger train for a crowded commute, can be
stressful (Evans & Wener, 2007).
• Generally, studies suggest an association between high
density and increased physiological arousal, psychological
distress, and social withdrawal (Evans & Stecker, 2004).
Noise and crowding are not the only environmental factors
related to stress.
2. There is considerable evidence that exposure to
community violence, whether as a victim or as a witness, is
associated with anxiety, depression, anger, and aggression
among urban youth (Margolin & Gordis, 2004).

12. 3. investigators have examined poverty as a source
of environmental stress.
Children from lower income homes tend to have
higher levels of stress hormones than their higher-
income peers (Blair et al., 2011).
Poverty related stress takes its toll on both mental
and physical health (Chandola & Marmot, 2011).
Studies suggest that some of the link between
poverty and poorer adjustment can be explained
by perceived social class discrimination (Fuller-
Rowell, Evans, & Ong, 2012).

13. Stress Is Influenced by Culture
• Indeed, culture sets the context in which people
experience and appraise stress.
• Social scientists have explored the effects of ethnicity-
related sources of stress experienced by African
Americans,
Hispanic Americans,
Asian Americans,
and other minority groups, and they have documented that
racial discrimination negatively affects the mental health
and well-being for targets of racism (Brondolo et al., 2011).
• Of all hate crime incidents reported for 2010, 48.2% were
motivated by race, and the majority of those were anti-
black.

14. • Everyday discrimination can take many forms; including verbal insults
(ethnic slurs),
negative evaluations,
avoidance,
denial of equal treatment,
and threats of aggression.
Feldman-Barrett and Swim (1998) emphasize that these acts of
discrimination are often subtle and ambiguous ( e.g., “The clerk
seemed to be ignoring me”).
Such perceived discrimination has been linked to greater psychological
distress,
higher levels of depression,
and decreased well-being for a variety of minority groups, including
sexual minorities
(Lewis et al., 2006; Moradi & Risco, 2006; Swim, Johnston, & Pearson,
2009).

15. • For immigrants, acculturation, or changing to adapt
to a new culture, is a major source of stress related
to reduced well-being.
• Indeed, acculturation stress is associated with
depression and anxiety (Revollo et al., 2011).
• Studies show that the discrepancy between what
individuals expect before immigrating and what they
actually experience once they do immigrate is related
to the amount of acculturation stress they report
(Negy, Schwartz, & Reig-Ferrer, 2009).

17. Learning Outcomes
● Distinguish between acute, chronic, and
anticipatory stressors.
● Describe frustration, internal conflict, life
changes, and pressure as sources of stress in
modern life.

18. Major Sources of Stress
• Theorists have tried to analyze the nature of stressful events and
divide them into subtypes.
• One sensible distinction involves differentiating between acute
stressors and chronic stressors.
1. Acute stressors are threatening events that have a relatively short
duration and a clear endpoint.
• Examples would include having a difficult encounter with a belligerent
drunk,
waiting for the results of a medical test,
or having your home threatened by severe flooding.
2. Chronic stressors are threatening events that have a relatively long
duration and no readily apparent time limit.
Examples : ongoing pressures from a hostile boss at work, or the
demands of caring for a sick family member over a period of years.

19. 3. Anticipatory stressors: upcoming or future events that are perceived to
be threatening.
That is, we anticipate the impact of the event even though it has not
happened yet.
Example: we may worry about breakups that never occur,
bad grades we never receive,
or hurricanes that never make landfall.
The problem with anticipatory stress is that it can affect us psychologically
and physically just as strongly as actual stressors do (Sapolsky, 2004).
Let’s take a look at four major sources of stress:
frustration,
conflict,
change,
and pressure.

20. Frustration
• “It has been very frustrating to watch the rapid
deterioration of my parents’ relationship.
• Over the last year or two they have argued
constantly and have refused to seek any
professional help.
• I have tried to talk to them, but they kind of shut
me and my brother out of their problem.
• I feel very helpless and sometimes even very
angry, not at them, but at the whole situation.”

21. Frustration
• As psychologists use the term, frustration occurs in any situation in which
the pursuit of some goal is thwarted.
• Everyone has to deal with frustration virtually every day.
Long daily commutes,
traffic jams,
and annoying drivers,
for instance, are routine sources of frustration that can produce negative
moods and increase levels of stress (Wener & Evans,
2011).
• Such frustration often leads to aggression; even artificially induced
frustration in a laboratory setting can lead to increased aggression from
participants (Verona & Curtin, 2006).
• Some frustrations, such as failures and losses, can be sources of
significant stress.

22. Frustration
• Fortunately, most frustrations are brief and insignificant.
• You may be quite upset when you go to the auto shop to pick up your
car and find that it hasn’t been fixed as promised.
• However, a few days later you’ll probably have your precious car
back, and all will be forgotten.
• More often than not, frustration appears to be the culprit at work
when people feel troubled by environmental stress (Graig, 1993).
• Excessive noise, heat, pollution, and crowding are most likely
stressful because they frustrate the desire for quiet, a comfortable
body temperature, clean air, and adequate privacy.
• Frustration also plays a role in the aggressive behaviors associated
with “road rage” (Jovanovic ´, Stanojevic ´, & Stanojevic ´, 2011).

23. Internal conflict
• internal conflict is an unavoidable feature of
everyday life.
• That perplexing question “Should I or shouldn’t I?”
comes up countless times on a daily basis.
Internal conflict occurs when two or more
incompatible motivations or behavioral impulses
compete for expression.
• Sigmund Freud proposed over a century ago that
internal conflicts generate considerable
psychological distress.

24. Internal conflict
• This link between conflict and distress was measured with
precision in studies by Laura King and Robert Emmons
(1990, 1991).
• They found higher levels of conflict to be associated with
higher levels of psychological distress.
• Conflicts come in three types, which were originally
described by Kurt Lewin (1935) and investigated
extensively by Neal Miller (1944, 1959).
• These types—
• approach -approach,
• avoidance-avoidance,
• and approach-avoidance.

25. approach-approach conflict
• In an approach-approach conflict a choice must be made between two
attractive goals.
• The problem, of course, is that you can choose just one of the two
goals.
• Example, you have a free afternoon; should you play tennis or go to the
movies?
Among the three kinds of conflict, the approach-approach type tends to be
the least stressful.
In approach-approach conflicts you typically have a reasonably happy
ending, whichever way you decide to go.
Nonetheless, approach-approach conflicts centering on important issues
may sometimes be troublesome.
If you are torn between two appealing college majors or two attractive job
offers, you may find the decision-making process quite stressful.

27. avoidance-avoidance conflict
• In an a choice must be made between two unattractive goals.
• Forced to choose between two repelling alternatives, you are, as the
expression goes, “caught between a rock and a hard place.”
• Example, let’s say you have painful backaches. Should you submit to
surgery that you dread, or should you continue to live with the pain?
•
• Obviously, avoidance-avoidance conflicts are most unpleasant
and highly stressful.
• Typically, people keep delaying their decision as long as possible, hoping
that they will somehow be able to escape the conflict situation.
• For example, you might delay surgery in the hope that your backaches
will disappear on their own.

28. approach-avoidance conflict
• A choice must be made about whether to pursue a single goal that has
both attractive and unattractive aspects.
• For instance, imagine that you’re offered a job promotion that will mean
a large increase in pay. The catch is that you will have to move to a city
that you hate.
• Approach-avoidance conflicts are common, and they can be highly
stressful.
• Should you risk your savings by investing in a new business that could fail?
Approach-avoidance conflicts often produce vacillation.
• That is, people go back and forth, beset by indecision that can create
stress.
• Fortunately we are equipped to focus on the positive aspects of our
decision once it has been made (Brehm, 1956).

29. Life changes
• “After graduation, I landed my dream job and moved to
another state.
• For the first time, I am living alone, far away from my
friends and family.
• My biggest stress is getting used to my new life.
Everything is different.
• I am learning how to do my new job, trying to make
friends, and navigating my way around my new city.
I love my job and my new location,
but I am having difficulties dealing with all these changes at
once.”

30. Life changes
• Life changes may represent a key type of stress.
• Life changes are any noticeable alterations in
one’s living circumstances that require
readjustment.
• Research on life change began when Thomas
Holmes, Richard Rahe, and their colleagues set
out to explore the relation between stressful life
events and physical illness (Holmes & Rahe,
1967; Rahe & Arthur, 1978).

31. • They interviewed thousands of tuberculosis
patients to find out what kinds of events
preceded the onset of their disease.
• Surprisingly, the frequently cited events were not
uniformly negative.
• The list included plenty of aversive events, as
expected, but patients also mentioned many
seemingly positive events, such as getting
married, having a baby, or getting promoted.
• Why would positive events, such as moving to a
nicer home, produce stress?

32. • According to Holmes and Rahe, it is because
they produce change.
• Their thesis is that disruptions of daily
routines are stressful.
• According to their theory, changes in personal
relationships,
changes at work,
changes in finances, and so forth can be
stressful even when the changes are welcomed.

33. • Based on this analysis, Holmes and Rahe (1967)
developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale
(SRRS) to measure life change as a form of stress.
• The scale assigns numerical values to forty-three
major life events that are supposed to reflect the
magnitude of the readjustment required by each
change.
• Respondents are asked to indicate how often
they experienced any of these forty-three
events during a certain time period (typically, the
past year).

34. • The person then adds up the numbers associated
with each event checked.
• The total is an index of the amount of change-
related stress the person has recently
experienced.
Overall, these studies have shown that people with
higher scores on the SRRS tend to be more
vulnerable to many kinds of physical illness—and
many types of psychological problems as well
(Scully, Tosi, & Banning, 2000).

35. Pressure
• “My father questioned me at dinner about some
things I did not want to talk about.
• I know he doesn’t want to hear my answers, at
least not the truth.
• My father told me when I was little that I was his
favorite because I was ‘pretty near perfect’ and
I’ve spent my life trying to keep that up, even
though it’s obviously not true.
• Recently, he has begun to realize this and it’s
made our relationship very strained and painful.”

36. Pressure
• Pressure involves expectations or demands that one behave in a certain
way.
• Pressure can be divided into two subtypes: the pressure to perform and
the pressure to conform.
• You are under pressure to perform when you are expected to execute
tasks and responsibilities quickly, efficiently, and successfully.
Example, salespeople are usually under pressure to move lots of
merchandise.
Professors at research institutions are often under pressure to publish in
prestigious journals.
Comedians are under pressure to get laughs.
Pressures to conform to others’ expectations are also common.
Businessmen are expected to wear suits and ties.
Suburban homeowners are expected to keep their lawns manicured.
Teenagers are expected to adhere to their parents’ values and rules.

37. Pressure
• However, Weiten (1988, 1998) has devised a scale
to measure pressure as a form of life stress.
• In research with this scale, a strong relationship
has been found between pressure and a variety
of psychological symptoms and problems.
• In fact, pressure has turned out to be more
strongly related to measures of mental health
than the SRRS and other established measures of
stress (see Figure 3.6).

38. • A recent 15-year study of over 12,000 nurses
found that increased pressure at work was
related to an increased risk for heart disease
(Väänänen, 2010).
• Participants who reported that their work
pressure was much too high were almost 50%
more likely to develop heart disease than those
who experienced normal levels of pressure.
• Academic pressures, common for students
worldwide, are related to increased anxiety and
depression and affect student motivation and
concentration (Andrews & Hejdenberg, 2007).

39. • Research also suggests that stress resulting from academic pressure may
actually impede academic performance (Kaplan, Liu, & Kaplan, 2005) and
lead to problematic escape behaviors such as drinking (Kieffer, Cronin, &
Gawet, 2006).
• We tend to think of pressure as something imposed from outside forces.
• However, students often report that pressure is self-imposed (Hamaideh,
2011).
• For example, you might sign up for extra classes to get through school
quickly.
• Or you might actively seek additional leadership positions to impress your
family.
• Self-imposed stress doesn’t stop when you complete your education.
• People frequently put pressure on themselves to rapidly climb the
corporate ladder or to be perfect parents.

40. • Even the pressure that modern people put on
themselves to maintain a proper work-family
balance can serve as a source of stress.
• Individuals who think that failure to meet
exceedingly high standards is unacceptable (that
is, negative perfectionists) are more prone to
fatigue and depression (Dittner, Rimes, &
Thorpe, 2011).
• In sum, because individuals might create
stress by embracing unrealistic expectations for
themselves, they might have more control over
their stress than they realize.