One way to understand the relationship between the environment and human behavior is to
analyze environmental conditions that are capable of interfering with optimal human
functioning. In this chapter we examine how the concept of stress has been used to specify
environmental characteristics that may lead to physiological or psychological discomfort
and, in some cases, ill health, Individual appraisals of the potential threat or harm of an
environmental array plus the extent of available, efficacious coping resources largely deter�…