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WHAT IS STRESS?

Whilst there is little disagreement about the prevalence of stress there is considerable debate about what

the word (stress) actually refers to. In ordinary conversation we seem to be willing to apply the word to

both cause and effect. In other words, the common sense view of stress is that it is a combination of

external stressors and ourre sp on se in the early and highly influential research of Selye (1936). Stress is as

the result of an interaction between an individual‘s emotional, intellectual, social, and physical resources and

thed eman d s on him or her.

Marshall & Cooper (1981) argue that ‗stress‘ is a different phenomenon form ‗pressure‘. Stress
is something more than mere pressure. It carries strong overtones of the breakdown of normal
human performance. In an earlier work, Cooper & Marshall, (1978), the same two authors
concluded that ‗stress is essentially individually defined and must be understood with reference
to characteristics of both the individual and his environment, as it is the outcome of the two‘
(p.4)
The following are the various definitions of the term stress:
A.Stress is the excitement, feeling of anxiety, and/or physical tension that occurs when

thed eman d s placed on an individual are thought to exceed his ability to cope. This most common view of

stress is often called distress or negative stress. The physical or psychological demands from the

environment that cause this condition are called stressors. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2004)
B.Holmes & Rahe,(1967) defined stress as a stimulus event that presents unusual
demands.
C.It is defined by Ganster and Murphy (2000) as a form of ‗strain‘ provoked inre sp on se
to situationalde mand s labeled ‗stressors‘ which occur when jobs are simultaneously
high in demands and low in control.

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D.Is an adaptivere sp on se, mediated by individual differences and/or psychological

processes, that is, a consequence of any external (environment) action, situation, or event that places

excessive psychological and/or physicalde mands on a person. (Weihrich and Koontz, 1993)
E.Stress is the mental or physical condition that results from a perceived threat of danger
(physical or emotional) and the pressure to remove it. (Leslie & Lloyd, 1977)
F.Selye (1976) define stress as the bodilyresp on se we make to the troublesome event.
G.Stress is any circumstances or transactions with the environment that threaten or are
perceived to threaten our well-being and thereby tax our adaptive capacities. (Weiten,
1986).
H.An adaptivere sp on se, moderated by individual differences, that is a consequence of
any action, situation, or event and that places speciald e man d s on a person. (Ivancevich,
Konopaske and Matteson, 1987)
I.Stress (psychology), an unpleasant state of emotional and physiological arousal that
people experience in situations that they perceive as dangerous or threatening to their
well-being. (Auerbach et al, 2007 / Encarta 2008)
J.In physics, stress refers to the external force applied to an object– for example, a bridge
girder. The response is ―strain‖, which is the impact the force has on the girder.
K.Stress is defined as a nonspecificresp on s e of the body to ast imu lu s or event (stressor).
Under a general model of the stress response, when an individual experiences a stressor,
the stressor will lead to a physiological response, one that can be measured by several
indicators, such as elevated heart rate. In related literature, the term ―stress‖ is used to

refer to this physiologicalresp on s e. Stressors vary in form and can include extreme temperature or

lighting, time pressure, lack of sleep, and exposure to threat or danger, among others. All stressors,

however, tend to produce similar physiological responses within the body. (Selye, 1956)

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Transactional model of stress championed by Richard Lazarus and his colleagues
(Holroyd & Lazarus, 1982; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) - A theory that proposes that the
experience of stress depends on one‘s subjective appraisal of events. Thus, stress is
neither a stimulus nor a response but a stimulus-response transaction.
Lazarus emphasizes that the experience of stress is highly personal & subjective,
depending on how people appraise the events they encounter.
From the above definitions of the term stress, stress means different things to different people.
From a layperson‘s perspective, stress can be described as feeling tense, anxious, or worried.

The term stress itself has been defined in literally hundreds of ways in the literature. Virtually all of the

definitions can be placed into one of the two categories, however; stress can be defined as either a

stimulus or a response.

A stimulus definition treats stress as some characteristic or event that may result in a disruptive

consequence. In a response definition, stress is seen partially to some stimulus, called a stressor. A

stressor is a potentially harmful or threatening external event or situation. In a response definition, stress

is the consequence of the interaction between an environmental stimulus (a

stressor) and the individual‘s response. That is, stress is the result of a unique interaction
between stimulus conditions in the environment and the individual‘s predisposition to respond in
a particular way.

In a nutshell it is useful to view stress as the response a person makes and to identify stimulus conditions

(actions, situations, events) as stressors. Stress is the consequence of the interaction between and

environmental stimulus (stressor) and the individual‘s response.

General Principles of Stress by Richard Lazarus
I.
Stress may be either physical or psychological: Examples of physical stress

include infections, exposure to excessive heat or cold failure to get adequate sleep,