NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3: Meeting Life Challenges (NCERT 2026–27)

These Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 solutions cover Meeting Life Challenges, the chapter on stress and well-being in the NCERT Psychology textbook for the 2026–27 session. The chapter explains the nature, types and sources of stress, the four kinds of stress effects (emotional, physiological, cognitive, behavioural), Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), the link between stress and the immune system, the main coping strategies and stress-management techniques, and the life skills and factors that promote positive health and well-being. Below you get step-by-step answers to all Review Questions, key terms, extra practice, MCQs, Assertion–Reason and FAQs.

Class: 12 Subject: Psychology Chapter: 3 Chapter Name: Meeting Life Challenges Exercise: Review Questions (12) Session: 2026–27

Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 – Overview

Chapter 3, Meeting Life Challenges, studies how life conditions turn into challenges or causes of stress and how people respond to them. Stress is defined as the pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event that disturbs its equilibrium and exceeds its ability to cope; it is neither purely a stimulus nor a response but an ongoing transactional process between the individual and the environment, shaped by cognitive appraisal (Lazarus’ primary and secondary appraisal). The chapter describes three major types of stress — physical and environmental, psychological and social — and sources such as life events, hassles and traumatic events. It explains the four effects of stress (emotional, physiological, cognitive, behavioural), Selye’s three-stage General Adaptation Syndrome, and how prolonged stress weakens the immune system (psychoneuroimmunology). Finally it covers coping (task-, emotion- and avoidance-oriented; problem- and emotion-focused), stress-management techniques, and the life skills, hardiness and stress buffers (diet, exercise, positive attitude, positive thinking, social support) that promote positive health and well-being.

Key Terms & Concepts

Stress: the pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event that disturbs its equilibrium and exceeds its ability to cope. It is a dynamic mental/cognitive state — a disruption of homeostasis that demands resolution.

Stressors and strain: stressors are the events that trigger the stress response (noise, crowding, a bad relationship); the reaction to external stressors is called strain.

Eustress and distress: eustress is a good level of stress that aids peak performance and managing minor crises; if it builds up it can turn into distress, which causes the body’s wear and tear.

Appraisal (Lazarus): Primary appraisal is perceiving a new/changing event as positive, neutral or negative (and a negative event as harm, threat or challenge). Secondary appraisal is assessing one’s coping abilities and resources to meet that harm, threat or challenge.

Types of stress: physical and environmental (overexertion, poor diet, pollution, noise, disasters), psychological (frustration, conflicts, internal and social pressures, generated in our minds), and social (induced externally through interaction with others — death/illness in the family, strained relationships).

Sources of stress: major life events (death of a loved one, break-up), everyday hassles (commuting, noisy surroundings, shortages), and traumatic events (fire, accident, earthquake, tsunami).

Effects of stress: four major effects — emotional (mood swings, anxiety, depression), physiological (release of adrenaline/cortisol, raised heart rate, slowed digestion), cognitive (poor concentration, reduced short-term memory) and behavioural (disrupted sleep, poor diet, increased use of stimulants).

Burnout: a state of physical, emotional and psychological exhaustion produced by prolonged stress (chronic fatigue, irritability, helplessness, hopelessness).

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Selye’s model of the body’s response to prolonged stress, having three stages — alarm reaction, resistance and exhaustion.

Psychoneuroimmunology: the study of the links between the mind, brain and immune system — how stress affects immunity (e.g. reduced natural killer cell cytotoxicity, fewer T-helper cells).

Coping: a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress. Endler & Parker: task-oriented, emotion-oriented, avoidance-oriented. Lazarus & Folkman: problem-focused and emotion-focused coping.

Hardiness (the three Cs): a stress-resistant personality trait set described by Kobasa — commitment, control and challenge.

Life skills: abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour — assertiveness, time management, rational thinking, improving relationships, self-care, and overcoming unhelpful habits.

Resilience: the capacity to ‘bounce back’ under adversity, built on three resources — I HAVE, I AM and I CAN.

Review Questions — Full Solutions

All questions below are reproduced verbatim from the NCERT textbook’s end-of-chapter Review Questions section. Answers are original, written in exam-ready style.

1. Explain the concept of stress. Give examples from daily life.

ANSWER Stress can be defined as the pattern of responses an organism makes to a stimulus event that disturbs its equilibrium and exceeds its ability to cope. The word comes from the Latin strictus (tight/narrow) and stringere (to tighten), reflecting the feelings of tightness people report under stress. Stress is not merely a stimulus or a response; it is a dynamic, transactional process in which the individual interacts with the social and cultural environment, appraises the encounter and tries to cope. Whether a person feels ‘stressed’ depends on the cognitive appraisal of the demands and of one’s ability to meet them. The events that cause the stress response are called stressors, and the reaction to external stressors is called strain. Not all stress is harmful: a moderate level (eustress) energises us and improves performance, like an opening batsman looking forward to a fast bowler. Too much stress (distress) damages the body, and too little leaves us listless. Examples from daily life: being momentarily alert and tense while crossing a busy road; a student’s pounding heart and blank mind in an examination; the daily hassle of commuting in traffic; or the strain caused by a quarrel with a friend or illness in the family.

2. State the symptoms and sources of stress.

ANSWER Symptoms (signs) of stress vary with personality and upbringing and can be physical, emotional and behavioural: Physical: difficulties with sleep and eating, headache, backache, stomach upset, physical illness, frantic bursts of energy. Emotional/cognitive: lack of concentration, memory loss, poor decision-making, low self-esteem, poor long-term planning, extreme mood swings, worry, anxiety, fear and depression. Behavioural: inconsistency, irregular attendance and timekeeping, emotional outbursts, and misuse of drugs. Sources of stress: a wide range of events can generate stress. The most important are: (i) Major stressful life events — death of a loved one, personal injury, or other big planned or unpredicted changes that disturb our routine. (ii) Hassles — the annoying, frequent personal stresses of daily life such as noisy surroundings, commuting, quarrelsome neighbours, and electricity or water shortages. (iii) Traumatic events — extreme events such as fire, accidents, robbery, earthquakes or tsunamis, whose effects (anxiety, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts) may appear after a delay and persist.

3. Describe the GAS model and illustrate the relevance of this model with the help of an example.

ANSWER The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) was proposed by Hans Selye after he subjected animals to stressors such as high temperature, X-rays and insulin injections and observed a similar pattern of bodily response. According to him the body passes through three stages: 1. Alarm reaction stage: the presence of a stressor activates the adrenal-pituitary-cortex system, releasing hormones that produce the stress response and prepare the individual for fight or flight. 2. Resistance stage: if stress is prolonged, the parasympathetic nervous system calls for more cautious use of the body’s resources, and the organism makes efforts to cope with the threat, for example through confrontation. 3. Exhaustion stage: continued exposure to the same or additional stressors drains the body’s resources; the systems involved in alarm and resistance become ineffective, and susceptibility to stress-related diseases such as high blood pressure increases. Example: consider a student facing board examinations. On first learning of the demanding schedule, the heart races and the body becomes aroused (alarm). Over the weeks of preparation, the student adapts and copes by studying hard and managing time (resistance). If the pressure continues for too long without rest, the student becomes exhausted, falls ill with fatigue, headaches or stomach upset, and may underperform (exhaustion). Selye’s model has been criticised for giving too limited a role to psychological factors such as appraisal, perception and personality.

4. Enumerate the different ways of coping with stress.

ANSWER Coping is a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress — a set of responses meant to resolve the problem and reduce stress. There are two influential classifications: Endler and Parker’s three coping strategies: (i) Task-oriented strategy: obtaining information about the stressful situation and the alternatives, deciding priorities and acting to deal directly with the problem (e.g. “schedule my time better”). (ii) Emotion-oriented strategy: efforts to maintain hope and control one’s emotions, or to vent feelings of anger and frustration (e.g. “tell myself it is not happening to me”). (iii) Avoidance-oriented strategy: denying or minimising the seriousness of the situation and suppressing stressful thoughts, replacing them with other activities (e.g. watching TV, phoning a friend). Lazarus and Folkman’s two coping responses: (i) Problem-focused strategies attack the problem itself with behaviours designed to gain information and alter the event, reducing its threat value (“I made a plan of action and followed it”). (ii) Emotion-focused strategies aim to limit the emotional disruption caused by an event, with little effort to change the event itself (“I did some things to let it out of my system”). Both are necessary, but people tend to use problem-focused coping more often.

5. Explain the effect of stress on psychological functioning.

ANSWER Stress affects psychological functioning through four major kinds of effects: Emotional effects: stressed people experience mood swings and erratic behaviour that can alienate family and friends. They show anxiety, depression, increased physical and psychological tension, and may fall into a vicious circle of decreasing confidence. Physiological effects: the body increases production of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, causing changes in heart rate, blood pressure, metabolism and physical activity — release of epinephrine and norepinephrine, slowing of digestion, expansion of air passages, increased heart rate and constriction of blood vessels. Useful in the short term, it is damaging in the long term. Cognitive effects: continued pressure causes mental overload, leading to poor concentration and reduced short-term memory capacity, and impairing the ability to make sound decisions — which can result in arguments, failure or financial loss. Behavioural effects: stress alters behaviour — eating less nutritious food, increased intake of stimulants such as caffeine, and excessive use of cigarettes, alcohol and tranquillisers, along with disrupted sleep patterns, increased absenteeism and reduced work performance.

6. Describe how life skills can help meet life’s challenges.

ANSWER Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They can be learned and improved, and they help us keep equilibrium and counterbalance daily demands: Assertiveness: a skill that helps us communicate our feelings, needs and thoughts clearly and confidently — the ability to say ‘no’, state an opinion without self-consciousness, and build self-esteem and a sense of identity. Time management: planning and delegating so as to spend time on what we value and our goals, which relieves time pressure and improves the quality of life. Rational thinking: challenging distorted thinking and irrational beliefs, driving out negative anxiety-provoking thoughts and making positive statements, since the way we think and feel are closely connected. Improving relationships: good communication through listening, expressing how we feel, and accepting others’ opinions, while avoiding misplaced jealousy and sulking. Self-care: keeping ourselves healthy, fit and relaxed (e.g. slow, diaphragmatic breathing) so we are better prepared to tackle everyday stress. Overcoming unhelpful habits: giving up perfectionism, avoidance and procrastination, which give short-term relief but make us more vulnerable to stress.

7. Discuss the factors that lead to positive health and well-being.

ANSWER Health is a state of complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being, not merely the absence of disease. The factors that act as stress buffers and promote positive health are: Diet: a balanced diet lifts mood, gives energy, strengthens the immune system and helps us cope with stress; the key is to eat three well-balanced meals a day and avoid ‘comfort foods’ high in fat, salt and sugar. Exercise: regular exercise improves physical fitness and manages weight and stress; stretching exercises (yogic asanas) have a calming effect, while aerobic exercises (jogging, swimming, cycling) raise arousal — both act as a stress buffer. Positive attitude: an accurate perception of reality, a sense of purpose and responsibility, tolerance for other viewpoints, taking credit for success and accepting blame for failure, openness to new ideas and a sense of humour. Positive thinking: optimism — the inclination to expect favourable outcomes — is linked to better well-being; optimists use more problem-focused coping and seek help, whereas pessimists anticipate disaster and ignore the problem. Social support: the availability of people who value and care for us provides protection against stress; perceived (quality) support is positively related to health, and it benefits both the giver and the receiver. Hardiness (commitment, control, challenge) and resilience further build positive health.

8. How does stress affect the immune system?

ANSWER Stress can cause illness by impairing the working of the immune system, which guards the body against attackers from within and outside. The study of these links between the mind, brain and immune system is called psychoneuroimmunology. The immune system uses white blood cells (leucocytes) to identify and destroy foreign bodies (antigens) such as viruses, and to produce antibodies. Important types are T cells (which destroy invaders), T-helper cells (which increase immunological activity — these are attacked by HIV), B cells (which produce antibodies) and natural killer cells (which fight viruses and tumours). Stress can reduce natural killer cell cytotoxicity, weakening the defence against infections and cancer. Reduced levels have been found in highly stressed people — students facing important examinations, bereaved persons and the severely depressed. Stress is accompanied by negative emotions (depression, hostility, anger), which release stress hormones that weaken immunity. Changes in the immune system have more effect on those whose immunity is already weakened, while social support improves immune functioning. Thus prolonged stress lowers immunity and increases the chances of falling ill.

9. Give an example of a life event which is likely to be stressful. Suggest reasons why it is likely to cause different degrees of stress to the person experiencing it.

ANSWER Example of a stressful life event: the death of a close family member (assigned a high mean stress score of 66 on the Indian Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale). Other examples are an unexpected accident, illness of a family member, or appearing for examinations. Why it causes different degrees of stress to different people: the impact of a life event varies because stress depends on the individual’s cognitive appraisal and resources, not on the event alone. (i) Past experience: a person who has successfully handled a similar loss before finds it less threatening. (ii) Perceived control: believing one has mastery or control over the situation reduces the stress experienced. (iii) Dimensions of the stressor: its intensity, duration, complexity and predictability change the outcome — sudden, intense, prolonged and unexpected events cause more stress. (iv) Personal resources: age at first experience, physical health, temperament, self-concept, coping style, money and social support all influence how stressful the same event feels. Hence one person may cope calmly while another is overwhelmed by the same loss.

10. Given what you know about coping strategies, what suggestions would you give to your friends to avoid stress in their everyday lives.

ANSWER Drawing on coping strategies and stress-management techniques, I would suggest the following to my friends: Use problem-focused coping: face problems directly — make a plan of action, gather information, set priorities and manage time well instead of avoiding the issue. Reappraise situations: practise rational thinking, challenge distorted and irrational beliefs, and replace negative anxiety-provoking thoughts with positive ones. Practise relaxation and self-care: use relaxation techniques, deep breathing, meditation and creative visualisation; sleep well and eat a balanced diet. Exercise regularly: at least four times a week for about 30 minutes, which provides an outlet for arousal and improves health. Build life skills and seek support: develop assertiveness and good time management, maintain healthy relationships, and seek emotional and informational social support from family and friends, since it reduces distress. Avoid unhealthy escapes: stay away from smoking, alcohol, tranquillisers and other harmful habits, and overcome perfectionism and procrastination.

11. Reflect on the environmental factors that have (a) a positive impact on the being, and (b) a negative effect.

ANSWER Our surroundings constantly shape our mood and our ability to cope with stress, so environmental factors can either support or harm well-being. (a) Environmental factors with a positive impact: clean air and a pollution-free environment; quiet, peaceful surroundings free of excessive noise; adequate natural light and pleasant colours; open green spaces and proximity to nature; comfortable temperature and enough personal space. Such conditions calm the mind, improve mood and help maintain equilibrium, supporting self-care and relaxation. (b) Environmental factors with a negative effect: environmental stresses such as air pollution, crowding, continuous noise, the heat of summer or the cold of winter; traffic snarls and the daily hassles of commuting; electricity and water shortages; and catastrophic events such as fire, earthquakes and floods. These physical and environmental stressors strain the body, lower mood and reduce our capacity to cope, leading to irritability, fatigue and ill health.

12. We know that certain lifestyle factors can cause stress and may lead to diseases like cancer and coronary heart disease, yet we are unable to change our behaviour. Explain why?

ANSWER Although we know that unhealthy lifestyles can cause serious diseases, changing behaviour is difficult for several reasons: Immediate pleasure versus delayed harm: health-impairing behaviours like smoking, alcohol abuse, poor diet and lack of sleep develop gradually and are accompanied by pleasant experiences temporarily, so we enjoy the short-term reward. Underestimating the risk: we tend to ignore the long-term damaging effects of these habits and underestimate the danger they pose to our lives, often believing ‘it will not happen to me’. Stress and comfort behaviours: stressed individuals seek ‘comfort foods’ high in fat, salt and sugar, and turn to stimulants and drugs to cope, which reinforces the unhealthy habit. Deep-seated habits and modern lifestyle: the way we cope often depends on rigid, deep-seated beliefs and routines that are hard to break; the fast-paced modern lifestyle of excess in eating and drinking has become normalised. Changing such habits requires reassessing our thinking, learning new coping strategies and sustained effort over time.

Extra Practice Questions

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. Differentiate between eustress and distress.

ANSWEREustress is a good, moderate level of stress that energises a person, aids peak performance and helps in managing minor crises. Distress is the harmful manifestation of stress that causes the body’s wear and tear. Eustress has the potential to turn into distress if it builds up beyond a person’s ability to cope.

Q2. What is meant by primary and secondary appraisal?

ANSWERPrimary appraisal (Lazarus) is the perception of a new or changing event as positive, neutral or negative; a negative event is further appraised as harm, threat or challenge. Secondary appraisal is the assessment of one’s coping abilities and resources — mental, physical, personal or social — and whether they are sufficient to meet the event.

Q3. Distinguish between hassles and traumatic events.

ANSWERHassles are the small, frequent personal stresses of daily life — noisy surroundings, commuting, quarrelsome neighbours, water and electricity shortages — whose cumulative effect lowers psychological well-being. Traumatic events are extreme events such as fire, accidents, robbery, earthquakes or tsunamis, whose effects may appear after a delay and persist as anxiety, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts.

Q4. What is burnout?

ANSWERBurnout is a state of physical, emotional and psychological exhaustion produced by prolonged stress. Physical exhaustion shows as chronic fatigue, weakness and low energy, while mental exhaustion appears as irritability, anxiety and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

Q5. List any four stress-management techniques.

ANSWERFour stress-management techniques are: (i) relaxation techniques with deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation; (ii) meditation procedures such as the yogic method of refocusing attention; (iii) biofeedback, which monitors and reduces physiological aspects of stress; and (iv) creative visualisation, using imagery and imagination. Cognitive behavioural techniques (e.g. stress inoculation training) and regular exercise also help.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. Explain the three major types of stress with examples.

ANSWERThe three major, interrelated types of stress are physical and environmental, psychological and social. Physical and environmental stress: physical stresses are demands that change the state of the body — overexertion, poor diet, injury or lack of sleep; environmental stresses are aspects of our surroundings such as air pollution, crowding, noise, heat and cold, and catastrophic events like fire, earthquakes and floods. Psychological stress is generated within our own minds and is unique to the person — frustration (blocking of needs and motives by something or someone, e.g. social discrimination or low grades), conflicts (between incompatible needs, e.g. studies versus a job), and internal pressures (unrealistic beliefs like ‘I must do everything perfectly’) and social pressures (excessive demands from others, personality clashes). Social stress is induced externally through our interaction with people — death or illness in the family, strained relationships, or trouble with neighbours — and varies widely from person to person (a party may be stressful for a quiet person but relaxing for an outgoing one).

Q2. Describe the various stress-management techniques in detail.

ANSWERBecause stress plays a major role in physical illness, many techniques have been developed to manage it. Relaxation techniques reduce symptoms of stress and the incidence of illnesses like high blood pressure; relaxation usually starts from the lower body and progresses to the facial muscles, combined with deep breathing to calm the mind. Meditation procedures use the yogic method — a sequence of learned techniques for refocusing attention that brings about an altered, deeply concentrated state of consciousness. Biofeedback monitors and reduces the physiological aspects of stress in three stages: developing awareness of a physiological response (e.g. heart rate), learning to control it in quiet conditions, and transferring that control into everyday life. Creative visualisation uses imagery and imagination after setting a realistic goal, with a quiet mind, relaxed body and closed eyes. Cognitive behavioural techniques aim to inoculate people against stress; Meichenbaum’s stress inoculation training replaces negative, irrational thoughts with positive, rational ones through assessment, stress reduction and application. Exercise provides an active outlet for arousal, improving heart efficiency, lung function, circulation and immunity; one should exercise at least four times a week for 30 minutes with warm-up, exercise and cool-down phases.

Q3. Explain coping and the difference between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping.

ANSWERCoping is a dynamic, situation-specific reaction to stress — a set of concrete responses intended to resolve a problem and reduce stress. Lazarus and Folkman conceptualised coping as a constantly changing process of cognitive and behavioural efforts to master, reduce or tolerate the demands created by a stressful transaction, and divided coping responses into two types. Problem-focused strategies attack the problem itself, with behaviours designed to gain information, alter the event, and change beliefs and commitments; they increase the person’s awareness, knowledge and range of coping options and reduce the threat value of the event (for example, “I made a plan of action and followed it”). Emotion-focused strategies call for psychological changes designed mainly to limit the degree of emotional disruption caused by an event, with minimal effort to alter the event itself (for example, “I did some things to let it out of my system”). Both forms are necessary when facing stressful situations, but research suggests people generally use problem-focused coping more often than emotion-focused coping.

MCQs & Assertion–Reason

1. The word ‘stress’ has its origin in the Latin words strictus and stringere, which mean:

(a) loose and to relax    (b) tight/narrow and to tighten    (c) strong and to break    (d) heavy and to push

2. Who is regarded as the father of modern stress research?

(a) Lazarus    (b) Folkman    (c) Hans Selye    (d) Kobasa

3. The good level of stress that helps achieve peak performance is called:

(a) distress    (b) strain    (c) eustress    (d) burnout

4. The three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome, in order, are:

(a) resistance, alarm, exhaustion    (b) alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion    (c) exhaustion, resistance, alarm    (d) alarm, exhaustion, resistance

5. The study of the links between the mind, brain and immune system is called:

(a) psychophysics    (b) psychoneuroimmunology    (c) psychometry    (d) psychopathology

6. Which cells of the immune system are attacked by HIV?

(a) B cells    (b) natural killer cells    (c) T-helper cells    (d) red blood cells

7. The three coping strategies of task-, emotion- and avoidance-oriented coping were given by:

(a) Lazarus and Folkman    (b) Endler and Parker    (c) Holmes and Rahe    (d) Kobasa and Selye

8. The ‘three Cs’ of a stress-resistant (hardy) personality described by Kobasa are:

(a) calm, courage, confidence    (b) commitment, control, challenge    (c) caring, coping, change    (d) clarity, control, comfort

9. The Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale for the Indian population was developed by:

(a) Holmes and Rahe    (b) Lazarus and his colleagues    (c) Singh, Kaur and Kaur    (d) Endler and Parker

10. The three resources of resilience are described as:

(a) I THINK, I FEEL, I ACT    (b) I HAVE, I AM, I CAN    (c) I WANT, I NEED, I GET    (d) I KNOW, I DO, I LEARN

Answer key: 1-(b), 2-(c), 3-(c), 4-(b), 5-(b), 6-(c), 7-(b), 8-(b), 9-(c), 10-(b).

For each Assertion–Reason question, choose: (A) Both true and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion; (B) Both true but the Reason is not the correct explanation; (C) Assertion true, Reason false; (D) Assertion false, Reason true.

A-R 1. Assertion: Not all stress is inherently bad or destructive.

Reason: Eustress is a level of stress that is good for a person and helps in achieving peak performance.

A-R 2. Assertion: Whether a person feels stressed depends only on the event, not on the individual.

Reason: Stress depends on the individual’s cognitive appraisal of the demands and of their ability to meet them.

A-R 3. Assertion: Prolonged stress can increase a person’s chances of falling ill.

Reason: Stress can reduce natural killer cell cytotoxicity and weaken the immune system.

A-R 4. Assertion: People generally use emotion-focused coping more often than problem-focused coping.

Reason: Problem-focused strategies attack the problem itself and reduce the threat value of the event.

A-R 5. Assertion: Social support can provide protection against stress.

Reason: People with high social support may experience less stress and cope more successfully when facing a stressful experience.

Answer key: 1-(A), 2-(D), 3-(A), 4-(D), 5-(A).

Exam Tips & Common Mistakes

How to score full marks in this chapter

Learn the precise definition of stress (a transactional process, not just a stimulus or response) and the difference between eustress and distress. Be ready to list the three types of stress, the three sources (life events, hassles, traumatic events) and the four effects (emotional, physiological, cognitive, behavioural). The most frequently asked long answers are the GAS model (alarm → resistance → exhaustion, always with an example), coping strategies (Endler & Parker’s three; Lazarus & Folkman’s problem- vs emotion-focused), and stress and the immune system (psychoneuroimmunology, T-helper and natural killer cells). For positive health, remember the five buffers — diet, exercise, positive attitude, positive thinking, social support — and the ‘three Cs’ of hardiness.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Defining stress only as a stimulus or only as a response — it is an ongoing transactional process.
  • Confusing eustress (good) with distress (harmful), and stressor (the event) with strain (the reaction).
  • Writing the GAS stages in the wrong order — it is alarm reaction, then resistance, then exhaustion.
  • Mixing up Endler & Parker’s coping strategies with Lazarus & Folkman’s problem-/emotion-focused responses.
  • Confusing primary appraisal (judging the event) with secondary appraisal (judging one’s resources).
  • Forgetting that people generally use problem-focused coping more often than emotion-focused coping.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Chapter 3 of Class 12 Psychology about?

Chapter 3, Meeting Life Challenges, deals with stress — its nature, types (physical/environmental, psychological, social) and sources (life events, hassles, traumatic events), its effects on psychological functioning and health, Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome, the link between stress and the immune system, coping strategies and stress-management techniques, and the life skills and factors that promote positive health and well-being.

What are the three stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)?

Selye’s GAS has three stages: the alarm reaction stage (hormones are released and the body prepares for fight or flight), the resistance stage (the body uses its resources cautiously to cope if stress is prolonged), and the exhaustion stage (resources are drained and susceptibility to stress-related diseases increases).

What is the exercise heading for Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3?

The end-of-chapter exercise in Class 12 Psychology Chapter 3 is headed Review Questions and contains 12 numbered questions, all answered step by step on this page.

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