Read the given case-study carefully and answer the question that follow.
According to Lazarus and his colleagues, people have a tendency to appraise any situation as positive, negative or neutral. When Vikram lost his job as event manager, he perceived the situation as negative but he didn't lose heart and decided to start a food joint as he was handling similar projects in the past. Whereas Vikas who also lost his job as a marketing manager, started feeling helpless and hopeless and consumed alcohol regularly. He started coming up with excuses for not doing anything. He could not even think of starting his own venture as he had no money to invest. He would often become very angry or would start crying bitterly.
According to above case study, Vikas's feeling of worthlessness and hopelessness, as a reaction to stress is in the form of :
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Emotional response
Option (1) Physiological response — Incorrect. Physiological responses are changes in the body, such as the release of adrenaline and cortisol, a faster heart rate and higher blood pressure. Feelings of worthlessness are not bodily changes.
Option (2) Behavioural response — Incorrect. Behavioural responses are what the person does: fighting the stressor or withdrawing from it, drinking, poor eating, disrupted sleep. Vikas’s regular drinking is behavioural, but the question asks about his feelings.
Option (3) Emotional response — Correct. The emotional reactions to stress are negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, embarrassment, anger and depression. Vikas’s feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, his anger and his bitter crying are emotional responses.
Option (4) Cognitive response — Incorrect. Cognitive responses are beliefs and thinking: beliefs about the harm or threat an event poses and about its causes or controllability, inability to concentrate, and intrusive thoughts. The question names feelings, not thoughts.
NCERT (2025-26): “Nature of Stress … The emotional reactions to experience of stress include negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, embarrassment, anger, depression or even denial. The behavioural responses are virtually limitless, depending on the nature of the stressful event. Confrontative action against the stressor (fight) or withdrawal from the threatening event (flight) are two general categories of behavioural responses. Cognitive responses include beliefs about the harm or threat an event poses and beliefs about its causes or controllability. These include responses such as inability to concentrate, and intrusive, repetitive or morbid thoughts.…” |