Page 120 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

94 microaggressive stress

Stressor – Person Transactions
The general adaptation syndrome, crisis decompensation, and life change models of
stress place minimal emphasis on the person ’ s subjective definition or inter-

pretation of stressful events or life changes. As we have seen in earlier chapters,
microaggressions almost inevitably evoke a strong assessment and appraisal
process that moderates the reactions or outcomes. The thoughts and inter-
pretations we make about the stressor, the emotions we attach to them, and
the actions taken to avoid them can either increase or decrease the impact of
stressors (Levenstein et al., 1993). In his classic book, Psychological Stress and
the Coping Process (1966), Richard Lazarus proposed a transaction model of stress
based on the notion that stress resides neither in the person alone nor in the
situation, but rather is a transaction between the two.
How a person of color, for example, perceives a racial microaggression, the
adaptive resources he or she possesses, his or her racial identity development,
the presence of familial/social support, what he or she decides to do, and
so forth may moderate or mediate the meaning and impact of the incident
(King, 2005; Liang, Alvarez, Juang, & Liang, 2007; Yoo & Lee, 2008; Utsey
et al., 2008). Recall in Chapter 4 that one of the responses made by people of

color to a microaggression is “ rescuing the offender. ” Most African Americans
would be strongly offended and angered by the White woman in the elevator
who showed fear toward them. While the Black male passenger accurately
saw the nonverbals as a microaggression (clutching the purse more tightly in
his company — assumption of criminality), he reacted by attempting to put the
woman at ease because “ She can ’ t help it. It ’ s that White cultural condition-
ing that is the problem. ” Thus, while some Black Americans might interpret
this incident as stressful, this young Black man seemingly did not. Something
within his worldview, experience, and inner resources allowed him not to be
upset or offended, but instead to interpret and cope with the situation in such
a manner as to minimize its harmful impact upon him (Sellers & Sheldon,
2003; Wei, Ku, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Liao, 2008).

Challenge Two — Racial, Gender, and Sexual - Orientation
Microaggressions: Quantitative and Qualitative Differences

While the transaction model of stress added considerably to recognizing that
people are not passive organisms who simply respond to stressors without
internal appraisal (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the formulation
has been criticized for lacking cultural sensitivity and relevance (Carter, 2007;

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