Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 COPING STYLES: THE HARDY PERSONALITY 
Most of us characteristically cope with stress by employing a coping style that repre-
sents our general tendency to deal with stress in a specifi c way. For example, you 
may know people who habitually react to even the smallest amount of stress with 
hysteria and others who calmly confront even the greatest stress in an unfl appable 
manner. These kinds of people clearly have very different cop-
ing styles (Taylor, 2003; Kato & Pedersen, 2005). 
Among those who cope with stress most successfully are 
people who are equipped with
 hardiness, 
a personality char-
acteristic associated with a lower rate of stress-related illness. 
Hardiness consists of three components (Baumgartner, 2002; 
Maddi, 2007): 
• Commitment . Commitment is a tendency to throw 
ourselves into whatever we are doing with a sense that 
our activities are important and meaningful.
• Challenge . Hardy people believe that change rather than 
stability is the standard condition of life. To them, the 
anticipation of change serves as an incentive rather than 
a threat to their security.
• Control . Hardiness is marked by a sense of control—the 
perception that people can infl uence the events in their 
lives.
Hardy individuals approach stress optimistically and take 
direct action to learn about and deal with stressors; they 
thereby change stressful events into less threatening ones. As 
learned helplessness
A state in which 
people conclude that unpleasant or 
aversive stimuli cannot be controlled—
a view of the world that becomes so 
ingrained that they cease trying to 
remedy the aversive circumstances 
even if they actually can exert some 
infl uence on the situation.
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hardiness 
A personality characteristic 
that is associated with a lower rate of 
stress-related illness and consists of 
three components: commitment, 
challenge, and control.
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