The paper proposes looking at stress from the perspective of a stress factor (stressor), which forms a continuum of value, intensity or strength of impact on any system. The typology presented was developed from a combination of two other typologies formulated by Hans Selye relating to the nature of the stressor (eustress - distress) and the value of the stressor (stress load and deprivation stress).

A stressor within such a continuum can induce stress that tends toward lethal stress both with an increase in the strength of the factor in question and as the value of the factor decreases (e.g., toward very high temperatures or very low temperatures). However, a stressor can have only one lethal extreme on the derivation side, when the absence of a factor does not cause stress, but an excess can be lethal. On the other hand, a stressor can have one lethal extreme on the stress side, when a large value, strength or intensity of some factor does not cause stress, while its absence is lethal. The analysis of the stress continuum allows us to draw attention to the cognitively interesting category of neustress and its relation to deprivation and stress eustress. In the presented approach, the typology of stress can be the source of the typology of environments. It allows to qualitatively clarify the status of a super-adaptive environment from the point of view of the population of an invasive species, but also of a non-adaptive environment from the point of view of an extinct species.

It has been pointed out that these typologies can be a convenient qualitative tool for diagnosing the state of the system, as well as for determining the minimum and maximum levels of stress necessary to pass through the developmental phases of the system (ontogeny).

Dr. Pawel Kojs

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2022-12-01 08:33:10