Emotion, Conflict, Stress and Coping: Physiological Correlates; the Theories of James–Lange, Cannon–Bard, Schachter and Singer, Lazarus and Lindsley; Emotion Regulation; Conflicts; Models of Stress, Type A, B, C and D Behaviour, and Stress-Management Strategies
2. Emotion regulation and conflicts
James Gross's process model of emotion regulation identifies five families of strategies by the point in the emotion-generating sequence at which they act: situation selection (avoiding or approaching situations), situation modification (changing the situation), attentional deployment (distraction, concentration), cognitive change (above all reappraisal — reinterpreting what the situation means) and response modulation (above all expressive suppression). Reappraisal is "antecedent-focused" and generally reduces both felt emotion and physiological cost; suppression is "response-focused", leaves the feeling intact, raises sympathetic arousal and impairs memory for the event.
Conflict arises when two or more incompatible motives are aroused at once; its sources include competing needs, frustration of goals and clashing values or roles. Kurt Lewin (1935) described three types, and Neal Miller analysed them with approach and avoidance gradients, finding that the avoidance gradient is steeper than the approach gradient.
| Type | Situation | Typical outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Approach–approach | Two attractive goals (two good job offers) | Easiest to resolve; moving toward one makes it more attractive |
| Avoidance–avoidance | Two unattractive alternatives (surgery or continued pain) | Vacillation and attempts to "leave the field" |
| Approach–avoidance | One goal with both positive and negative features (a well-paid job in a distant city) | Vacillation near the point where the gradients cross; from far away approach dominates, close up avoidance dominates |
| Double (multiple) approach–avoidance | Two or more alternatives, each with positive and negative features | The most common and most difficult in real life |
3. Stress: concept and models, and Type A, B, C and D behaviour
| Model | Account of stress |
|---|---|
| Selye's general adaptation syndrome (response model) | A non-specific bodily response to any demand in three stages: alarm reaction (shock, then countershock — sympathetic and adrenal mobilisation), resistance (sustained coping at a high physiological cost) and exhaustion (depletion, illness — the "diseases of adaptation"). Selye distinguished eustress from distress. |
| Life-events (stimulus) model | Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale (1967) weights 43 life changes in life-change units — death of a spouse 100, divorce 73, marriage 50 — and totals above about 300 in a year predict illness. Kanner and Lazarus showed that daily hassles predict health better than major events. |
| Transactional model (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) | Stress arises when demands are appraised as exceeding resources; coping is problem-focused (changing the situation) or emotion-focused (managing the feelings). |
| Other models | The diathesis–stress model (vulnerability plus stress), McEwen's allostatic load (cumulative wear from repeated stress responses), Taylor's tend-and-befriend response (2000), and Kobasa's hardiness (commitment, control, challenge) as a buffer. |
| Type | Proposed by | Characteristics | Health link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type A | Friedman and Rosenman (cardiologists, 1959) | Competitive achievement striving, time urgency ("hurry sickness"), impatience, and hostility and aggressiveness | The Western Collaborative Group Study found about twice the rate of coronary heart disease; later work identified hostility as the toxic component |
| Type B | Friedman and Rosenman | Relaxed, easy-going, patient, not driven by time | Lower coronary risk in the original studies |
| Type C | Temoshok; Greer and Morris | Cooperative, unassertive, patient, compliant; suppresses negative emotions, especially anger | Proposed link with cancer progression; the evidence is weak and contested |
| Type D | Johan Denollet (1996) | The "distressed" personality: high negative affectivity combined with high social inhibition; measured by the DS14 | Poorer prognosis in patients with heart disease |
4. Stress-management strategies
| Strategy | How it works |
|---|---|
| Biofeedback | Instruments display a physiological signal — muscle tension (EMG), skin conductance, skin temperature, heart rate — so that the person learns to bring it under voluntary control; used for tension headache, hypertension and anxiety. |
| Music therapy | Listening to or making music to lower arousal, improve mood and aid expression; slow-tempo music reduces heart rate and cortisol. |
| Breathing exercises | Slow diaphragmatic breathing (and pranayama) shifts autonomic balance toward the parasympathetic system. |
| Progressive muscular relaxation | Edmund Jacobson (1938): systematically tensing and then releasing muscle groups teaches the contrast between tension and relaxation; abbreviated forms are used in Wolpe's systematic desensitisation. |
| Guided imagery | Imagining a calm, safe scene in multi-sensory detail, often guided by a script, to induce relaxation or rehearse coping. |
| Mindfulness | Non-judgemental attention to present experience; Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is an eight-week programme. |
| Meditation | Concentrative (a mantra or the breath) or open-monitoring practice; Benson's "relaxation response" is the physiological opposite of the stress response. |
| Yogasana | Postures combined with breath and attention, reducing sympathetic arousal and cortisol and improving flexibility and mood. |
| Stress Inoculation Training | Donald Meichenbaum's cognitive-behavioural programme in three phases: conceptualisation (education about stress and appraisal), skills acquisition and rehearsal (relaxation, self-instruction, problem solving) and application and follow-through (graded exposure to stressors) — like a vaccine, controlled doses build resistance. |
Key takeaways
- James–Lange: the body responds first and the feeling is its perception; Cannon–Bard ("Canon-Bard" in the syllabus): the thalamus triggers feeling and arousal simultaneously; Schachter and Singer: arousal plus a cognitive label.
- Lazarus: primary appraisal (irrelevant, benign-positive or stressful), secondary appraisal (coping options) and reappraisal; Lindsley: emotion as a level of activation by the reticular activating system.
- Gross's process model runs from situation selection to response modulation; reappraisal usually beats suppression; Lewin's conflicts are approach–approach, avoidance–avoidance and approach–avoidance, with Miller's steeper avoidance gradient.
- Selye's GAS runs alarm, resistance, exhaustion; Holmes and Rahe weight life events; Lazarus and Folkman's transactional model separates problem- from emotion-focused coping. Type A is time-urgent, competitive and hostile; Type C suppresses emotion; Type D combines negative affectivity with social inhibition.
- Management strategies include biofeedback, music therapy, breathing, Jacobson's progressive muscular relaxation, guided imagery, mindfulness, meditation, yogasana and Meichenbaum's three-phase stress inoculation training.
Practice questions (10)
Attempt each one before opening the answer. Every explanation names the tempting wrong option as well as the right one, because that is where marks are lost.
Which theory holds that the thalamus sends signals simultaneously to the cortex, producing the felt emotion, and to the body, producing physiological arousal?
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Answer: C — Cannon–Bard theory
Cannon and Bard (the syllabus prints "Canon-Bard") proposed simultaneous, independent feeling and arousal triggered by the thalamus. James–Lange puts the bodily response first, Schachter–Singer adds a cognitive label, and Lindsley ties emotion to reticular activation.In Schachter and Singer's (1962) experiment, which participants were most influenced by the mood of the confederate?
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Answer: A — Those injected with adrenaline and not told of its real effects
Uninformed participants were aroused but had no explanation, so they labelled their arousal from the confederate's behaviour. Informed participants attributed the arousal to the drug and were little affected — supporting arousal plus cognitive label.In Lazarus's theory, judging whether one has the resources and options to cope with an event is:
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Answer: A — Secondary appraisal
Primary appraisal asks whether the event matters (irrelevant, benign-positive or stressful); secondary appraisal asks what can be done about it. Response modulation is Gross's term, and the alarm reaction is Selye's first stage.Lindsley's activation theory attributes emotional arousal chiefly to the:
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Answer: C — Reticular activating system of the brainstem
Lindsley placed emotion on an activation continuum controlled by the reticular activating system, reflected in a desynchronised EEG; lesions there produce apathy and somnolence.Which of the following characterise the Type D ("distressed") personality described by Denollet? Select all that apply.
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Answer: A — High social inhibition; C — High negative affectivity
Type D is the combination of negative affectivity and social inhibition, measured by the DS14 and linked to poor cardiac prognosis. Time urgency marks Type A, and a relaxed manner Type B.A person who is attracted to a well-paid job but dreads moving to a distant city faces which type of conflict?
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Answer: D — Approach–avoidance
A single goal with both positive and negative features produces approach–avoidance conflict. Because the avoidance gradient is steeper, the person tends to vacillate as the decision draws near.What is the correct order of the stages of Selye's general adaptation syndrome?
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Answer: B — Alarm reaction → resistance → exhaustion
The body first mobilises (alarm, with shock and countershock), then sustains its defence (resistance) and, if the stressor persists, runs down (exhaustion), when illness becomes likely.Which of the following are phases of Meichenbaum's Stress Inoculation Training? Select all that apply.
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Answer: A — Conceptualisation; C — Skills acquisition and rehearsal; D — Application and follow-through
SIT moves from education about stress (conceptualisation) through learning coping skills to applying them under graded exposure. Free association is a psychoanalytic technique.Assertion (A): Cognitive reappraisal is generally a healthier emotion-regulation strategy than expressive suppression. Reason (R): Reappraisal acts early, changing the meaning of a situation before the emotional response is fully generated, whereas suppression acts late and leaves the feeling intact while raising physiological arousal. Choose the correct option.
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Answer: A — Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
Both are true and R explains A: in Gross's process model reappraisal is antecedent-focused and suppression response-focused, which is why suppression carries physiological and memory costs that reappraisal avoids.The relaxation technique developed by Edmund Jacobson, in which muscle groups are systematically tensed and then released, is:
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Answer: A — Progressive muscular relaxation
Jacobson's progressive muscular relaxation (1938) teaches the difference between tension and relaxation by tensing and releasing muscles in sequence. Biofeedback uses instruments, guided imagery uses mental scenes, and SIT is Meichenbaum's three-phase programme.