TAP reading note: Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research
Laboratory stressors do not elicit uniform cortisol responses. Social-evaluative threat combined with uncontrollability was associated with stronger responses. Pooled effects were d=.52 (95% CI .38–.66) for uncontrollable tasks and d=.16 (.03–.29) for controllable tasks, helping explain variation between studies.
Updated 2026-10-29 · Archived
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What the study found
Laboratory stressors do not elicit uniform cortisol responses. Social-evaluative threat combined with uncontrollability was associated with stronger responses. Pooled effects were d=.52 (95% CI .38–.66) for uncontrollable tasks and d=.16 (.03–.29) for controllable tasks, helping explain variation between studies.
Scope & limitations
208 experiments in 187 reports, involving 6,153 healthy adults and psychological stress tasks lasting no more than one hour.
Task characteristics overlap, so subgroup differences are not equivalent to randomized causal comparisons. Physical stressors, children and clinical populations were excluded; first laboratory exposure also limits everyday application. Peak response, total response and post-task recovery are distinct outcomes.
Population & sample
208 experiments in 187 reports, involving 6,153 healthy adults and psychological stress tasks lasting no more than one hour.
Exposure or intervention
Acute laboratory psychological stress, comparing controllability, social evaluation and other task features.
Outcomes
Cortisol response and time course; not all recovery-model tables have been checked.
Time frame
Search coverage through 2002 with index checks in February 2003; sampling and recovery windows varied by experiment.
Research funding
Not yet verified against the full text.
Research conflicts of interest
Not yet verified against the full text.
Reading scope
Original full-text methods, main effects and limitations. All recovery models, additional tables and study overlap remain to be examined.
References
Publication record
TAP-RDN-0050 · v1.0 · English
Author: TAP Editorial Team ·
The Allostasis Project is founded and supported by Resilio.
Record for v1.0 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Scientific review
Not yet scientifically reviewed
Editorial note
Under the editorial responsibility of the TAP Editorial Team, this publication used AI assistance for content organization and editing. Scientific review is recorded separately on this page.
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Record integrity & available editions
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Captured: 2026-10-29T10:31:13.614Z
- v1.0 · 2026-10-29