Greenburg Chapter 4 Flashcards
Task-oriented coping
performing a task to address the stressful threat (e.g., studying an additional way in order to do well on exam)
Emotion-focused coping
managing emotions to address the stressful threat (e.g., managing feelings that you may not do well on the exam and/or accepting that a class is not a class where you will receive a great grade)
Coping with stress & appraisal
•According to Lazarus, coping requires an appraisal process.
–Primary appraisal: judging how much of a threat is involved and how important is the outcome
–Secondary appraisal: determining whether resources needed to meet the demand are available
–Reappraisal: evaluation of whether response made to a demand/threat was effective and whether any further coping is necessary
Self-efficacy
A type of appraisal is self-efficacy
•According to Bandura, self-efficacy is the ability to manage a demand/threat
–Outcome efficacy: people in general can use strategies to achieve an outcome (e.g., to stop smoking)
–Personal efficacy: you can achieve an outcome
Definitions
- Stress interventions: Activities to prevent a stressor from resulting in negative consequences
- Coping: engaging in a behavior or thought to respond to a demand
•Lazarus theory of stress:
–Result of a demand that exceeds resources available to meet that demand
–The demand is perceived as a threat
Model of stress
- A life situation knocks you off balance
- Cognitive appraisal occurs, where an individual interprets the stressor (note: different people can interpret same stressor in different ways)
- If perceived as stressful, this starts the path towards experiencing stress
- Emotional arousal occurs (e.g., feelings of fear, anger, being overwhelmed)
- Physiological arousal occurs (e.g., increased heart rate, digestive problems)
- Consequences: including poor physical health, poor psychological health, and/or poor performance in other activities
Setting up roadblocks
Using the model of stress, you can block the process of stress occurring by setting up roadblocks at different points in the model
–Cognitive appraisal/perception: instead of viewing being fired from job as a catastrophe, you consider focusing on the good part of it (e.g., an opportunity to receive training full-time in a more interesting field)
Roadblocks (Continued)
use relaxation techniques to prevent emotional arousal from turning into physiological arousal
•Physiological arousal: perform vigorous physical activity to burn off the arousal
•In general, techniques performed by counseling/psychotherapy try to teach cognitive reappraisal as a roadblock
Eustress
- Distress is stress that results in negative consequences such as decreased performance and personal growth
- Eustress is stress that results in positive consequences such as increased performance and personal growth
- Yerkes-Dodson curve: moderate level of stress is useful for optimum performance
Making a commitment
- Start right now
- Complete a contract
- Plan rewards for reaching accomplishments
- Plan punishments for not fulfilling contract
- Keep goals realistic
Occupational stress
M. J. Smith model is that occupational stressors occur in 7 different contexts: sociocultural, organizational, work setting, interpersonal, psychological, biological, physical/environmental
M.J. Smith model
Sociocultural: –racism –sexism –economic downturns –political changes
•Organizational:
–hiring policies
–layoffs
–organizational priorities
•Work setting: –task to perform –supervision –co-workers –participation in decision making
•Interpersonal: –marital discord –conflict with family or friend –illness or death in family –legal or financial difficulties
•Psychological: –mental health issues –poor coping skills –low self-esteem –poor communication skills
•Biological:
–medical disease
–disability
–pregnancy
•Physical/environmental: –poor air or climate –poor lighting –bad architecture –toxic substance exposure
•Stress on the job costs businesses a lot of money.
–Salaries for sick days –Replacement costs to train workers –Costs for hospitalization and outpatient care –Health benefits price increases –Costs related to decreased productivity
High stress jobs: 2 different theories
•Demand-control
–Most stressful jobs are those that have high psychological demands (e.g., work quickly, huge workload) and low control (e.g., low decision making)
•Effort-reward imbalance
–Work stress occurs when there is too great a work effort to do the job while there is low reward for a well-done job
•Stressors that particularly affect women include:
–Career blocks –Sexual harassment –Male-dominated climate –Performance pressure –Gender stereotyping –Isolation –Lack of role models
