Which theory describes the body's adaptive response to stress involving nervous and endocrine systems?

• A. General Adaptation Syndrome
• B. Nervous System Response
• C. Stress Response Theory
• D. Coping Strategy

Answer: (A)

General Adaptation Syndrome describes how the body adapts to stress through coordinated actions of the nervous and endocrine systems. Hans Selye outlined a three-stage pattern that shows how our physiology responds over time to different stressors: alarm, where the sympathetic nervous system kicks in and hormones like adrenaline surge to prepare for quick action; resistance, where the body stays on high alert and the HPA axis releases cortisol to sustain the response and help cope; and exhaustion, where resources become depleted and vulnerability to illness or dysfunction increases. This framework captures both the neural activation and the hormonal cascades that drive a go-and-keep-going response, then eventual depletion if the stress continues.

Other options don’t fit as well because they either refer to a general, instantaneous neural reaction rather than a full, time-based pattern, or describe coping or response ideas rather than a formal theory of the body’s entire adaptive process. Coping strategies focus on how people handle stress, not the body's large-scale, coordinated physiological changes. The notion of a basic “nervous system response” or a vague “stress response theory” doesn’t convey the staged, systemic adaptation that GAS describes.