Establishing the situated features associated with perceived stress.

TitleEstablishing the situated features associated with perceived stress.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsLebois LAM, Hertzog C, Slavich GM, Barrett LFeldman, Barsalou LW
JournalActa Psychol (Amst)
Volume169
Pagination119-32
Date Published2016 Sep
ISSN1873-6297
Abstract

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.

DOI10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.05.012
Alternate JournalActa Psychol (Amst)
PubMed ID27288834
PubMed Central IDPMC4987261
Grant ListF31 AT007130 / AT / NCCIH NIH HHS / United States
K08 MH103443 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States