Stress Part One - Theories of Stress at work and workplace interventions

5 important questions on Stress Part One - Theories of Stress at work and workplace interventions

Mechanisms for Stress - Internal/external

  • Causes → Effect
    • stressors → strain/stress → strain
  • Moderators & Influences
    • Individual Differences
    • Social/ societal/ cultural/ historical
  • Mechanisms
    • Biological/ psycho-physiological
    • Cognitive

Three Models of Work-Related Stress

  1. Response-based models: stress is a dependent variable, a reaction to a stressor (its inside you)
  2. Stimulus-based models: stress is an independent, external, environmental variable (noise, cold, pressure of work…) associated with a response
  3. Interactive models: where both stimulus and response and intervening variables (individual differences)

(Cox, 1978 in Furnham, 2006)

Yerkes-Dodson Law Bell Curve

  • Impact of arousal
  • Pressure & Stress
  • Research on rats (1912)
  • Popular ‘lay’ conception
  • An inverse relationship
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Physical Basis of Work-related stress (WRS) (1)

  • (endless) list of non-specific ST ‘symptoms’
    • fight-flight
  • LT effect - ‘Wear & Tear’ on body
    • Problems: muscle tension, digestion
    • Chronic high arousal – anxiety 
    • Chronic low arousal – depression

Physical Basis of WRS (2)

Focus on:
  • Generalisable reactions/ universal mechanisms
  • Clear link to physical Short Term & Long Term reactions

Problems:
  • Non-specificity
  • Psychological element of stress response

Still very popular
BUT this means that the problem is the person and the responsibility is the persons

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