The afterthought phenomenon in stress: impacts of retrospective appraisal on stress responses

Background: While psychosocial stressors trigger neuroendocrine responses and affect task performance, many studies overlook the dynamic nature of the stress appraisal process. Goal: This study aims to explore whether subjective appraisals at various time points can interpret individual stress responses, both behaviorally and physiologically, using controlled laboratory conditions. Methods: A total of 137 effective participants were recruited to induce individual stress states using the Trier Social stress Test (TSST). Subjective appraisals were measured both before (anticipatory appraisal) and after the stressor (retrospective appraisal). Concurrently, participants' cortisol responses and task performances were documented. Results: Findings indicate that anticipatory appraisal doesn't significantly impact task performance, whereas retrospective appraisal markedly affects performance of the corresponding tasks. Regarding cortisol levels, multivariate regression analysis revealed that only the retrospective appraisal of the speech task accounted for the observed variance in cortisol response under stress. Discussion: The data suggests that retrospective appraisals are more indicative of behavioral and physiological responses to psychosocial stressors than anticipatory appraisals. These findings lend empirical support to refining the biopsychosocial model and underscore the utility of retrospective appraisal in capturing individual stress response variations.