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Cognitive Theories of Stress and the Issue of Circularity

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Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

No issue in the psychology of health is of greater interest and importance than whether and how stress influences adaptational outcomes, such as well-being, social functioning, and somatic health. This issue has generated extensive research on stressful life events (see Thoits, 1983, for a recent review). More recently, researchers have been interested in the stressful events of day-to-day living, variously referred to as microstres-sors (McLean, 1976; Monroe, 1983), chronic role strains (Pearlin, 1983), and daily hassles (DeLongis, Coyne, Dakof, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1982; Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981; Lazarus, 1984; Lazarus & DeLongis, 1983).

Portions of this chapter are based on an article by Richard S. Lazarus, Anita DeLongis, Susan Folkman, and Rand Gruen entitled “Stress and Adaptational Outcomes: The Problem of Confounded Measures,” American Psychologist, 1985, 40, 770–779.

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Lazarus, R.S., Folkman, S. (1986). Cognitive Theories of Stress and the Issue of Circularity. 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_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5122-1_4

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