Psychological Hardiness

Psychological Hardiness [1]

Introduction

In the early 1980s psychologists Suzanne C. Kobasa, Salvatore R. Maddi and others from the University of Chicago studied the relationship between stress and physical health. They were interested in what constitutes "hardy" attitudes - attitudes that helped people to handle stress better. In one study they compared the protective effects of attitude with two well known sources of stress resistance - physical exercise and social support. Protection against the damaging effects of stress was strongest for those who scored highly on all three resistance resources—attitude, physical exercise, and social support. However, "If you could have only one resistance resource, hardiness [or attitude[ would be the best."

In a study of Illinois Bell executives during the deregulation of AT&T, Kobasa and Maddi identified characteristics that healthy individuals shared in contrast to those who were unhealthy in stressful situations. Individuals with psychological hardiness:

1. believed that they had an influence on their environment and acted consistently with that belief;

2. consistently considered how to change situations for advantage and never accepted events at face value;

3. regarded change as part of the normal course of events;

4. viewed change as a helpful path to positive development; and

5. were committed to learning and personal transformation.

Individuals who did not thrive physically in stressful environments:

1. were bored with life;

2. found life to be meaningless;

3. considered change to be threatening;

4. believed themselves to be at the mercy of their circumstances;

5. prepared for the worst; and

6. considered the status quo to be normal and viewed change as unusual.

From this, they identified three dimensions or attitudes that promote a sense of hardiness, and coined the phrase “psychological hardiness” to describe these traits they were seeing.

What is Psychological Hardiness?

Psychological hardiness is defined as “a predisposition that allows an individual to accept the challenges and changes in life with good humor and resilience, which in turn influences behavior that prevents illness.” (http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/psychologic+hardiness)

Attitude is at the heart of what we feel and how effectively we manage stressors in our lives, ala the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance. Stress hardy people endorse a positive world view and attitude in which stressors are appraised as challenges rather than threats. Consequently, they feel less potential harm can occur. Psychological hardiness consists of three overlapping attitudes:

1. The tendency to see life as a series of challenges.

2. A sense of personal commitmentto self, family, work and other values.

3. A perception of control over life and work.

Attitude of Challenge

Having an attitude of Challenge includes—

· The expectation and acceptance that life will change and that changes stimulate personal development.

· The belief that change rather than stability is normal.

· Coping behaviors of attempting to transform one’s self and thereby grow rather than conserve and protect what one can of the former existence.

· Opt for embracing challenge and finding meaning and growth by learning through change rather than being threatened by it.

In other words, people who are psychologically stress hardy find ways to enjoy challenge. They expect life around them to change, and generally see themselves as capable of making those changes. They take the attitude that mistakes are cause and opportunity to learn, losses precede and lead to winning, and weaknesses create opportunities to grow and become better.

Attitude of Control

People who have a high sense and attitude of being in Control

· Have a sense that there are things they can do about challenges and problems in their lives.

· Believe and act as if they can influence the events taking place around them through what they imagine, say and do.

· Opt for control or influence with others and challenge, rather than powerlessness and passivity.

Control does not imply the naive expectation that one can stop bad things from happening, but rather the perception of being able to have a definite influence on the outcome through the exercise of imagination, knowledge, skill, and choice." Although "control" is the word usually used to describe this attitude in the psychological literature, clearly "choice" and "freedom" capture the sense of this attitude as well. People with this attitude focus on what they can do, rather than on what is outside of their control. Therefore they tend to be more stress hardy, and less stressed.

Attitude of Commitment

People with a strong attitude of Commitment—

· Find meaning and a sense purpose in what they do, in events, things, and people; even when life’s events are stressful, threatening, or traumatic. Meaning is always part of their “game.”

· Have deep values and use them to guide them no matter what is happening; values like charity, virtue, integrity, honesty, etc.

· Are invested enough in themselves and life that they cannot easily give up under pressure. They involve themselves in whatever is happening rather than lay back and give up.

· Are generally curious about and interested in activities, things, and people.

· Opt for commitment rather than alienation and avoidance.

To know where you stand, ask yourself these questions:

1. When at first you don’t succeed in making the tennis team would you try out again the next year?

2. Do you stay committed to the pursuit of your goals and values?

3. If you fail an exam, do you go and get help, or do you assume that you’ll never understand the material and withdraw from class?

4. Do you believe that your actions influence the outcome of a situation?

Dispositional Resilience

Dr. Paul T. Bartone studied at the University of Chicago and was directly influence by Suzanne Kobasa, et al. He now has his own web site and has done his own work on psychological hardiness. His website shares this background information:

My own work on hardiness began around 1981 as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. . . . I was part of a busy research group led by Dr. Salvatore Maddi and Dr. Suzanne (Ouellette) Kobasa. My dissertation research identified the major sources of job-related stress for bus drivers, and found that job stress was related to a range of health problems. . . . But as hypothesized, drivers who were high in the personality characteristics Kobasa described as “hardiness” – commitment, control and challenge – appeared resistant to the ill-effects of stress. As part of my dissertation research, I . . . developed . . . the “Dispositional Resilience Scale” (DRS), which was better balanced for positive and negative items and for capturing the three main facets of hardiness – commitment, control and challenge. . . . In addition to the original 45-item scale, refined 30-item and 15-item DRS versions are now available. . . . There are five items each to measure the hardiness facets of Commitment, Control, and Challenge. Six items are negatively-keyed, which makes this scale quite well-balanced for negative and positive items.”

1. [1] Other constructs that seem related to Psychological Hardiness include emotional intelligence (EI), and resilience.EI is defined by Wikipedia as: the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.Resilience is defined as: the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and catastrophe. . . . Commonly used terms, which are essentially synonymous within psychology, are "resilience", "psychological resilience", "emotional resilience", "hardiness", and "resourcefulness".