• Unlikely that anyone can avoid stress
• Some stress is good for us
• More commonly: negative appraisals
◦ Lazarus’s
Coping Defined
• Impacted by Lazarus’s transactional model
• Psychological stress results from an unfavourable person-environment fit
◦ Mismatch between demands and resources
Coping= In order to make it more favourable: either the stressor OR its interpretation need to be altered
• It involves behaviours which arise from the primary and secondary appraisals + the emotions attached to them.
• The appraisal is influenced by the extent to which we perceive the event as interfering with our personal life
goals.
Coping= anything a person does to reduce the impact of a perceived or actual stressor.
◦ Alters/reduces negative emotions
◦ It can target the stressor
◦ Tolerating, reappraising, minimising
◦ Its aim is to achieve adaptation
• Coping will NOT be universally effective or ineffective
◦ It depends on the fit between the situation and the coping
response chosen.
Problem-focused VS Emotion- focused
Approach- oriented VS Avoidance
• Cognitive or behavioural coping
• Active or passive coping
• Primary control coping: acts on the stressor/ emotions elicited by problem/emotion focused coping
• Secondary control coping: efforts to adapt to the stressor
◦ Distraction
◦ Cognitive restructuring
◦ Acceptance
• Disengagement coping: withdraw from the stressor or the emotions elicited
◦ Denial
◦ Avoidance
◦ Wishful thinking
, • Endler and colleagues: 3 dimensions
◦ Emotion- oriented (person oriented strategies: emotional
response, self- preoccupation)
◦ Task- oriented (strategies to solve, minimise or reconceptualise
the problem)
◦ Avoidance- oriented (distraction, social diversion)
Coping styles or strategies
Coping styles: unrelated to the specific context/ stressor
◦ Trait-like forms of coping which people adopt when facing a
potentially difficult situation
Monitoring VS Blunting (a coping style)
◦ Monitoring: threat relevant information is sought out and
processed (asking for information)
◦ Blunting: tendency to avoid/distract from threat information
(by sleeping, daydreaming, engaging in other activities)
• Monitoring is associated with detection and preventive behaviour
• Blunting: less likely to engage in protective behaviour
• In the case of cancer:
◦ Monitors: lower information satisfaction, greater perceived risk,
higher negative effect
Context is important
◦ The coping style should fit the situation
Coping strategies: consider stress a dynamic process
• Passive coping: acceptance, positive reappraisal
• Active, problem-focused
◦ Have been seen to be used simultaneously
=> Coping can include oppositional strategies, at the same time.
• Individual differences affect the choice of coping
strategy (personalities)
Adaptive Coping
Problem- focused, attentional coping
• When there is something that can be done to alter/control the stressor event
Cognitive problem focused coping strategy: focusing on the situation and planning how to deal with it
• Some stress is good for us
• More commonly: negative appraisals
◦ Lazarus’s
Coping Defined
• Impacted by Lazarus’s transactional model
• Psychological stress results from an unfavourable person-environment fit
◦ Mismatch between demands and resources
Coping= In order to make it more favourable: either the stressor OR its interpretation need to be altered
• It involves behaviours which arise from the primary and secondary appraisals + the emotions attached to them.
• The appraisal is influenced by the extent to which we perceive the event as interfering with our personal life
goals.
Coping= anything a person does to reduce the impact of a perceived or actual stressor.
◦ Alters/reduces negative emotions
◦ It can target the stressor
◦ Tolerating, reappraising, minimising
◦ Its aim is to achieve adaptation
• Coping will NOT be universally effective or ineffective
◦ It depends on the fit between the situation and the coping
response chosen.
Problem-focused VS Emotion- focused
Approach- oriented VS Avoidance
• Cognitive or behavioural coping
• Active or passive coping
• Primary control coping: acts on the stressor/ emotions elicited by problem/emotion focused coping
• Secondary control coping: efforts to adapt to the stressor
◦ Distraction
◦ Cognitive restructuring
◦ Acceptance
• Disengagement coping: withdraw from the stressor or the emotions elicited
◦ Denial
◦ Avoidance
◦ Wishful thinking
, • Endler and colleagues: 3 dimensions
◦ Emotion- oriented (person oriented strategies: emotional
response, self- preoccupation)
◦ Task- oriented (strategies to solve, minimise or reconceptualise
the problem)
◦ Avoidance- oriented (distraction, social diversion)
Coping styles or strategies
Coping styles: unrelated to the specific context/ stressor
◦ Trait-like forms of coping which people adopt when facing a
potentially difficult situation
Monitoring VS Blunting (a coping style)
◦ Monitoring: threat relevant information is sought out and
processed (asking for information)
◦ Blunting: tendency to avoid/distract from threat information
(by sleeping, daydreaming, engaging in other activities)
• Monitoring is associated with detection and preventive behaviour
• Blunting: less likely to engage in protective behaviour
• In the case of cancer:
◦ Monitors: lower information satisfaction, greater perceived risk,
higher negative effect
Context is important
◦ The coping style should fit the situation
Coping strategies: consider stress a dynamic process
• Passive coping: acceptance, positive reappraisal
• Active, problem-focused
◦ Have been seen to be used simultaneously
=> Coping can include oppositional strategies, at the same time.
• Individual differences affect the choice of coping
strategy (personalities)
Adaptive Coping
Problem- focused, attentional coping
• When there is something that can be done to alter/control the stressor event
Cognitive problem focused coping strategy: focusing on the situation and planning how to deal with it
