Types of Stress

1) What is stress?

“Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand, or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important” (Langton, Robbins, & Judge, 2011, p. 105).

Stress is often associated with a bad connotation but that is not necessary true in all situations; while too much stress is definitely bad and dangerous for a person’s health, a certain amount of stress can be healthy and necessary for one’s growth. For some, stress can negatively affect their performance - their bodies may not be used to the pressure which stress stimulates; such an example would be a student “cramming” before a major test - his brain may be unable to process the vast amounts of information being sent - thus having a negative effect on his body and health. But for others, stress can be a positive thing and they thrive and perform their best under stressful situations; an example of this would be an athlete at the 100 meter finals at the Olympics - he is under a lot of stress before the race starts; but he may benefit from the extra adrenaline rush which stress provides him with. Similarly, in organizations, may professionals may see heavy workloads and tight deadlines as positive challenges which in the long run may improve their performance and increase job satisfaction. Stress operates differently for each individual; small amounts of stress can be healthy but continuous and ongoing stress can exhaust the body.

Two distinct stimuli for stress are that of challenge stressors - associated with workload, pressure, and time urgency, and hindrance stressors - linked to office politics and confusion over job responsibilities. Between these two stress-causing stimuli, early evidence from recent research has suggests that challenge stressors produce less strain and are less harmful than hindrance stressors.

Generally speaking, stress has two components: demands...