Which theory describes the body's adaptive response to stress involving nervous and endocrine systems?

Which theory describes the body's adaptive response to stress involving nervous and endocrine systems?

• A. General Adaptation Syndrome
• B. Nervous System Response
• C. Stress Response Theory
• D. Coping Strategy

Answer: (A)

General Adaptation Syndrome describes how the body adapts to stress through coordinated actions of the nervous and endocrine systems. Hans Selye outlined a three-stage pattern that shows how our physiology responds over time to different stressors: alarm, where the sympathetic nervous system kicks in and hormones like adrenaline surge to prepare for quick action; resistance, where the body stays on high alert and the HPA axis releases cortisol to sustain the response and help cope; and exhaustion, where resources become depleted and vulnerability to illness or dysfunction increases. This framework captures both the neural activation and the hormonal cascades that drive a go-and-keep-going response, then eventual depletion if the stress continues. Other options don’t fit as well because they either refer to a general, instantaneous neural reaction rather than a full, time-based pattern, or describe coping or response ideas rather than a formal theory of the body’s entire adaptive process. Coping strategies focus on how people handle stress, not the body's large-scale, coordinated physiological changes. The notion of a basic “nervous system response” or a vague “stress response theory” doesn’t convey the staged, systemic adaptation that GAS describes.

General Adaptation Syndrome describes how the body adapts to stress through coordinated actions of the nervous and endocrine systems. Hans Selye outlined a three-stage pattern that shows how our physiology responds over time to different stressors: alarm, where the sympathetic nervous system kicks in and hormones like adrenaline surge to prepare for quick action; resistance, where the body stays on high alert and the HPA axis releases cortisol to sustain the response and help cope; and exhaustion, where resources become depleted and vulnerability to illness or dysfunction increases. This framework captures both the neural activation and the hormonal cascades that drive a go-and-keep-going response, then eventual depletion if the stress continues.

Other options don’t fit as well because they either refer to a general, instantaneous neural reaction rather than a full, time-based pattern, or describe coping or response ideas rather than a formal theory of the body’s entire adaptive process. Coping strategies focus on how people handle stress, not the body's large-scale, coordinated physiological changes. The notion of a basic “nervous system response” or a vague “stress response theory” doesn’t convey the staged, systemic adaptation that GAS describes.