Lazarus and Folkman (1984) proposed that stress occurs when people perceived that the demands from external situations were beyond their coping capacity.
P
1560
References and Readings American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, text revision (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. Stein, D. J., Phillips, K. A., Bolton, D., Fulford, K. W. M., Sadler, J. Z., & Kendler, K. S. (2010). What is a mental/psychiatric disorder? from DSM-IV to DSM-V. Psychological Medicine, 40, 1759–1765. World Health Organization. (2007). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision, version for 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2011 from http://apps.who.int/classifications/apps/icd/icd10online/
Psychological Predictors ▶ Psychosocial Predictors
Psychological Researcher ▶ Psychologist
Psychological Science Peter A. Hall Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Synonyms Scientific psychology
Definition The term psychological science refers to the accumulated body of psychological knowledge (i.e., pertaining to brain, behavior, social, or mental processes) that has been generated through the systematic application of the
Psychological Predictors
scientific method. The term psychological science may also refer to the process of conducting psychological research through the use of the scientific method. The scientific approach to studying social, mental, and behavioral phenomena has existed for the full history of the field of psychology. Though some have questioned the applicability of scientific methods to researching mental phenomena for at least as long as its existence, psychological science has always been at the core of psychology as a field, and scientific rigor has been an aspiration even within the applied subdisciplines of psychology, including clinical and health psychology. Psychology as a discipline has more strict adherence to the scientific method than most social sciences, and so the nature of accumulated knowledge within psychology in the first century of its existence would be largely considered scientific in nature. Commitment to the scientific method in psychological research is traceable back to William James (1842–1910) in North America and Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) in Europe, though its roots likely extend even earlier than these two individuals. Notably, both James and Wundt were trained initially as physicians, highlighting the long-standing interconnectedness of psychological science and health science from the time that psychology emerged as a legitimate area of scientific inquiry. Psychological knowledge aims to be scientifically based by following basic scientific criteria of empiricism, replicability of a method, and the testing of generalizable hypotheses and models which eventually explain psychological phenomena. In 1989, the inaugural issue of Psychological Science was published by the Association for Psychological Science (formerly named the American Psychological Society). This flagship journal was intended to be a showcase for leading psychological research conducted with rigorous adherence to the scientific method. The prominence of Psychological Science has grown steadily from its inception to present, and it is currently among the highest ranking empirical journals in the field of psychology (Association for Psychological Science, 2012).
Psychological Stress Task
References and Readings Association for Psychological Science. (2012). Psychological Science (journal home page). http://www. psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/ journals/psychological_science
Psychological Scientist ▶ Psychologist
Psychological Stress Shin-ichi Suzuki1 and Daisuke Ito2 1 Faculty of Human Sciences, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama, Japan 2 Health Service Center, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
1561
P
the environment (known as the transactional model)” is widely accepted. From the perspective of psychological stress research, the ambiguous elements related to stress have distinguished two aspects of stress. One is called “stressors,” which cause stress (e.g., interpersonal problem, hard work, noise, and trauma). Another is called “stress responses,” which are nonspecific physical and mental changes induced by stressors (e.g., frustration, depression, anxiety, and stomachache). Psychological stress responses that caused by various daily experiences are emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes; their degrees have also become main factors affecting physical and mental health. However, as mentioned in the definition of Lazarus and Folkman (1984), psychological stressors are related to one’s cognition and coping process rather than induced stress responses directly. Therefore, an effective approach for reducing psychological stress responses should include not only the removal of stressors but also enhancing the cognitive and behavioral coping capability.
Synonyms Distress; Strain; Stress; Stressor
Definition H. Selye (1936) defined stress as “non-specific responses that be resulted from a variety of different kinds of stimuli.” However, Selye’s stress theory has only focused on physiological stress, and psychological factors have not been considered. Research on life stress examined the relationship between diseases and life events. Many studies were conducted for clarifying the psychological factors related to stress, and the results revealed that psychological factors play a significant role in the occurrence of physiological and psychological stress responses. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) proposed that stress occurs when people perceived that the demands from external situations were beyond their coping capacity. Today, the definition “stress is the process of interaction from resolution requests from
Cross-References ▶ Cognitive Appraisal ▶ Coping ▶ Mental Stress ▶ Stress, Emotional ▶ Stress Responses ▶ Stressor
References and Readings Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer. Selye, H. (1936). A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature, 138, 32.
Psychological Stress Task ▶ Stress Test
P
