Clear danger: Situational determinants of the appraisal of threat.

The present trend in research on psychological stress is to examine the appraisal process for explanations of the wide individual ditferences typically found in responses to identical stressors. This approach comes at the expense of attempts to determine how aspects of the stimulus configuration tend to influence response independent of individual differences. The latter technique is unable to explain much of the variability in response, but it does avoid the circularity that regularly confronts the appraisal-based approach. In this article we describe the situational determinants of the primary appraisal of threat in a specific and systematic manner. Each potential determinant is broken down and the relevant empirical and theoretical literature is reviewed. Eight propositions about the workings of these factors are presented and discussed. Primary' attention is given to the factors of event severity, imminence, and probability of occurrence.