Stress- Individualistic Theory Flashcards
Hardiness
Hardiness
Explanation: The hardy personality, how these buffer against stress, research studies
The hardy personality- Kobasa and Maddi suggested hardy personalities deal better with stressful situations and it has 3 main elements.
1. Control, 2 Commitment, 3 Challenge:
•Control- In control of their own lives, they’re not controlled by external factors - personal sense of power believing that their actions will directly influence their lives.
•Commitment- Sense of purpose and meaning in life. Curious about others and the world - believe that no matter how bad things get you must not alienate yourself from the situation.
•Challenge- Stressful situations are an opportunity to grow and develop. Accept that stress and change are inevitable and must be overcome. Life is not easy, you must learn from failures not just successes.
How these characteristics buffer against stress
•Help become resilient to stress - working together so when faced with a stressor you have better coping strategies, self care and use social support.
•This means they don’t experience the physiological stress responses or the illnesses they lead to as hormones such as cortisol aren’t released- no high blood pressure or heart rate.
Kobasa & Maddi- hardy personalities better able to cope with stressors
•Kobasa (1979)- Used 2 versions of Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) with an illness survey to compare male business executives. 1st group - high stress and had been ill. Personality tests showed that the other group who hadn’t been ill was hardy.
Gender Differences
•Kobasa’s original research was based entirely on males - could be different results for women.
•Shepperd (1991) Also suggested differences in hardiness between age groups - relationship between hardiness/stress outcomes only evident in older women - could explain inconsistent results.
•Shepperd (1991)- inconsistent findings when considering gender and how hardiness effects stress response - the control and commitment elements of hardiness predict health outcomes for males but not females - need to consider different elements of hardiness, especially when looking at gender differences.
Importance of all 3 elements
Maddi (2013 - all 3 elements needed to buffer against stress - being high in control but low in commitment and challenge would have a type A personality rather than hardy
Type A and B personalities
Type A and Type B personalities
•Friedman and Rosenman distinguished between type A and Type B personalities in the 1950’s and 60’s.
•Some personality factors make us more vulnerable to the negative effects of stress (such as the type A personality)
•and some factors make us more resistant (such as the hardy personality)
Type A characteristics
Type A Characteristics •Impatient Competitive •High achiever •Alert •Self-critical •Cynical •Hostile •Feel they don’t have enough time to fit everything in Modifying: •Refrain from interrupting •Do one thing at a time •Let others do their work •Learn to wait patiently •Take breaks •Practice relaxation techniques daily •Compliment people •Take time to be alone •Cultivate intimate friendships
Type B Characteristics
- Calm
- Relaxed
- Laid back
- Less ambitious
- Do one thing at once
- Make time for friends and family
- Less competitive leisure pursuits
Research
- Rosenman (1976) interviewed 3,200 men and categorised them as Type A, Type B or Type X (a balance between the 2).
- The sample were followed up after 8 and a half years and it was discovered that 257 of the sample had developed coronary heart disease.
- Of these, 70% were in the Type A group, so Rosenman concluded that there was a link between personality and stress.
Evaluation
- Ragland and Brand (1988) found age, smoking and high blood pressure were much bigger risk factors in CHD than personality
- Myrtek (2001) found a link between CHD and hostility, but no other parts of the type A personality
