Lazarus And Folkmans Model Flashcards
Lazarus and folkmans transactional model of stress and coping
Emphasised importance of psychological processes involved in dealing with a stressful situation.
• Proposes that stress involves an encounter (transaction) between an individual and their external environment, and that a stress response depends on a persons interpretation (appraisal) of the stressor and their ability to cope with it.
• Highly personal.
• An individual’s appraisal of the situation and their resources for dealing with that situation determine whether or not they experience a stress response.
• Can be different on different days.
Primary appraisal
Judges significance of the event- decided if irrelevant, benign positive or stressful. If stressful then we engage in additional appraisals:
• Harm/loss – Assessment of how much damage has already been done (e.g. loss of job, poor mark, illness)
• Threat – Assessment of damage that would occur in the future (e.g. might fail next test, might not to able to pay rent, might miss lots of days off work).
• Challenge – Assessment of the potential for personal growth from the situation (e.g. I could get a better job from this, I can learn from my poor test score)
Secondary appraisal
Person considers what coping options are available to them and how they will respond
• Can be internal (strength, determination) or external (support, money).
• Experience a stress response if we feel unable to cope.
Strengths
- Focus on psychological influences where the person has some control.
- Views stress as an interaction between the individual and the environment.
- Emphasised personal nature of stress response.
Limitations
Difficult to test through experimental research due to subjective nature.
• Primary and S appraisals can interact & occur simultaneously.
• Less emphasis on physiological elements of the stress response.
• Doubt that we actually need to appraise something to experience a stress response.
