Psychosocial aspects of stress.

An important effect of stress has to do with attention.

Suppose you're walking in a forest where you've been looking for mushrooms and it's getting dark. Suddenly you hear a twig break nearby. You're startled.

At that time, you focus your internal attention to the approximate position where you suppose the sound came from. All your senses open up. If you can't discover anything at the position you thought the snapping sound came from, you'll instantly look around to discover where it did come from. You sharpen your senses to find the potential danger, while your body is ready to fight the danger or flee away (fight-or-flight response).

In daily life you probably won't have many of these experiences in forests, but you do have to deal with this reaction from time to time. Under the influence of stress, and especially if the stressor is unknown or threatening, your attention is very outward looking and it will be very difficult to focus on one topic. In the forest you won't be looking at a ladybug once you hear the twig snap. Maybe a hungry, dangerous animal broke it!

But if you know where the source of stress comes from, it's very easy to focus your attention. Your attention was all over the place once you hear the branch snap, but you'll be very good at keeping your eyes on the problem once you located it. Maybe you see a bear, but it doesn't see you. You won't take your eyes of it.

As a result of this, you might find it difficult to keep your attention on something if you are very tense.

Another consequence of stress is that it can lead to emotional states like anxiety, depression and anger.