Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 THE NATURE OF STRESSORS: MY STRESS IS YOUR PLEASURE 
Stress is a very personal thing. Although certain kinds of events, such as the death 
of a loved one or participation in military combat, are universally stressful, other 
situations may or may not be stressful to a specifi c person. 
Consider, for instance, bungee jumping. Some people would fi nd jumping off 
a bridge while attached to a slender rubber tether extremely stressful. However, 
there are individuals who see such an activity as challenging and fun fi lled. Whether 
bungee jumping is stressful depends in part, then, on a person’s perception of the 
activity. 
For people to consider an event stressful, they must perceive it as threatening or 
challenging and must lack all the resources to deal with it effectively. Consequently, 
the same event may at some times be stressful and at other times provoke no 
stressful reaction at all. A young man may experience stress when he is turned down 
for a date—if he attributes the refusal to his unattractiveness or unworthiness. But if 
stress
A person’s response to events 
that are threatening or challenging.
Key Concepts
How is health psychology a 
union between medicine and 
psychology?
What is stress, how does it 
aff ect us, and how can we 
best cope with it?
M O D U L E 4 3 
Stress and Coping
Even positive events can produce 
signifi cant stress.
Study Alert
Remember the distinction 
between stressors and 
stress, which can be tricky: 
stressors (like an exam) 
cause
stress (the physiolog-
ical and psychological reaction that 
comes from the exam).
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