lazarus and folkman's transactional model of stress and coping

Question 1

Transactional Model of Stress and Coping

Answer 1

a stress response depends upon both an individual’s appraisal of the stressor and their ability to cope with it

Question 2

primary appraisal

Answer 2

an individual’s evaluation of the significance of a potential stressor and whether anything is at stake in the encounter

deciding whether it is irrelevant, benign or stressful

Question 3

harm/loss

Answer 3

assessment of past damage (negative)
- reflection, anxious, overwhelmed
ie what did I do to cause this? I am regretful of…

Question 4

threat

Answer 4

assessment of future damage (negative)
- worries
ie how will this affect me?

Question 5

challenge

Answer 5

assessment of potential growth and opportunities (positive)
- confidence in the ability to overcome
- improvement
ie how can I overcome this? What is the silver lining?

Question 6

secondary appraisal

Answer 6

an evaluation of their ability to overcome a stressful situation
- having the adequate resource to cope

Question 7

Transactional Model of Stress and Coping in the real world

Answer 7

primary appraisal
- multiple may occur at once or consequently after the other
- can cycle through multiple

both primary and secondary appraisal are done at the same time
- constant reappraisal of the situation

Question 8

strengths of the model

Answer 8

• used humans to research
• focuses on thinking and emotions

Question 9

weaknesses of the model

Answer 9

• less emphasis on biological and social factors
• hard to research experimentally due to primary and secondary occuring at the same time
• hard to study as separate variables (ie harm/loss, threat and challenge)
• does not take into account cultural differences –> research conducted on a western population