Stress is one of the key concepts of modern psychology. There are three main definitions of stress; each of them looks at it from a slightly different perspective, which translates into a different presentation of its issues. Considering how often stress is present in the professional life of an adult, it is worth getting acquainted with its subject and methods of combating its direct and indirect effects.

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Stress Has Three Basic Definitions:

  1. a) stimulus
  2. b) reaction
  3. c) relational

The first describes stress as “a set of external stimuli likely to cause a person to be anxious.” This definition dates from the 1950s and was based on an experience in which a parachute jumping situation was defined as a set of stimuli leading to anxiety. The downside of this approach is that it ignores the subjective perception of stress and has the advantage of embedding stress research into the outside world.

The second is about stress as “the body’s response to any ailment.” As you can see, the original definition proposed by Hans Salye is so general that it can be easily criticized. Despite this, the understanding of stress as the “body’s response” has survived into modern psychology and is still used today.

The third definition is based on the relationship between the individual and the environment. It was created by R. Lazarus and is based on the subjective perception of the relationship between a person and the outside world as a situation that strains a person’s resources or threatens their well-being.

9 Simple Ways to Deal With Stress at Work

Reasons Of Stress At Work

Based on the contemporary understanding of the above definitions, it can be seen that stress oscillates between the individual and the environment, as a rule constituting an individual’s reaction to a certain set of factors which (simplifying) can be described as negative for themselves. However, stress is not only based on a given state of affairs, but also on how the individual perceives that state. Taking into account the so-called a stress reaction, we can distinguish four levels of its description: cognitive, emotional, behavioral and motivational.

The Effects Of Stress At Work

The cognitive level of the stress response is the starting point for others. It is the perception of a set of stimuli and classifying them as threatening to the individual, his well-being and worldview.

Based on the deviation from the values ​​and habits, an assessment of the threat appears, which determines the scale of the reaction to it. Along with the recognition of the threatening situation (whatever it is), there is also an emotional reaction, which is usually based on negative emotions (anxiety, anger, irritation, fear, impatience or aggression), although it can also take on a positive tone (hope built up). on successfully coping with a similar situation).

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The next step in the reaction to stress is arousal, or rather its strength. In the case of slight arousal, as a rule, an improvement in the quality of the performance of a given job was noticed in the studies, in the case of too much arousal, this quality decreased. The final element of the stress response is finding the motivation to bury the difference between the observed threatening state and the individual’s comfort zone and habits. In this case, compensatory behaviors may arise in order to eliminate the undesirable factor from the scope of the individual’s perception.

The following are distinguished here: searching for information about the state of danger to minimize it, taking direct action to eliminate the threat, refraining from acting so that the threat disappears by itself, changing one’s own perception so that it better corresponds to reality.