Chapter 5 - Stress Flashcards

1
Q

What is stress?

A

Psychological responses to demands that possess certain stakes for a person, and tax/exceed that person’s capacity or responses.

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2
Q

What are stressors?

A

Demands that cause people to experience stress.

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3
Q

Are stressors personal?

A

People differ in terms of how they perceive and evaluate stressors, and the way they cope with them.

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4
Q

What are strains?

A

Negative consequences occurring upon experiencing stress.

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5
Q

What is the transactional theory of tress?

A

A theory that explains how stressors are perceived and appraised, and how people respond to those perceptions and appraisals.

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6
Q

What is primary appraisal?

A

Question - Is this stressful?

The process triggered when people first encounter stressors, as people evaluate the significance and the meaning of the stressor they are confronting.

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7
Q

What are benign job demands?

A

Job demands that are not appraised as being stressful, such that they may be seen as learning opportunities, competency-proving chances, and being associated with promotion and pay raise rewards.

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8
Q

What are hindrance stressors?

A

Stressful demands perceived as being hindrances to progress toward personal accomplishment or goal attainment.

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9
Q

What types of emotions do hindrance stressors trigger?

A

Negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger.

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10
Q

What are the effects of hindrance stressors?

A

Strain;
Reduced commitment and job performance.

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11
Q

What are challenge stressors?

A

Stressful demands perceived as opportunities for learning, growth, and achieveent.

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12
Q

What type of emotions do challenge stressors trigger?

A

Positive emotions, such as pride and enthusiasm.

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13
Q

What are the effects of challenge stressors?

A

Though they are straining, they are also motivating and satisfying.

They are positively related to commitment and performance.

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14
Q

What are the various types of work hindrance stressors?

A

-Role conflict: Conflicting expectations that others may have for another.

-Role ambiguity: Lack of information about what needs to be done in a role. Unpredictability regarding the consequences of performance in that role.

-Role overload: High number of demanding roles, such that a person cannot perform some/all the roles effectively.

-Daily hassles: Relatively minor day-to-day demands getting in the way of accomplishing things that one wants to accomplish.

-Interpersonal conflict: Difficult coworkers, harassment, bullying.

-Working conditions: Rough physical/environmental/psychological/procedural factors that impede performance.

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15
Q

What are the different types of work challenge stressors?

A

-Time pressure: Sense that the time given to complete a task is not enough.

-Work complexity: Degree to which work requirements (knowledge, skills, abilities) tax or exceed the capabilities of the person responsible for the work.

-Work responsibility: Obligations that a person has toward others. The level of responsibility is higher when the number, scope, and importance of obligations in a job are higher.

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16
Q

When is role ambiguity experienced?

A

Among new employees.

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17
Q

What are the various types of non-work hindrance stressors?

A

-Work-family conflict: Special form of role conflict in which the demands of a work role hinder the fulfillment of the demand of a family role, or vice-versa.

-Negative life events: Family events (death, divorce, marital separation, jail term), or personal illness.

-Financial uncertainty: Conditions creating uncertainty in regard to the loss of livelihood, savings, or the ability to pay expenses.

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18
Q

When is financial uncertainty, a non-work hindrance stressor, especially important?

A

During times of recessions or economic downturns.

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19
Q

What are the various types of non-work challenge stressors?

A

-Family time demands: Time that a person commits to participate in an array of family activities and responsibilities.

-Personal development: Activities including participation in formal education programs, music lessons, sports-related training, hobby-related self-education, participation in local government, or volunteer work.

-Positive life events: Marriage, graduation, the addition of a new family member.

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20
Q

What is secondary appraisal?

A

Process by which people attempt to cope with the various stressors they face, by determining what they can/should do.

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21
Q

What is the stress process?

A
  1. Perception of Stress
  2. Primary and Secondary Appraisal
  3. Strains
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22
Q

What are the factors that determine the degree to which stress is experienced?

A

-Personality factors;
-Stress overloading.

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23
Q

What is coping?

A

Behaviours and thoughts that people use to manage stressful demands they face, and the emotions associated with those stressful demands.

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24
Q

What are the two dimensions of coping?

A
  1. Method of coping
  2. Focus of coping
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25
Q

What are the two methods of coping?

A

-Behavioural: Set of physical activities used to deal with a stressful situation.

-Cognitive: Thoughts involved in trying to deal with a stressful situation.

26
Q

What are the two focuses of coping?

A

-Problem-focused: Behaviours and cognitions intended to manage the stressful situation itself.

-Emotion-focused: Ways in which people manage their own emotional reactions to stressful demands.

27
Q

What are problem-focused, behavioural methods of coping?

A

-Working harder;
-Seeking assistance;
-Acquiring additional resources.

28
Q

What are emotion-focused, behavioural methods of coping?

A

-Engaging in alternative activities;
-Seeking support;
-Venting anger.

29
Q

What are problem-focused, cognitive methods of coping?

A

-Strategizing;
-Self-motivating;
-Changing priorities.

30
Q

What are emotion-focused, cognitive methods of coping?

A

-Avoiding, distracting, and ignoring;
-Looking for the positive in the negative;
-Reappraising.

31
Q

Why is the choice of coping strategy important?

A

It has important implications for how effectively people can meet or adapt to the various stressors faced.

32
Q

What influences the choice of a particular coping strategy?

A

-The set of beliefs that people have about how well different coping strategies can address different demands;

-The degree to which people believe they have what it takes to execute the coping strategy effectively;

-The degree to which people believe the strategy will give them some degree of control over the stressor.

33
Q

What type of stressor do people feel like they have less control over?

A

Hindrance stressors.

34
Q

When does stress become problematic?

A

When the stressful demands don’t ramp down, or occur too frequently. At that point, the body’s adaptive responses become toxic.

35
Q

What are physiological strains?

A

Strains that reduce the effectiveness of the body’s immune system, harm the cardiovascular system (racing heart, increased blood pressure, coronary artery disease), cause problems in the musculoskeletal system (tension headaches, tight shoulders, back pain), and/or issues in the gastrointestinal system (stomach aches, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation).

36
Q

What are psychological strains?

A

Depression, anxiety, anger, hostility, reduced self-confidence, irritability, inability to think clearly, forgetfulness, memory loss, creativity loss, sense of humour loss.

37
Q

What is burnout?

A

An extreme form of psychological strain that consists of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion resulting from having to cope with stressful demands on an ongoing basis.

38
Q

What does burnout lead to?

A

Cynicism, low self-efficacy.

39
Q

What are behavioural strains?

A

Unhealthy behaviours such as grinding one’s teeth, being overly critical and bossy, smoking excessively, compulsively gum-chewing, overusing alcohol, compulsively eating.

40
Q

How do behavioural strains manifest at work?

A

In the form of counterproductive work behaviours, including:
-Accidents
-Performance changes
-Absenteeism, turnover
-Aggression (retaliation)

41
Q

What characterizes Type A personality?

A

-Strong sense of time urgency;
-Tendency to be impatient, hard-driving, competitive, controlling, aggressive, and even hostile.

42
Q

How is Type A personality seen in organizations?

A

It is valued and they receive rewards for their great contribution. Resultantly, the amount and level of work they receive is increased.

43
Q

What is the relationship between Type A personality and conflict?

A

They are usually more prone to interpersonal conflict.

44
Q

How do Type A people appraise demands?

A

As being stressful (not benign). They are hyper-sensitive to demands that could potentially affect the progress toward the attainment of their goals.

45
Q

What is Type A personality linked to?

A

Coronary heart disease, and other physiological, psychological, and behavioural strains.

46
Q

What is social support?

A

Help that people receive when confronted with stressful demands.

47
Q

What are the two types of social support?

A
  1. Instrumental: Help that people receive in addressing the stressful demand directly.
  2. Emotional: Help that people receive in addressing the emotional distress that accompanies stressful demands.
48
Q

How does social support help mitigate stress?

A

-It buffers the relationship between stressors and strains; High levels of social support provide a person with instrumental/emotional resources that are useful for coping with the stressor;
-It reduces the harmful consequences of the stressor.

49
Q

Why are some employees more stressed than others?

A

-They experience different types of stressors;
-They appraise and cope with the stressors differently;
-They experience the various forms of strains differently;
-They have a Type A personality;
-They have varying degrees of social support.

50
Q

What is the relationship between hindrance stressors and job performance?

A

Weak negative relationship.

They cause strains and negative emotions, reducing the overall level of physical, cognitive, and emotional energy.

This ultimately results in diminished task performance.

51
Q

What is the relationship between hindrance stressors and organizational commitment?

A

Strong negative relationship.

There are lower levels of affective and normative commitment.

52
Q

What is the relationship between challenge stressors and job performance?

A

Weak relationship.

53
Q

What is the relationship between challenge stressors and organizational commitment?

A

Moderate relationship.

54
Q

What is presenteeism?

A

The phenomenon by which people whose jobs are filled with challenge stressors experience strains that result in illness.

Their satisfaction, commitment, and engagement with work is unceasing, but ultimately, their performance and employee health spiral downwards.

55
Q

How can organizations manage employee stress?

A

-Assess the levels and sources of stress, by performing a stress audit.
-Eliminate/Reduce stressful demands.
-Provide resources to employees.
-Introduce therapeutical techniques.

56
Q

What does a stress audit determine?

A

-The degree to which the organization is going through a change that may increase employee uncertainty;

-The nature of the jobs;

-The types and levels of stressors experienced by employees;

-The quality of relationships between employees and the organization.

57
Q

How can organizations reduce stressful demands?

A

-Job sharing: Sharing the responsibilities of a single job;

-Sabbaticals: Granting time off from work to engage in a different activity.

58
Q

What are the resources that employers can provide to their employees, to reduce stress?

A

-Training interventions that aim to increase job-related competencies and skills;

-Supportive practices to manage and balance different roles (flextime, telecommuting, compressed workweeks);

-Interaction opportunities.

59
Q

How can organizations help counteract the effects of stressors?

A

-Using relaxation techniques: Progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, calming activities;

-Cognitive-behavioural techniques: Help people appraise and cope with stressors more rationally;

-Health and wellness programs.

60
Q

What type of stressors should organizations aim to reduce?

A

The focus should be on hindrance stressors.