1 Stress and Personality

2 How does your personality affect your response to stress?

3 Major Points  Background from the field of Psychology  Personality Traits/Types  According to stress response  Typology systems

4 Psychology of Personality: What do they have to say???  Freud  Jung  Kubler-Ross  Frankl  Maslow

5 Freud Stress comes from the tension between your id (impulses) and the superego (society). This is controlled by the ego (identity). You try to use defense mechanisms to protect your ego.

6 Jung Your personality arises through individuation. Stress may result from conflicts between your conscious and unconscious.

7 Kubler- Ross The stages of handling unmet expectations are similar to the stages of dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance.

8 Frankl Stress can arise from the failure to make meaning out of life and suffering.

9 Maslow Self-actualization Self-Esteem Belonging and Love Safety Physiological needs Look to my hierarchy of Needs. Stress occurs when Lower level needs are not Met, which keeps the person From reaching higher levels.

10 Personality Traits: Stress-prone vs. Stress- Resistant

11 Type A Behaviors/Traits  Rushed lifestyle  Predictor of heart disease  Characteristics  Type A and our society  Hostility is the key factor

12 Other-Focused Traits/Behaviors  Self-worth comes from others depending on them  Characteristics  Motivation

13 Helpless-Hopeless Behaviors  Learned helplessness  Locus of control

14 Hardy Personality  Commitment  Control  Challenge

15 Sensation Seekers  Type R  Calculated risks

16 Self-Esteem and Personality  Low self-esteem = stress-prone  High self-esteem=stress resistant  Self-Assessments in book (p )  Self-Value

17 Personality Typology  Jung  Myers-Briggs Typology Inventory (MBTI)  Preferences

18 Extraversion-Intraversion  Extraversion  External focus  Energy from people  Intraversion  Internal focus  Time alone

19 Sensing-Intuition  Sensing  Rely on senses  Practical  Deal with facts  Intuition  Dreamers  Experience  Deal with ideas

20 Thinking-Feeling  Thinking  Logical  Analytical  Think through decisions  Feeling  Emotional  Decisions based on values

21 Judging-Perception  Judging  Organization and order  Work ahead of schedule  Perception  Spontaneous  Work best at the last minute

22 Myers-Briggs Type and Stress

23 Preferences Preferences  Extroversion  Introversion  Intuition  Sensing  Thinking  Feeling  Judging  Perceiving

24 Personality Test Activity  Answer the following questions:  What are some of the stressors that each of your personality types could be prone to?  What stressors could arise when two people with your personality types work together or are in relationships (friendships, romance, parents, etc.) with one another?  What would be the strengths of this relationship?  What is some common ground between your personality types?  How might each person understand the other’s response to stress?  What could each person learn from the other?