Analyzing the various causes and sources of stress in the modern society.
Everybody experiences stress in various times of their lives.There are various causes of stresses in every human's life. Physical environments have enduring characteristics that can influence whether or not stress is produced. All biological systems must self-regulate in the context of changing environmental demands. To understand our to such demands, we require knowledge of both individual processes and environmental features of the ecological niches we inhabit (Sells, 1963, 1969). Situations are the source of many stress-provoking stimuli that influence both psychological and physiological responses as we learn cognitive coping strategies. Stress emanates from individual appraisals of and reactions to actual environmental conditions (Baum, Singer, & Baum, 1982; Magnusson, 1982). The conditions of the physical environment weigh significantly in the stress and coping process. Certain environmental conditions are more capable than others of straining the adaptive resources of human beings.
City living is a form of social stressor. The brains of people who live in cities react more strongly to stress than those who live in small towns and rural areas, a new study shows. The study is published in the journal Nature. It may help explain why mood disorders like depression and mental illnesses like schizophrenia are common in city dwellers than those living in less densely populated areas. Researchers in Germany and Canada recruited healthy adults who lived in large cities, moderately sized towns, or smaller, rural communities. Scientists recorded their brain activity as they tried to solve difficult math problems while being criticized for their poor skills. It's a test that creates social stress as people struggle, but fail, to prove their mental abilities. As they were stressed, people who were currently living in cities had more activity in an almond-shaped area of the brain called the amygdala than those who lived in towns or rural areas. People who grew up in cities also had an interesting response to the stress. Even if they were no longer living in an urban area, their brains showed higher activity in a region called the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps to regulate the amygdala, suggesting that the early-life environment helps to shape the brain's stress response in important ways."It's a stronger response of those areas that typically regulate fear and emotion," says study researcher Jens C. Pruessner, PhD, director of the Douglas Mental Health Institute at McGill University in Montreal. And he says it suggests "that living in big cities with many, many people surrounding you sensitizes you to respond more strongly to stress."
Psychological stress focuses on the individual's interpretation of the meaning of environmental events plus an appraisal of personal coping resources(Lazarus, 1966). Primary appraisal is the term used to describe the process of evaluation of the stressor. Personal factors influencing primary appraisal include general beliefs about self-efficacy or mastery, the centrality of goals/needs threatened by the stressor, and various dis-positional factors.(Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Launier, 1978). Three important implications of the psychological stress perspective are:
1> The individual's perception of environmental demands and personal coping resources is the critical variable in determining the nature of stress response.
2> Stressful situations are not uniformly aversive. Important personal and social mediators can ameliorate or enhance the effects of stressors.
3> Stressors will affect the individual in a host of ways in addition to the physiological impacts emphasized by Cannon and Selye.(e.g., nervousness, tension, anxiety)(see Baum, Singer, & Baum, 1982; Cohen et al., 1986; Fleming et al., 1984)
In addition to the traditional models of the stress process described in the previous sections, there have been several less encompassing models that significantly influenced environmental stress research. Patterns of stimulation as influenced by multiple features that are repetitive or express some underlying theme or symbolic meaning may contribute to an overall sense of coherence and thus reduce information levels (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982; Lynch, 1960).Scott and Howard(1970) have emphasized that not only do physical factors influence the characteristic activity levels of people, but sociocultural variables (e.g., multiple roles, work demands) can also produce stimulation overload. Crowding and noise can readily be incorporated into the stimulation load models since each stressor increases the amount of physical stimulation in an ambient environment(Hall, 1966; Kaminoff & Proshansky, 1982; Saegert, 1976; Wohlwill, 1974).Several studies reveal that persons under stress from noise, for example, do not perceive subtle social cues for distress(e.g., an arm cast, Matthews & Cannon, 1975) or cues in photographs indicating people in need of assistance(e.g., person falling off a bicycle, Cohen & Lezak, 1977). Because of attention focusing under stress, peripheral cues including information about the needs of other persons for help may not be perceived.
Because individuals will vary in their sensitivity to various environmental demands, in the ways in which they appraise them, and in personal coping resources, stress will not invariably result when one or more aversive physical characteristics are present. Nonetheless, since stress is a function of environmental demands and individual coping resources, it behooves us to develop a more thorough description and analysis of the physical an social components of everyday situations that are likely to evoke stress and coping process.
References :
1> Ahrentzen,S.,Jue,G ,Skorpanich,M.A. , & Evans, G.W.(1982).School environments and stress. In G.W.Evans (Ed), Environmental stress (pp 224-255). New York: Cambridge University Press
2> Baum, A., &Epstein,Y.(Eds.).(1978).Human response to crowding. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
3> Baum,A., &Singer,J.E (Eds.).(1982) Advances in environmental psychology (Vol.4) Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum
4> Cannon, W.B. (1932). The wisdom of the body. New York:Norton.
5> Cohen, S., Evans, G.W., Stokols,D., & Krantz, D.S(1986). Behavior,health and environmental stress. New York: Plenum.
6> Epstein, Y., & Karlin, R (1975) Effects of acute experimental crowding. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5,34-53
7> Kaplan, H.B (1983). Psychological distress in sociological context: Toward a general theory of psychosocial stress. In H.B. Kaplan(ed.),Psychosocial stress (pp 195-266). New York: Academic
8> Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill
Everybody experiences stress in various times of their lives.There are various causes of stresses in every human's life. Physical environments have enduring characteristics that can influence whether or not stress is produced. All biological systems must self-regulate in the context of changing environmental demands. To understand our to such demands, we require knowledge of both individual processes and environmental features of the ecological niches we inhabit (Sells, 1963, 1969). Situations are the source of many stress-provoking stimuli that influence both psychological and physiological responses as we learn cognitive coping strategies. Stress emanates from individual appraisals of and reactions to actual environmental conditions (Baum, Singer, & Baum, 1982; Magnusson, 1982). The conditions of the physical environment weigh significantly in the stress and coping process. Certain environmental conditions are more capable than others of straining the adaptive resources of human beings.
City living is a form of social stressor. The brains of people who live in cities react more strongly to stress than those who live in small towns and rural areas, a new study shows. The study is published in the journal Nature. It may help explain why mood disorders like depression and mental illnesses like schizophrenia are common in city dwellers than those living in less densely populated areas. Researchers in Germany and Canada recruited healthy adults who lived in large cities, moderately sized towns, or smaller, rural communities. Scientists recorded their brain activity as they tried to solve difficult math problems while being criticized for their poor skills. It's a test that creates social stress as people struggle, but fail, to prove their mental abilities. As they were stressed, people who were currently living in cities had more activity in an almond-shaped area of the brain called the amygdala than those who lived in towns or rural areas. People who grew up in cities also had an interesting response to the stress. Even if they were no longer living in an urban area, their brains showed higher activity in a region called the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps to regulate the amygdala, suggesting that the early-life environment helps to shape the brain's stress response in important ways."It's a stronger response of those areas that typically regulate fear and emotion," says study researcher Jens C. Pruessner, PhD, director of the Douglas Mental Health Institute at McGill University in Montreal. And he says it suggests "that living in big cities with many, many people surrounding you sensitizes you to respond more strongly to stress."
Psychological stress focuses on the individual's interpretation of the meaning of environmental events plus an appraisal of personal coping resources(Lazarus, 1966). Primary appraisal is the term used to describe the process of evaluation of the stressor. Personal factors influencing primary appraisal include general beliefs about self-efficacy or mastery, the centrality of goals/needs threatened by the stressor, and various dis-positional factors.(Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Launier, 1978). Three important implications of the psychological stress perspective are:
1> The individual's perception of environmental demands and personal coping resources is the critical variable in determining the nature of stress response.
2> Stressful situations are not uniformly aversive. Important personal and social mediators can ameliorate or enhance the effects of stressors.
3> Stressors will affect the individual in a host of ways in addition to the physiological impacts emphasized by Cannon and Selye.(e.g., nervousness, tension, anxiety)(see Baum, Singer, & Baum, 1982; Cohen et al., 1986; Fleming et al., 1984)
In addition to the traditional models of the stress process described in the previous sections, there have been several less encompassing models that significantly influenced environmental stress research. Patterns of stimulation as influenced by multiple features that are repetitive or express some underlying theme or symbolic meaning may contribute to an overall sense of coherence and thus reduce information levels (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1982; Lynch, 1960).Scott and Howard(1970) have emphasized that not only do physical factors influence the characteristic activity levels of people, but sociocultural variables (e.g., multiple roles, work demands) can also produce stimulation overload. Crowding and noise can readily be incorporated into the stimulation load models since each stressor increases the amount of physical stimulation in an ambient environment(Hall, 1966; Kaminoff & Proshansky, 1982; Saegert, 1976; Wohlwill, 1974).Several studies reveal that persons under stress from noise, for example, do not perceive subtle social cues for distress(e.g., an arm cast, Matthews & Cannon, 1975) or cues in photographs indicating people in need of assistance(e.g., person falling off a bicycle, Cohen & Lezak, 1977). Because of attention focusing under stress, peripheral cues including information about the needs of other persons for help may not be perceived.
Because individuals will vary in their sensitivity to various environmental demands, in the ways in which they appraise them, and in personal coping resources, stress will not invariably result when one or more aversive physical characteristics are present. Nonetheless, since stress is a function of environmental demands and individual coping resources, it behooves us to develop a more thorough description and analysis of the physical an social components of everyday situations that are likely to evoke stress and coping process.
References :
1> Ahrentzen,S.,Jue,G ,Skorpanich,M.A. , & Evans, G.W.(1982).School environments and stress. In G.W.Evans (Ed), Environmental stress (pp 224-255). New York: Cambridge University Press
2> Baum, A., &Epstein,Y.(Eds.).(1978).Human response to crowding. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
3> Baum,A., &Singer,J.E (Eds.).(1982) Advances in environmental psychology (Vol.4) Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum
4> Cannon, W.B. (1932). The wisdom of the body. New York:Norton.
5> Cohen, S., Evans, G.W., Stokols,D., & Krantz, D.S(1986). Behavior,health and environmental stress. New York: Plenum.
6> Epstein, Y., & Karlin, R (1975) Effects of acute experimental crowding. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 5,34-53
7> Kaplan, H.B (1983). Psychological distress in sociological context: Toward a general theory of psychosocial stress. In H.B. Kaplan(ed.),Psychosocial stress (pp 195-266). New York: Academic
8> Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill
