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Richard S. Lazarus
University o f California, Berkeley
In commenting in considerable detail on the four and personal goals, beliefs about self and world, and
main articles in the special section on stress and resources.
coping, the author comes to two main conclusions: My commentary is organized around five topics,
First, there is an increasing amount o f high quali- most of which were raised by the contributors to the
ty research on stress and coping that suggests' the section. Those topics are as follows: (a) the quality of
field is finally maturing, and this research may help coping research; (b) the gap between clinical practice
reduce the long-standing gap between research and and research; (c) research designs in coping research,
clinical practice. Second, this research is increas- where I also discuss two research programs included in
ingly using badly needed research designs that have this special section, namely, those of Tennen et al. (2000)
not hitherto been sufficiently emphasized, such as and Folkman and Moskowitz (2000); (d) the concept of
longitudinal or prospective designs, f o c u s e d on ego defense and Cramer's (2000) discussion of it; and
observations that are day-to-day, microanalytic, (e) the task of evaluating coping efficacy.
and in-depth, and that are compatible with a ho-
listic outlook. The author also addresses the role
The Quality of Coping Research
o f positive emotion in coping, the concept o f de- A premise that appears again and again in this section
fense as it is dealt with nowadays, and the task o f is that for quite a few years research has disappointed
evaluating coping efficacy. malay who had high hopes it would achieve both fun-
damenlal and practical knowledge about the coping
process and its adaptational consequences. Although I
For more than 50 years, my research and theoreti- recently expressed such disappointment (Lazarus,
cal efforts have centered on the topics of stress, 1993a, 1997, 1998a), I am now heartened by positive
the emotions, and the coping process. For this signs that there is a growing number of sophisticated,
reason and the fact that in their introduction Somer- resourceful, and vigorous researchers who are dedi-
field and McCrae (2000, this issue) cite me as a lead- cated to the study of coping.
er in this field, I am very happy to have been asked to In light of the recent accomplishments by those
comment on the four articles in this section (Coyne & researchers, some of my previously dour, pessimis-
Racioppo, 2000; Cramer, 2000; Folkman & Moskow- tic thoughts about the state of the art now seem
itz, 2000; Teimen, Affieck, Armeli, & Carney, 2000). overstated. Therefore, one of the main themes of
I am pleased that the section brings an overview of my commentary is the presence of much greater
the current state of the literature before the entire hope for the future prospects of this field. This more
field, and I feel a strong obligation to serve this area optimistic position stands in contrast with what Coyne
of the field in which I have been a pioneer. and Racioppo (2000) have written, which seems to be
A discussant of others' work should at the outset unduly negative. Although I agree with many of the
indicate the biases that inform comments to come. In points they made, their methodological analysis dis-
my case, I have been plowing and seeding the field of appoints me for three main reasons.
stress, coping, and the emotions since the late 1940s. First, they offer mainly a series of criticisms, some
My frame of reference has always been an epistemo- of them unfair. This endeavor does more harm than
logical, ontological, and theoretical approach that
emphasizes individual differences, the cognitive-
motivational-relational concepts of appraisal and Editor's note. Mark R. Somerfield and Robert R. McCrae developed
coping, and a process-centered holistic outlook this Psychology in the Public Forum section.
(Lazarus,1999c, in press). The conceptual bottom line
Author's note. Richard S. Lazarus, Department of Psychology, Uni-
of my approach is the relational meaning that an indi-
versity of California, Berkeley.
vidual constructs from the person-environment rela- Cor'respondence concerning this article should be addressed to
tionship. That relationship is the result of appraisals of Richard S. Lazarus, 1824 Stanley Dollar Drive #3B, Walnut Creek, CA
the confluence of the social and physical environment 94595-2833.