A collection of the articles written by the author throughout his extensive career, this book achieves three goals. First, it reprints selected research and theory papers on stress and coping from the 1950s to the present produced by Lazarus under five rubrics: his dissertation; perennial epistemological issues including the revolt of the 1940s and 1950s; his transition from laboratory to field research; the clinical applications of stress and coping; and expanding stress to the emotions. Second, it provides a running commentary on the origination of the issues discussed, what was occurring in psychology when the work was done, and where the work led in the present. Third, it integrates various themes about which psychologists debate vociferously, often without recognizing the intellectual bases of these differences.

A collection of the articles written by the author throughout his extensive career, this book achieves three goals. First, it reprints selected research and theory papers on stress and coping from the 1950s to the present produced by Lazarus under five rubrics: his dissertation; perennial epistemological issues including the revolt of the 1940s and 1950s; his transition from laboratory to field research; the clinical applications of stress and coping; and expanding stress to the emotions. Second, it provides a running commentary on the origination of the issues discussed, what was occurring in psychology when the work was done, and where the work led in the present. Third, it integrates various themes about which psychologists debate vociferously, often without recognizing the intellectual bases of these differences.

This work provides a complete theory of emotional processes, explaining how different emotions are elicited and expressed, and how the emotional range of individuals develops over their lifetime. The author's approach puts emotion in a central role as a complex, patterned, organic reaction to both daily events and long-term efforts on the part of the individual to survive, flourish, and achieve. In his view, emotions cannot be divorced from other functions - whether biological, social, or cognitive - and express the intimate, personal meaning of what individuals experience. As coping and adapting processes, they are seen as part of the ongoing effort to monitor changes, stimuli, and stresses arising from the environment.

This volume is a sequel to the landmark work that established an exciting new field of study, "Stress, Appraisal and Coping" (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). The author now explores the newest trends in research and theory, focusing on the rationale for a cognitive-mediational approach to stress and emotions.

He makes clear distinctions between social stress, physiological stress, and psychological stress. By integrating both stress and emotion into one theoretical framework, with appraisal and coping as its basis, this book takes a narrative approach to both theory and research.

Lazarus concludes with a look at stress and health, with a specific focus on new developments in infectious diseases, the role of the nervous system, and his view of recent changes in psychotherapy.

For all upper division psychology majors, graduate students, academics, and professionals in related fields

When Oxford published Emotion and Adaptation, the landmark 1991 book on the psychology of emotion by internationally acclaimed stress and coping expert Richard Lazarus, Contemporary Psychology welcomed it as "a brightly shining star in the galaxy of such volumes." Psychiatrists, psychologists and researchers hailed it as a masterpiece, a major breakthrough in our understanding of the emotional process and its central role in our adaptation as individuals and as a species. What was still needed, however, was a book for general readers and health care practitioners that would dispel the myths still surrounding cultural beliefs about emotion and systematically explain the relevance of the new research to the emotional dramas of our everyday lives.

Now, in The Passions of Life, Lazarus draws on his four decades of pioneering research to bring readers the first book to move beyond both clinical jargon and "feel-good" popular psychology to really explain, in plain, accessible language, how emotions are aroused, how they are managed, and how they critically shape our views of ourselves and the world around us. With his co-author writer Bernice Lazarus, Dr. Lazarus explores the latest findings on the short and long-term causes and effects of various emotions, including the often conflicting research on stress management and links between negative emotions and heart disease, cancer, and other aspects of physical and psychological health. Lazarus makes a strong case that contrary to common assumption, emotions are not irrational--our emotions and our analytical thought processes are inextricably linked.

While not a "how-to" book, The Passions of Life does describe how readers can interpret what lies behind their own emotions and those of their families, friends, and co-workers, and how to manage them more effectively. Exploring fifteen emotions in depth, from love to jealousy, the authors show how the personal meaning we give to the events and conditions of our lives trigger such emotions as anger, anxiety, guilt, and pride. They provide fascinating vignettes to frame a "biography" of each emotion. Some are composite case histories drawn from Dr. Lazarus's long career, but most are stories of people the Lazaruses have known over the years--people whose emotional fears, conflicts, and desires mirror readers' own. The Lazaruses also offer a special chapter on the diverse strategies of coping people use in managing their emotions, and another, "When Coping Fails," on psychotherapy and its approaches to emotional stress and dysfunction, from traditional Freudian psychoanalysis to continuing research into relaxation techniques, meditation, hypnosis, and biofeedback.

Packed with insight and compellingly readable, The Passions of Life will enrich all readers fascinated by our emotional lives.

A sequel to "Stress, Appraisal and Coping", this volume explores the latest findings and trends in research and theory. It focuses on the rationale for a cognitive-mediational approach to stress and the emotions, and distinguishes between social, physiological and psychological stress. Topics include: work and family stress; chronic stress; traumatic stress disorders; crisis theory and management; stress in special groups such as ageing and the aged; children and adolescents; the stress of dislocation and immigration; stress and infections; the role of the nervous system; author's view of the recent changes in psychotherapy. This book is essential for all practitioners in the field of stress, appraisal, and coping, and of value to students of psychology, graduate students, academics, and professionals in related fields.

Coping with Aging is the final project of the late Richard S. Lazarus, the man whose landmark book Emotion and Adaptation put the study of emotion in play in the field of psychology. In this volume, Lazarus examines the experience of aging from the standpoint of the individual, rather than as merely a collection of statistics and charts. This technique is in line with his long-standing belief that experiences should be looked at in their specific contexts, rather than squeezed into an overly general statistical viewpoint that loses the subjects' motivations. Drawing on his five decades of pioneering research, Lazarus looks at aging, emotion, and coping, and stability and change in both environment and personality. Because Lazarus mixes academic rigor with everyday examples, this volume will be both useful to scholars and accessible to the lay audience that has so much gain from a systematic understanding of aging and emotion.

Lazarus offers a theory of emotion that is cognitive, motivational, and relational, a position he has pioneered over the last forty years. Clearly written and controversial, this book will appeal to both the student and professional researcher in personality, social, and clinical psychology, as well as in cognitive and development psychology. It is an ideal supplementary textbook in courses on psychology of adjustment and psychology of emotion and feeling.

Lazarus draws on his four decades of pioneering research to bring readers the first book to move beyond both clinical jargon and "feel-good" popular psychology to really explain, in plain, accessible language, how emotions are aroused, how they are managed, and how they critically shape our views of ourselves and the world around us. With his co-author, writer Bernice Lazarus, Dr Lazarus explores the latest findings on the short and long-term causes and effects of various emotions, including the often conflicting research on stress management and links between negative emotions and heart disease, cancer, and other aspects of physical and psychological health. Lazarus makes a strong case that contrary to common assumption, emotions are not irrational -- our emotions and our analytical thought processes are inextricably linked.

While not a "how-to" book, it does describe how readers can interpret what lies behind their emotions and those of their families, friends, and co-workers, and how to manage them more effectively. Exploring fifteen emotions in depth, from love to jealousy, the authors show how the personal meaning we give to the events and conditions of our lives triggers such emotions as anger, anxiety, guilt, and pride. Packed with insight and compellingly readable, Passion and Reason will enrich all readers fascinated by our emotional lives.

Knowledge about stress and its management has grown dramatically since "Stress and Coping" appeared over a decade ago; the third edition features some of the most important current thought by leaders in the field. Articles investigate such topics as health psychology, natural disasters, gender difference and stress, the lives of people with AIDS, new approaches to stress management, and stress management programs in the workplace.