Appraisal Model of Stress

The body is influenced by the mind’s ability to manage stress and the appraisal model of stress takes a biopsychological look at how a person processes a perceived psychological stressor and how they respond to the stress (Lovallo, 2004). The primary appraisal process begins with the evaluation of an environmental event that contradicts a person’s primary beliefs and commitments and they are interpreted as either a threat or challenge, or as being a benign or irrelevant event in which they are ignored (Lovallo, 2004). A secondary appraisal is considered to be reflective on how a person manages the primary appraisal such as perceiving the situation to be irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). For example, a high school student could graduate with a 3.5 GPA and be perfectly pleased and consider their failure to get straight A’s to be a benign event. However, to a student that is relying on achieving a 4.0 GPA for scholarships or entrance into certain universities this event could be a horrible challenge for them and then their secondary appraisal system would kick in resulting in changes in coping behaviors, behavioral responses, psychological responses, and eventually biological responses would modified (Lovallo, 2004).

Stress and how the mind influences the body’s response has been at the forefront of cognitive psychology. The primary and secondary appraisals have been developed with the understanding that primary beliefs and commitments and how a person responds to a stress is influenced by many complex variables so no one person will ever respond the same way (Lazarus, 1985). The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the body’s response to stress. When the body starts to deviate from homeostasis because of a stressor, a biological response of emotions and stress reactions begins to occur starting with the hypothalamus sending outputs to the brainstem which releases autonomic and endocrine responses in addition to a variety of other responses such as skeletal motor and stress responses (Lovallo, 2004). Epinephrine and norepinephrine are types of monoamine neurotransmitters that are released in response to stress that result in a response of either excitation or inhibition and they do not produce both responses at the same time (Pinel, 2006). Cortisone additionally plays a role in stress response as this hormone, produced in the adrenal cortex, increases in the quantity of secretion depending upon the amount of stress (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). Further, cortisone will prepare a person to either partake in the fight or flight response.

Cohen, S., Kessler, R. C., & Gordon, L. U. (1997). Measuring Stress: A Guide for Health and Social Scientists. NY: Oxford University Press

Pinel, John P. J. (2006). Biopsychology with “beyond the brain and behavior” (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Lazarus, R. S. (1985). Stress and adaptational outcomes: The problem of confounded measures. The American Psychologist, 40(7), 770-85

Lovallo, W. (2004). Stress & Health: Biological and Psychological Interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications