Some Psychological Determinants of Stress Behavior
Abstract
The use of the term stress in behavioral and biological sciences probably derives from the physical sciences, where usage has specified that stress is a force which is exerted on some system in such fashion as to deform, alter or damage the structure of that system, while the resulting deformation is described as strain. The stress-strain concepts are thus relatel in stimulus-response fashion. In our fields, there is no ready agreement on formal definition, but a common sense emerges as to the phenom- ena under consideration. There are statements which define stress in terms of stimulus properties; others in terms of particular responses; and other definitions in interactional terms. Perhaps the simplest way out of a definitional conflict is to assert that stress -- as noun -- describes an organismic state. Those events which provoke it are stress situations (or stimuli); the resulting behavioral alterations which occur are stress reactions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 10, 1962
- Accession Number
- ADA365716
Entities
People
- Sheldon Korchin