Stress I. Different definitions of stress — circumstances that threaten well-being or the______to them【T1】______ — the process o

In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the mini-lecture, please complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s)you fill in is(are)both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.
    You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.
     (a thirty-second interval)
    Now listen to the mini-lecture. When it is over, you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.
                                Stress
    Good morning, everyone. We all experience stress, but we don’t all find the same situations stressful. Some people find flying in planes highly stressful, while others take up skydiving as a hobby. Some people thrive in fast-paced, deadline-heavy careers, while others prefer less stimulating work. Stress means different things for different people, and everyone has their own way of coping with it. Today, we’ll discuss stress and how to cope with stress.
    Stress is difficult to define because researchers approach it in different ways. Some use the term stress to refer to circumstances that threaten well-being or to refer to the response people have to threatening circumstances. Others think of stress as the process of evaluating and coping with threatening circumstances. Yet others use the term to refer to the experience of being threatened by taxing circumstances. Here, we will use the term stress in the last sense: the experience of being threatened by taxing circumstances.
    Researchers agree that stress is subjective. People don’t have the same response to the same circumstances. Instead, stress depends on how people appraise or evaluate environmental events. If people believe that a challenge will severely tax or exceed their resources, they experience stress. And that challenge can be called "a stressor".
    Stressors are usually psychologically or physically demanding events or circumstances. Research links stressors to increased susceptibility to physical illnesses such as heart disease as well as to psychological problems such as anxiety and depression.
    Stressors don’t always increase the risk of illness. They tend to affect health more when they are chronic, highly disruptive, or perceived as uncontrollable. Researchers who study stress usually distinguish among three types of stressors:
    catastrophic events, such as large earthquakes, hurricanes, wars:
    major life changes, positive or negative, such as marriage, divorce, death of a parent, beginning a new job, starting college:
    minor hassles, such as standing in line, traffic jams, noisy environments.
    Exposure to difficult circumstances doesn’t produce stress by itself. Rather, stress occurs when people experience frustration, conflict, or pressure:
    Frustration is the experience of being thwarted when trying to achieve a goal. For example, a student worked very hard on a term paper with the hope of getting an A but ends up with a B.
    Conflict occurs when people have two or more incompatible desires or motives. Conflict can occur in three forms:
    1. The approach-approach conflict, the least stressful, occurs when people try to choose between two desirable alternatives. For example, a student tries to decide between two interesting classes.
    2. The approach-avoidance conflict, typically more stressful and quite common, occurs when people must decide whether to do something that has both positive and negative aspects. When a boy invites a girl to a party, she finds him attractive, but going to the party means she won’t have time to study for one of her final exams. The girl is facing the approach-avoidance conflict.
    3. The avoidance-avoidance conflict, also typically stressful, occurs when people have to choose between two undesirable options. For example, a man might have to choose whether to keep his nice-looking car, which breaks down frequently, or buy a badly dented, but reliable, used one, because of his financial situation. The final internal source is pressure. It occurs when people feel compelled to behave in a particular way because of expectations set by themselves or others. For example, a high school student wants to be accepted by the popular crowd at school, so she tries hard to distance herself from her old friends because the popular crowd considers them geeky or undesirable. Then she is under great pressure.
    Now we’ve talked about stress and the sources of stress. Then how can we cope with it?
    There are many different coping strategies. Some common ones include: relaxation, humor, releasing pent-up emotions by talking or writing about them, exercise, getting social support, reappraising an event or changing perspective on the problem, spirituality and faith, problem solving, comparing oneself to others who are worse off, etc.
    These strategies can be very useful in alleviating stress, but they don’t work equally well for everyone. Some people cope more effectively than others. Some important factors can influence coping with stress.
    1. Social support: Many studies show that having good social support correlates with better physical and mental health. Researchers believe that supportive social networks buffer the effects of stressful circumstances. In stressful situations, a social network can provide a person with care and comfort, access to helpful resources, and advice about how to evaluate and manage problems.
    2. Optimism: A tendency to expect positive outcomes, optimism is associated with better physical health. Optimistic people are more likely to find social support, appraise events in less threatening ways, take good care of themselves when sick, and use active coping strategies that focus on problem solving.
    3. Perceived control: The term "locus of control" refers to people’s perception of whether or not they have control over circumstances in their lives. People with an internal locus of control tend to believe they have control over their circumstances. People with an external locus of control tend to believe that fate, luck, or other people control circumstances. Having an internal locus of control is associated with better physical and emotional health.
    OK. That’s it for today’s lecture. I hope you can all learn something from it. Thank you for your time.