ABSTRACT
Human stress is a species-specific survival mechanism shaped by natural selection, regulated by neural anatomy, and observable in human physiology. As a feature of modern life, the stress response negatively impacts human social interaction, emotional well-being, and physical health. Increasingly, scholars are studying the physiology of stress in interpersonal communication and public speaking. Advances in developmental psychophysiology reveal that reactions to social stressors arise developmentally from early life experiences and are moderated by individual differences in environment sensitivity. This chapter explicates this emerging biological perspective along with its recent contributions to communication research and theory.
