Endocrine Responses to Stressful Psychological Events

Hormonal response is one of the three major effector systems of the central nervous system. Early work in the field emphasized the ubiquity of endocrine responses to a wide variety of stressful stimuli, as if stress response represented one final common pathway. More recent research has appreciated the significance of individual differences in the responses of human subjects confronted with challenging or threatening stimuli, and has also shown the relevance of whether the individual perceives the event as potentially challenging or threatening.