Personality and stress

Hardiness The tree survives not because it stands up rigidly to the weather, but because it bends with the wind Control – Hardy people see themselves as being in charge of their life, not controlled by outsides factors which they cannot control. Commitment- Hardy people are involved in the world around them and have a sense of purpose. Challenge- Hardy people see challenges as problems to be overcome rather than as stressors.

How Hardiness Buffers Stress Hardiness leads a person to be resilient against stress by: Using Positive Coping Strategies Getting Social Support from others Taking care of themselves (diet, lifestyle, relaxation)

Hardy v Non-Hardy People with High Hardiness People with Low Hardiness   People with High Hardiness People with Low Hardiness Hardy Coping Identify stressful circumstances and analyse for solutions Avoid stress through distraction activities like gambling, drinking, overspending Hardy Social Interaction Get social support and also give it to others Feel victimised by those around them Hardy self-care Healthy diet, lifestyle and relaxation Poor diet, low levels of exercise

Hardy Individuals will Have a lower PHYSICAL RESPONSE to stress (blood pressure, heart rate) Produce less stress hormones such as CORTISOL This means they will have a stronger immune response and less ill-health.

Hardiness- evaluation The key question here: DOES RESEARCH SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT PEOPLE WITH HARDY PERSONALITIES : a) Cope better with stress? b) Have less stress-related illness?

Hardiness- Research Kobasa (1979) Used SRRS (stress measure) and compared to an illness measure (on male executives) Found High Stress / High Illness Group And High Stress / Low Illness Group Then tested participants' personality types Found Low Illness Group had hardier personalities

Kobasa - Evaluation Kobasa (1979) Used 3 Questionnaires – Possible Issues? Are all 3 aspect of hardiness (Control, Commitment, Challenge) equally important?

Hardiness- Maddi (1987) Used questionnaires to study a stressful period at the Bell Telephone Company (Redundancies and Reorganisation) 1/3 hardy personalities – suffering fewer stress-related illnesses such as heart problems or depression. Compared to social support and exercise, hardiness was the best buffer against stress.

Maddi - evaluation Used questionnaires to establish the degree of hardiness, the answers might be influenced by social desirability. Supported by Bartone(1999) soldiers with high hardiness coped better both in everyday life and combat. Less likely to experience long-term effects like PTSD or Depression

Hardiness – General Evaluation Gender Differences Kobasa (1979) Used 3 Questionnaires – Possible Issues? All male sample – Problem? Think about Fight/Flight Tend/Befriend. All male sample – what did Shepperd (1991) find? (p143) Are all 3 aspect of hardiness (Control, Commitment, Challenge) equally important?

Hardiness – General Evaluation Gender Differences Are all 3 aspect of hardiness (Control, Commitment, Challenge) equally important? What did Shepperd find about age differences

Hardiness – general evaluation Importance of the 3 elements? Maddi (2013) – all 3 needed as buffer for stress (high control alone = Type A personality and vulnerable) Sandvik (2013) Studied 21 Norwegian soldiers. What do “Balanced” and “Imbalanced” hardiness mean? What did Sandvik find? What does this suggest? (see p143)

Hardiness – general evaluation Neuroticism Funk and Huston (1987) overlap between hardiness scale and Neuroticism(negative affect) scale. High neuroticism leads people to focus on failure and negative things in life, more likely to exaggerate illness. With a partner, write a paragraph summarising Funk’s view

Hardiness – general evaluation Issues with measuring hardiness Describe the problems of using self-report measures, mentioning social desirability as one issue. There a different hardiness measurement scales available – why is this a problem? Why does Funk (1992) recommend using the Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS)?

Applying Hardiness Using Hardiness training to Modify Stress People can be taught to be more hardy Kobasa thought it was mostly learned in childhood, but can also be learned through training programmes. What happens in these programmes? What did Maddi find? Which organisations have used this training? (See page 143 for answers)

In the 1960s Friedman and Rosenman studied the behaviour of the patients suffering from coronary heart disease, they found that they displayed some distinctive behavioural patterns.

Type A Behaviour Type A Type B Relaxed Calm Flexible One thing at a time Patient Express feelings Competitive Impulsive Time urgent impatient Hostile and aggressive

Type A Behaviour and Stress-Related Illness Type As experience “Fight or flight” more often Adrenaline therefore released more often Explain why this could cause health problems

Evaluation Friedman & Rosenman (1959; 1974). Myrtek (2001) metaanalyis of 35 studies found an association between hostility and coronary heart disease (hostility is a trait associated with Type A personality) However Ragland and Brand (1988) found little evidence of a relationship between personality and coronary heart disease.

More evaluation... In individualistic cultures, men are socialised to display type A behaviour. Is personality the cause or the results of stress? Most studies focus on men

The Western Collaborative Group Study (1976) Aim: to investigate the links between type A behaviour patterns and cardiovascular disease Procedure:Using structured interviews, 3154 men aged 39-59 were categorised as type A, type B or type X (balanced between A and B). Assessment based on answers to interview and behaviour during interview. DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED IN THE INTERVIEW The men were healthy (no CHD) at the start of the research in 1961.The sample was followed up for 8.5 years to assess lifestyle and health outcomes .

The Western Collaborative Group Study (1976) Findings:At the end of the study 257 men had developed CHD 70% of those were from the type A group. 12.8% Type As had heart attacks compared to 6% Type Bs Type As also had higher blood pressure and cholesterol These results were significant even when risk factors such as smoking and obesity were taken into account Conclusions: Type A behaviour pattern is risk factor for heart disease. Behaviour modification programmes to reduce Type A behaviour should result in a reduce risk of heart disease. .

The Key Question for Evaluation Does Type A lead to increased risk of Cardiovascular disease? What does the Framlington report? How does Friedman 75 support the idea that Type A behaviour leads to heart disease? .

Conflicting Evidence What did Ragland and Brand’s (1988) follow-up study (of the WCGS) find? Any confounding variables? Which is more convincing? Why? Why are gender and culture bias issues in this type of research? What did Hecker et al(1988) find about hostility .

Conflicting Evidence What are the positive aspects of Type A behaviour? How is the Type C personality linked to illness? What are the problems with breaking populations into personality types? .