Richard Lazarus was born on this day in 1922

Richard Lazarus was born on this day in 1922

Richard Lazarus was a psychologist based in California. He worked on problem focused and emotion focused coping and co-authored (with Susan Folkman) a book called Stress Appraisal and Coping. His work mostly revolved around the idea of emotion, with the theory that he called appraisal, which is stage just before an emotion happens, an automatic unconscious process, almost have decided what is meant by what is happening and what emotions should follow.

He published studies that showed that clients who practised denial about the seriousness of their issues fared better than those who didn’t practise denial ie those who were more realistic. He also stated that stress was primarily to do with a person’s perception of their own resources rather than the actuality of the situation