COPING STRATEGIES

Assignment 1: Discussion Assignment

The discussion assignment provides a forum to discuss the relevant topics for this week based on the course competencies covered. For this assignment there are two parts. Make sure to answer all questions for Part 1 and Part 2. Provide a detailed response to the topic questions in the Discussion Area. For this assignment, post your responses directly in the Discussion Area. Do not use attached documents.

To support your work, make sure to utilize your course and text readings. When asked, utilize outside sources as well. As in all assignments, make sure to cite and provide references for your sources in your work, utilizing APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates for each part. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between one or more lines of reasoning in the discussion.

Part 1

Acculturation occurs when immigrants are pressured to adopt the cultural behaviors and values of their new land. The melting pot model of acculturation suggests that immigrants who quickly adopt the dominant group’s culture will have less acculturation stress. However, proponents of the bicultural theory believe that immigrants who maintain their traditional values and customs while adapting to the mainstream culture experience less acculturation stress. Explain which model you think makes more sense; provide examples of circumstances when one model offers a better explanation than the other, and vice versa.

Part 2

Richard Lazarus’s (1993) transactional model emphasizes that there is a transaction between the stressor and a person’s appraisal as to whether she or he possesses adequate resources to cope with the stressor. Explain Lazarus’s three levels of cognitive appraisal (primary, secondary, and cognitive reappraisal); describe a stressful event that has recently occurred in your life. If you cannot think of any such event, you can create a fictional one or use one that has recently occurred in a friend’s or relative’s life.

Reference:

Lazarus, R. S. (1993). From psychological stress to the emotions: A history of changing outlooks. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 1–21.