k against which to interpret and appraise ourselves, other people, and the world around us. The degree of bias and rigidity in our belief system is important, because, as a general rule, the more biased and rigid our beliefs are, the more often we will find ourselves becoming stressed out. Beliefs which are accurate, flexible and optimistic in nature help to reduce stress, while beliefs which are rigid, negative, inflexible and pessimistic tend to exacerbate stress.
The final letter "C" in the A+B=C equation stands for "Consequences." Consequences refer to the feelings that occur as a result of our beliefs and self-talk in response to the activating event. The consequences we experience can include stress, anxiety, depression, anger, irritability, aggression, frustration, etc.
Here is a "real-life" example of the A + B = C equation applied to a stressful situation:
There are two people stuck in traffic. One driver starts thinking that, while the slow traffic is a bummer, it's not the end of the world. She also realizes that there is no point in "freaking out" since that won't make the cars move any faster. Instead, she uses the extra time to pull out her cell phone and chat with her sister and then to listen to the radio. She calmly waits until the traffic starts moving again and continues on her way.
The other driver reacts very differently to the slow traffic. She punches the steering wheel, and sits and fumes, thinking that the traffic jam is totally awful and has ruined the whole day. She becomes increasingly agitated as the traffic jam continues.
In this example, the same stressor (the traffic jam) produces two entirely different outcomes. The first driver comes away from the situation none the worse for wear, while the second driver experiences significant negative stress, which is particularly upsetting because she cannot react in a physical way (e.g., by fighting or fleeing) to relieve her tension.
It can be useful to break down an event such as the example above using the A+B=C equation. In this example, the traffic jam is the trigger or Activating Event, each driver's individual expectations about how the traffic should be flowing are the Beliefs, and the emotions and stress reactions that the drivers do or do not experience in response to the interaction between the traffic jam and their beliefs is the Consequence.
The first driver may initially experience a mild stress or neutral response, and she may end with having a a pleasant time chatting with her sister. In other words, she has experienced neutral or positive consequences to her beliefs about the activating event. The second driver however, has become very stressed, upset, and angry. Her beliefs have triggered a fight/flight response which will probably continue to cause her to remain angry and upset long after the traffic has resumed moving.
The cognitive theory of emotion suggests that our self-talk (our "automatic thoughts" and our beliefs) is influential in determining whether we will experience eustress or distress. We will talk more specifically about how to use this theory (employing the ABC model) to relieve negative stress in a later section where we discuss methods of stress reduction.