Establishing the situated features associated with perceived stress.
We propose that the domain general process of categorization contributes to the perception of stress. When a situation contains features associated with stressful experiences, it is categorized as stressful. From the perspective of situated cognition, the features used to categorize experiences as stressful are the features typically true of stressful situations. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to evaluate the perceived stress of 572 imagined situations, and to also evaluate each situation for how much it possessed 19 features potentially associated with stressful situations and their processing (e.g., self-threat, familiarity, visual imagery, outcome certainty). Following variable reduction through factor analysis, a core set of 8 features associated with stressful situations-expectation violation, self-threat, coping efficacy, bodily experience, arousal, negative valence, positive valence, and perseveration-all loaded on a single Core Stress Features factor. In a multilevel model, this factor and an Imagery factor explained 88% of the variance in judgments of perceived stress, with significant random effects reflecting differences in how individual participants categorized stress. These results support the hypothesis that people categorize situations as stressful to the extent that typical features of stressful situations are present. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to establish a comprehensive set of features that predicts perceived stress.
Division of Depression and Anxiety, McLean Hospital and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, United States.
Lauren A M
LA
Lebois
Department of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, United States.
Christopher
C
Hertzog
Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, United States.
George M
GM
Slavich
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, United States; Massachusetts General Hospital, United States; Harvard Medical School, United States.
Lisa Feldman
LF
Barrett
Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. Electronic address: lawrence.barsalou@glasgow.ac.uk.
Lawrence W
LW
Barsalou
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001245:Association Learning; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Appraisal; Categorization; Perceived stress; Situated cognition; Stress; Stress categorization