Abstract
There are a number of different ways in which the psychological and physiological aspects of behavior have been interrelated. The connection between the two domains is fundamental. It is the distinction between them that is artificial. Yet there is some administrative virtue in partitioning the unitary responses of a human being or an animal into components that follow disciplinary lines. Each discipline—physiology, endocrinology, psychology, anthropology, and so forth—tends to focus on its aspect of the integrated biobehavioral response with its own set of questions and investigative concepts and techniques. This chapter discusses one of the most common and important of the biobehavioral responses, namely, stress. The perspective will be psychological, and the question to be examined will be the source of individual differences in the diverse factors believed to enter into the stress system.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Appley, M. H. (1967). Invited commentary. In M. H. Appley & R. Trumbull (Eds.), Psychological stress: Issues in research (pp. 169–172). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Baron, R., & Rodin, J. (1978). Personal control as a mediator of crowding. In A. Baum, J. E. Singer, & S. Valins (Eds.), Advances in environmental psychology: Vol. 1. The urban environment (pp. 145–192). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Baum, A., Singer, J. E., & Baum, C. S. (1981). Stress and the environment. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 4–35.
Baum, A., Grunberg, N. E., & Singer, J. E. (1982). The use of psychological and neuroendocrinological measurements in the study of stress. Health Psychology, I, 217–236.
Baum, A., Gatchel, R. J., & Schaeffer, M. A. (1983). Emotional, behavioral and physiological effects of chronic stress at Three Mile Island. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 562–572.
Berkman, L. F., & Syme, S. L. (1979). Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: A nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology, 109, 186–204.
Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., & French, J. R. (1975). Job demands and worker health. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 211–219.
Cassei, J. (1976). The contribution of social environment to host resistance. American Journal of Epidemiology, 104, 107–123.
Cohen, S., & McKay, G. (1984). Social support, stress and the buffering hypothesis: A theoretical analysis. In A. Baum, J. E. Singer, & S. E. Taylor (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and health: Vol. 4. Social psychological aspects of health (pp. 253–267). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cohen, S., Evans, G. W., Krantz, D. S., Stokols, D., & Kelly, S. (1981). Psychological, motivational, and cognitive effects of aircraft noise on children: Moving from the laboratory to the field. American Psychologist, 35, 231–243.
Davidson, L. M., Baum, A., & Collins, D. L. (1982). Stress and control-related problems at Three Mile Island. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 12, 349–359.
Frankenhaeuser, M. (1975). Experimental approaches to the study of catecholamines and emotion. In L. Levi (Ed.), Emotions: Their parameters and measurements (pp. 209–234). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Frankenhaeuser, M., Nordhedin, B., Myrsten, A. L., & Post, B. (1971). Psychophysiological reactions to understimulation and overstimulation. Acta Psychologia, 35, 298–308.
Glass, D. C., & Singer, J. E. (1972). Urban stress: Experiments on noise and social stressors. New York: Academic.
Herbst, A. L., Robboy, S. J., Scully, R. E., & Poskanzer, D. C. (1974). Clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix in girls: Analysis of 170 registry cases. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 119, 713–724.
Hirsch, J., & Knittle, J. L. (1970). Cellularity of obese and nonobese adipose tissue. Federation Proceedings, 29, 1516–1521.
Julius, S. A. (1977). Borderline hypertension: Epidemiologic and clinical implication. Inj. Genest, E. Koiw, & O. Kuchel (Eds.), Hypertensionphysiopathology and treatment (pp. 630–640). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Krantz, D. S., Glass, D. C., Contrada, R., & Miller, N. E. (1981). Behavior and health. In National Science Foundation’s second five-year outlook on science and technology. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.
Lazarus, R. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lazarus, R. S., & Cohen, J. B. (1977). Environmental stress. In I. Altman & J. F. Wohlwill (Eds.), Human behavior and the environment: Current theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 89–128). New York: Plenum Press.
Lazarus, R. S., & Launier, R. (1978). Stress-related transactions between person and environment. In L. A. Pervin & M. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in interactional psychology (pp. 287–327). New York: Plenum Press.
Leventhal, H. (1970). Findings and theory in the study of fear communications. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology: Vol. 5 (pp. 120–186). New York: Academic Press.
Mann, G. V. (1977). Diet-heart: End of an era. New England Journal of Medicine, 297, 646–650.
Mason, J. W. (1968). Organization of psychoendocrine mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 30, 565–791.
Mason, J. W. (1975). Emotion as reflected in patterns of endocrine integration. In L. Levi (Ed.), Emotions: Their parameters and measurement (pp. 143–181). New York: Raven Press.
Peterson, E. A. (1979, August). Some issues and investigations concerning extraauditory effects of noise. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY.
Rahe, R. H. (1975). Life changes and near-future illness reports. In L. Levi (Ed.), Emotion: Their parameters and measurements (pp. 511–529). New York: Raven Press.
Schachter, S., & Singer, J. E. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychological Review, 69, 379–399.
Selye, H. (1936). A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature, 138, 32.
Selye, H. (1956). The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Selye, H. (1976). Stress in health and disease. Reading, MA: Buttersworth.
Singer, J. E., Lundberg, U., & Frankenhaeuser, M. (1978). Stress on the train: A study of urban commuting. In A. Baum, J. E. Singer, & S. Valins (Eds.), Advances in environmental psychology: Vol. 1. The urban environment (pp. 21–57). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Welch, B. L. (1979). Extra-auditory health effects of industrial noise: Survey of foreign literature. Dayton: Wright-Patterson, Aerospace Medical Research Division, Air Force Systems Command.
Zuckerman, M. (1979). Sensation seeking: Beyond the optimal level of arousal. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Singer, J.E., Davidson, L.M. (1986). Specificity and Stress Research. In: Appley, M.H., Trumbull, R. (eds) Dynamics of Stress. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5122-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5122-1_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5124-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5122-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive