Stress (Section A): biological, individual and social explanations of stress, and one therapy or intervention used to manage it.

What this dot point is asking

For stress you must give a biological, an individual, and a social explanation, and describe one therapy or intervention used to manage it. Stress is the response to perceived demands that exceed our resources, and the biological response (the two pathways) is core knowledge, so learn it precisely.

Biological explanation

This explanation is well supported by physiological evidence and explains stress-related illness, but it is reductionist, plays down how we interpret stressors, and much immune evidence is correlational.

Individual (cognitive) explanation

The individual explanation centres on cognitive appraisal. Lazarus's transactional model argues stress arises from how we judge a situation: primary appraisal asks "is this a threat?" and secondary appraisal asks "can I cope?". Stress results when perceived demands exceed perceived resources, so the same event stresses one person and not another. Personality factors (such as the hard-driving Type A pattern, or hardiness) and a sense of control also matter. This explanation explains individual differences and underpins cognitive stress-management, but appraisal is hard to measure objectively.

Social explanation

The social explanation locates stress in the environment and social circumstances. Major life events (such as bereavement, divorce or moving) require adjustment and raise stress, while everyday daily hassles accumulate. Workplace stressors include high demand, low control, role conflict and poor relationships. A lack of social support worsens stress, whereas good support buffers it. This explanation has strong real-world support (life-event and workplace research), but it overlaps with appraisal, since the impact of an event depends on how it is judged.

Therapy or intervention

Methods to manage stress work at the three levels. Biological methods include drugs (such as anti-anxiety drugs) and biofeedback (learning to control physiological responses such as heart rate). The key psychological method is stress inoculation training (SIT), a cognitive-behavioural approach with three phases: conceptualisation (understanding the stressor), skills acquisition (learning coping skills) and application (practising them). Social methods include building social support.

Examples in context

Example 1. Two students before an exam. One appraises the exam as a manageable challenge and feels energised; the other appraises it as an unmanageable threat and feels stressed. Same event, different appraisal, illustrating the cognitive explanation.

Example 2. Job strain. A worker with high demands but little control over how they work experiences chronic stress and raised cortisol, fitting both the social (workplace) and biological explanations.

Try this

Q1. Which hormone is released by the HPA axis during chronic stress? [1 mark]

• Cue. Cortisol (from the adrenal cortex).

Q2. Outline the cognitive appraisal explanation of stress. [3 marks]

• Cue. Stress arises when perceived demands exceed perceived resources; primary appraisal judges threat and secondary appraisal judges coping, so the same event affects people differently.

Q3. Explain one strength and one weakness of stress inoculation training. [4 marks]

• Cue. Strength: tackles appraisal and builds lasting coping skills. Weakness: requires significant time, effort and commitment, so it does not give quick relief.