Final answer:
The answer is A. True; stress can arise from real physical threats or perceived psychological ones. Personal appraisal significantly influences the degree of stress experienced, highlighting the subjective nature of stress response.
Step-by-step explanation:
Whether chronic or acute, stress can be elicited by real-life situations that may threaten one's physical wellbeing or by perceived psychological threats such as public speaking or high-stakes examinations. A fundamental aspect of stress is the personal appraisal of a situation—how we perceive and interpret potential stressors plays a significant role in determining our stress response. What might be a source of significant stress for one person could be perceived as a manageable challenge by another, underlying the highly subjective nature of stress.
Moreover, this interpretation influences whether we experience stress in response to an event. Research indicates that the same event can result in varied levels of stress across different individuals based on their primary and secondary appraisals of the situation. Stress is, therefore, an individual's response to an event rather than the event itself, making it largely dependent on personal perceptions and reactions to potential stressors.