The resistance phase is the second stage of Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), in which the body continues to activate physiological responses (like releasing cortisol) to cope with a prolonged stressor, draining its resources over time.
The resistance phase is stage two of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), Hans Selye's three-stage model of how your body reacts to stress. It comes after the alarm reaction (the initial fight-or-flight surge) and before exhaustion.
Here's the simple version. In the alarm stage your body slams the gas pedal. In the resistance phase, you keep your foot on it. The body settles into high-alert mode to deal with a stressor that won't go away, staying physiologically aroused and pumping out stress hormones like cortisol to keep coping. Your heart rate and arousal might look a little calmer than the alarm spike, but you're still running hot. The catch is that this costs energy. The longer the resistance phase lasts, the more your body's resources get depleted, which sets up the third stage, exhaustion, where defenses break down and you become more vulnerable to illness.
This term lives in Topic 7.4 Stress and Coping (Unit 7, the Health and Behavior content). It's part of the biological story of how stress wears on the body, which connects straight to the AP theme of the biopsychosocial model, the idea that biology, psychology, and social factors all shape health. Knowing where the resistance phase sits in the GAS sequence matters because the exam loves asking you to identify stages or explain what happens to the body during prolonged stress. It's the bridge stage that explains how short-term arousal becomes long-term damage.
Keep studying AP Psychology Unit 7
Cortisol (Unit 7)
Cortisol is the fuel that keeps the resistance phase running. During prolonged stress your adrenal glands keep releasing it, which is why this stage can quietly grind your body down even when you feel like you're handling things.
Chronic Stress (Unit 7)
Chronic stress is basically a resistance phase that won't end. When a stressor drags on for weeks or months, you stay stuck in stage two, which is exactly what makes chronic stress so damaging to health.
Homeostasis (Unit 7)
The whole point of the resistance phase is the body fighting to restore homeostasis, its stable internal balance, while a stressor keeps knocking it off. Think of resistance as homeostasis under siege.
Cognitive Appraisal (Unit 7)
Whether you even enter a strong stress response depends on how you appraise the situation. Cognitive appraisal theory explains the psychological trigger, while GAS explains the biological reaction that follows.
Expect this term in two places. On multiple choice, you'll see GAS stem questions that ask you to name the stage where the body keeps fighting a stressor (resistance) versus the initial surge (alarm) or the breakdown (exhaustion). On free response, stress scenarios are common. The 2017 SAQ Q2 used the GAS framework with Sachio, a student dealing with the stress of a rescheduled audition, and asked you to apply concepts like the stress response to a real situation. To score, define the resistance phase clearly and apply it to the prompt's scenario, not just recite the definition. Tie it to the right stage in the sequence and explain that the body stays aroused and uses resources to cope.
The alarm reaction is the immediate fight-or-flight spike the moment a stressor hits, all adrenaline and sudden arousal. The resistance phase is what comes next, where the body settles into sustained high-alert mode to deal with a stressor that lasts. Alarm is the spike; resistance is the holding pattern.
The resistance phase is stage two of the General Adaptation Syndrome, falling between the alarm reaction and exhaustion.
During this stage the body stays physiologically aroused and keeps releasing stress hormones like cortisol to cope with an ongoing stressor.
It depletes the body's resources over time, which is why prolonged resistance leads to the exhaustion stage and greater vulnerability to illness.
Chronic stress is essentially a resistance phase that never ends, linking this term directly to long-term health problems.
On the exam, you may need to identify or apply the resistance phase within the three-stage GAS sequence in a stress scenario.
It's the second stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome, where the body continues to activate physiological responses like cortisol release to cope with a prolonged stressor. It comes after the alarm reaction and before exhaustion.
No. Fight-or-flight is the alarm reaction, the immediate burst of arousal when a stressor first hits. The resistance phase is the sustained stage afterward, where the body stays revved up to handle a stressor that won't go away.
In the resistance phase your body is still actively fighting the stressor and using up resources. In the exhaustion stage those resources have run out, defenses break down, and you become more prone to illness.
Because it keeps you flooded with cortisol and physiological arousal for a long time. When that drags on, it becomes chronic stress, drains the body, and pushes you toward exhaustion and illness.
Hans Selye developed the General Adaptation Syndrome, the three-stage model (alarm, resistance, exhaustion) that describes how the body responds to ongoing stress.