Imagine a friend has just lost his job which helped him cover tuition costs. Apply Lazarus andFolkman's cognitive theory of stress and describe his potential reactions to this job loss. In youranswer, be sure to describe the following: Stressful Event, Primary Appraisal, SecondaryAppraisal, and Stress ResponseAfter a friend loses his job that helped him cover tuition costs, he will be faced with afinancial burden which is the stressful event. According to the cognitive theory of stress thereare two steps in this theory: primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. In first step, primary appraisal, the stressor will be seen as a challenge or is it threat. Ifthe stressful event is seen as a challenge, no stress will usually occur and the person …show more content…
In this case the stressful event is the financial burden which be seenas a threat. Three reactions will then occur, a biological reaction and emotional reaction, andsecondary appraisal. An example that could be seen as a biological reaction and an emotionalreaction would be depression. If he gets depressed, there would be a possibility of isolation fromfriends, eating less, and seeing himself as a failure. When a person is eating less depending onthe duration, there is a possibility of vitamin deficiency which could lead to nervous systemdisorders and/or scurvy. If he sees himself as a failure, he would then apply himself less andwould not be able function in order to come with a possible solution to his ordeal in the responseof a secondary appraisal. In the reaction of secondary appraisal, he would try to cope with the job loss with stressmanagement techniques. If he has the correct amount resources to deal with the job loss, sincehe can no longer use those funds to pay for tuition whether they are in the form of student loansand/or scholarships. He can use them to solve his financial burden. If, he is successful indealing with the stressor, the job loss; then the stress may not actually be a result or developbecause