Hardiness Content Flashcards
What kind of people have the hardiness personality?
Those that thrive in stressful situations
What are the 3C’s of the hardiness personality?
. Commitment
. Challenge
. Control
How is commitment a feature of the hardy personality?
Hardy individuals will be committed to every aspect of life, believing they will get something out of everything no matter how stressful it is
How is challenge a feature of the hardy personality?
Hardy individuals see stress as a challenge to overcome. Big shifts and changes in life are seen as a chance to grow rather than a threat
How is control a feature of the hardy personality?
Hardy individuals have a high internal locus of control, believing they are in complete control of their situations, making them more active in dealing with stress than passive
What is the key study in this topic?
Kobasa (1979)
What was the procedure of Kobasa (1979)?
. 800 male American business executives assessed for stress with SRRS
- around 150 were classified as ‘high stress’
. Asked to list number of illness episodes experienced
. High stress/low illness: 86 people
. High stress/high illness: 75 people
Clearly something else was modifying the effects of stress as individuals had same stress levels but different illness records
How did Kobasa (1979) collect its findings?
. Three months after initially categorising high/low illness, participants asked to complete personality tests assessing control, commitment and challenge
What were the findings of Kobasa (1979)?
. High stress/low illness scored highly on all 3 hardiness characteristics
What was the conclusion of Kobasa (1979)?
Kobasa proposed that a hardy personality type encourages resilience which helps an individual cope with stress much better and provide defences against the negative effects of stress
