Abstract
Stress mindset theory suggests that positive stress beliefs lead to positive, rather than negative, outcomes when engaging with stressors. Similarly, the Transactional Model of Stress predicts that perceiving a stressor as challenging leads to positive outcomes whereas negative perceptions of the stressor as threatening invoke negative outcomes. The aim of this study was to provide preliminary data examining the nature of the relationship between stress mindset and primary appraisals. It was predicted that positive beliefs about stress would be associated with perceiving a stressful situation as more challenging, and inversely related to perceptions of threat. Participants (N = 124) initially completed measures assessing stress mindset, lifetime and current perceived stress, trait anxiety, and self-efficacy. Then participants received a set of instructions regarding a stressful mathematics task, followed by completion of post-manipulation stress mindset and primary appraisals measures, prior to completing the mathematics task. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that participants who held a greater number of positive beliefs (as opposed to negative beliefs) about stress also perceived the stressor as being more challenging. However, there was no significant relationship between valence of beliefs and threat appraisals. These findings provide initial evidence for the nature of the relationship between valence of stress beliefs and challenge appraisals. Further research is needed to understand how stress beliefs impact on the way in which an individual copes with stressful situations.
Highlights
The experience of stress motivates a person to either overcome, withstand, or minimise the demands placed on them by a particular stressor (Salehi et al 2010)
Through a comparison of stress mindset with primary appraisals made of a minimally invasive stressful situation, we have provided preliminary evidence that more enhancing stress mindsets may be associated with greater challenge appraisals
With the findings of the present study, there is reason to suspect that stress mindset may influence the way a stressor is perceived, which in turn influences the way in which an individual responds to that stressor
Summary
The experience of stress motivates a person to either overcome, withstand, or minimise the demands placed on them by a particular stressor (Salehi et al 2010). There is considerable evidence that stress can produce positive psychological and physiological effects (for a review see Linley and Joseph 2004), there is an extensive body of evidence associating stress with negative psychological and physiological effects (for a review see Lupien et al 2007) These two areas of research have been largely. The model outlines two processes involved in the stress response: stress appraisal (how an individual perceives a stressor), and coping (how the individual will respond to the stressor; Folkman and Lazarus 1980). Stress appraisal involves an evaluation of both the stressor, known as primary appraisal, and the individual’s perceived available resources for coping with the stressor, known as secondary appraisal (Folkman et al 1986). Some researchers describe challenge and threat appraisals as a ratio of resources required to cope and resources available to cope, representing an individual’s belief in their own
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