In this essay in honor of Donald Oken, I emphasize coping as a key concept for theory and research on adaptation and health. My focus will be the contrasts between two approaches to coping, one that emphasizes

and choice

What about causality?

this paper will have a familiar ring to those studying social stress. One particular theme of earlier writing (Pearlin, 1989) deserves to be revisited briefly: the distinctive character of social stress. Stress and its attendant processes can be described as social when their variations follow lines of status demarcation, such a those dividing economic and occupational classes, gender, or age echelons. These kinds of variations, which have been recognized for several decades (e.g., Langer & Michael, 1963; Srole, Langer, Michael, Opler, & Rennie, 1961;), point to the inseparability of the larger social structures in which people are located and their well being. Social structures-- especially those in which power, prestige and economic resources are unequally distributed-- can affect virtually all aspects of the stress process, including the kinds and intensities of stressors to which people are exposed, the ways they are able to respond to and deal with these stressors, and the nature of the effects exerted by the stressors. Of course, not all stress arises out of social circumstances. For example, one can experience traumatic events as a result of natural disasters or of diseases whose epidemiology appears to be socially and economically blind, such as Alzheimer's. It can be observed, however, that in instances where exposure to stressors is not influenced by social factors, the processes that are set in motion by the nonsocial stressors may have social underpinnings. Natural disaster, for example, might not recognize the social and economic characteristics of the people in its path, but such characteristics are likely to govern the recovery of individuals from its destructive effects. The connections between elements of the stress process and social forces make stress...

this article's instrumentation section, it is important to note that Low scores on the PSI indicate high levels of problem solving self confidence, high approach behavior and high levels of personal control.) The difference between personal problem solving and technological problem solving scores within the individual disciplines was found to be significant for humanities students and technology students, but not for engineering students. Humanities students had the highest scores (least positive) in technological problem solving and the lowest scores in personal problem solving. Technology students had the lowest scores (most positive) in technological problem solving and medium scores in personal problem solving (see Figure 4). The data were also analyzed at the sub-scale level. Significant differences were found when comparing the two problem solving style subscales (problem solving confidence, and approach/avoidance) for both PSI-PSYCH and PSITECH scores across the three disciplines. Further comparisons of scores on each of the technological problem solving confidence, technological approach/avoidance, and personal control subscales among the three purposeful samples of students revealed that humanities students had the highest scores (i.e., were least positive) on all of the three technological subscales, while engineering students had medium scores and technology students had the lowest scores (i.e., were most positive) on each of the three subscales

of coping strategies

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Although the literature has identified both a self-enhancement and a self-improvement function of counterfactual thinking, most evidence points to situations in which the self-improvement function predominates. The current research spotlights a set of factors that increase the role of self-enhancement in counterfactual thinking. Threatening experiences such as chronic illness (Study 1) and the terrorist attacks of 9-11 (Study 2) were associated with more downward than upward counterfactuals. In Study 3, among those more motivated to self-enhance, a manipulation of event severity led to the generation of more downward than upward counterfactuals. Cultural background (Studies 3, 4, & 5), manipulated motives (Study 4), and the opportunity for self-affirmation (Study 5) also were related to the self-enhancing function of counterfactual thoughts. Downward Counterfactual Thinking 3 We have, without any doubt, the best Police Department, the best Fire Department, the best police officers, the best fire officers, the best emergency workers of any place in the whole world. And, although today's tragedy is going to be enormous, and there's no way to minimize it, if it weren't for them, this tragedy would be far worse…without our Police Department, our Fire Department, our EMS, and the kinds of people we have, many of whom lost their lives, there would be double

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