Lazarus And Folkman Theory Of Stress Essay

What is stress? Stress is defined as tension, discomfort, or physical symptoms that arise when a stressor strains our ability to cope effectively. Different researchers have approached stress in three different yet interrelated ways: stressors as stimuli, stress as a response, and stress as a transaction. Two researchers that studied the stress as a transaction approach, Lazarus and Folkman, examined how different people interpret and cope with stress. Let’s examine Lazarus and Folkman’s cognitive theory of stress for one common stressful event: job loss.

Lazarus and Folkman concluded that people first appraise or evaluate a stressful event. The first step is primary appraisal, which is an initial decision about whether an event is harmful or not. In the job loss scenario, the person who was fired would engage in primary appraisal by asking himself or

Following the secondary appraisal, if one believes that they aren’t able to cope with the stressor, they are more likely to experience a stress reaction than those that believe they can cope. However, if the person is optimistic, there are two different methods of coping: problem-focused and emotion-focused. Problem-focused coping is a coping strategy in which a person problem solves and tackles challenges head-on. If someone who lost their job were to engage in problem-focused coping, he or she would analyze their mistakes and formulate a plan to find and keep a new job. Contrary to problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping is a coping strategy that features a positive outlook on feelings or situations. Someone adopting the emotion-focused coping method would engage in behaviors that limit painful emotions. In the job loss example, a person engaging in emotion-focused coping would remind himself or herself that that he or she didn’t really like their job anyways and that now they have the opportunity to find a better