Richard Lazarus
American psychologist known for cognitive appraisal theory of stress and emotion
American psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who argued that stress and emotion depend on how people appraise events and their own resources. He developed the appraisal and coping framework with his former student Susan Folkman.
Why this person matters
Lazarus shifted stress research from physical reactions alone to the meaning people give events. His work with Susan Folkman produced a framework for coping that is still taught, and a colleague's memorial calls their 1984 book the most widely read and cited academic book in the field.
Main contributions
Cognitive appraisal
Lazarus held that emotions reflect how events affect a person's goals. Primary appraisal judges how significant an event is, and secondary appraisal judges whether the person can cope with its consequences.
Stress and coping
His 1966 monograph Psychological Stress and the Coping Process widened interest in stress. With Susan Folkman he published Stress, Appraisal, and Coping in 1984. Folkman coined the terms problem-focused and emotion-focused coping in her doctoral thesis.
Daily hassles and defences
He argued that daily hassles typically cause more suffering than major life events. Film-based studies by his group showed that defences such as denial and intellectualisation change how people appraise events, and so their stress.
Context and limits
The sources read describe his work without criticism, so none is reported here. The University of California memorial says his appraisal concept became a principal rationale for cognitive-behavioural therapy. Whether appraisal must precede emotion has been debated in the field, but the pages read do not document that debate, so it is not described.
In your introductory course
Stress, health and wellbeing.Lazarus appears in chapters on stress and coping and on theories of emotion. Students meet primary and secondary appraisal and the two coping styles.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 10.4. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1957
He joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley.
- 1966
He published Psychological Stress and the Coping Process.
- 1984
Stress, Appraisal, and Coping appeared, written with Susan Folkman.
- 1991
He published Emotion and Adaptation.
Sources
- University of California, In Memoriam: Richard S. LazarusUniversity. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Richard LazarusReference work. Reference article inspected.