Chapter 5: Stress and Mental Health

Question 1

Who developed the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)?

Answer 1

Hans Selye, who focused on studying transient responses to acute stressors. The 3 stages of GAS are:
1. alarm response - the body prepares for fight or flight
2. resistance phase - the body tries to adapt to our demands
3. exhaustion - the body can no longer resist the stressor

Question 2

What is the Yerkes-Dodson law?

Answer 2

It’s an inverted U-shaped figure describing the optimal relationship between arousal and performance. It postulates that humans are most effective when the stress level is in the middle range.

Question 3

What are the 4 conceptualisations of stress?

Answer 3

1. Stimulus - assumes there are stimuli that are considered stressful but not all individuals react the same to them
2. Reaction - but does not take into account that not all stimuli can cause the same reaction to invidividuals
3. Transactional - assumes that stress is a product of the interaction between a person and a situation
4. Discrepancy - assumes that stress is a mismatch between the individuals needs and the environment offerings.

Question 4

What is the transactional stress model?

Answer 4

This model, developed by Lazarus, focuses on cognitive appraisal processes during stress. It suggests that stress arises when individuals lack the necessary resources to cope with it effectively. It involves two coping strategies: problem-centred ( challenge/threat/loss ?) and emotion-centered (lack of resources? Stress?)

Question 5

Explain the cybernetic model by Edwards.

Answer 5

It emphasises the comparison between an employee’s perceived state and desired state. Stress occurs when there’s discrepancy between these states.

Question 6

What’s the person-environment fit theory?

Answer 6

Harrison suggests that stress arises when there’s lack of balance between individuals and their environment. It distinguishes between
demands-abilities fit and
needs-supplies fit.

Question 7

What’s the thought behind the vitamin model by Warr?

Answer 7

It distinguishes between work characteristics with constant effects (such as salary) which works as Vitamin C, any increase in these effects can increase employee’s wellbeing and after a certain point has no more effect.
On the other hand work characteristics with curvilinear effects (such as social support, job autonomy, skill variety) work as Vitamin D, any increase beyond the threshold can actually negatively impact employees wellbeing.

Question 8

What’s the logic behind the job demand-control model?

Answer 8

Proposed by Karesek, this model focuses on the interaction between the job demands and the job control. Stress is low when the job demand is low and job control is high and vice versa.
Job control can buffer the negative effect of high demand, reducing stress.

Question 9

What are the possible strategies of stress intervention?

Answer 9

1. stress reduction
2. resource increase
3. strain reduction
4. lifestyle changes

Question 10

What are the possible effects of stress on a personal and organizational level?

Answer 10

Individual
- physical: high blood pressure, heart disease
- affective: negative mood or depression
- behavioral: affected short term memory, decreased performance

Organizational
- interpersonal conflicts, high absence or turnover rate