Stress, Frustration
and Conflict
Frustration
is a common emotional response to opposition.
Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from
the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of
individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the
greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to
be.
Causes of Frustration
• Internal
– Personal Diffeciency
• External
– Environmental
– Other people
Stress
A person’s reaction to his or her inability to cope
with a certain tense event or situation
Anxious or threatening feeling resulting from our
appraisal of a situation & our reaction to demands placed
upon us.
Components of Stress
• Stressor – a stress producing event or situation
• Not all events or situations are stressors to all people as
people react differently
• Stress reaction – the body’s response to a stressor
Two Types of Stress
• Distress – negative stress that stems from acute anxiety
or pressure
• Eustress – positive stress, which results from motivating
strivings and challenges
“Complete freedom from stress is death!”
Environmental Stressors
• Noise and feeling crowded are stressors.
• Major life changes are stressors
• Hassles – minor, day to day stressors
Factors Influencing Reactions to Stress
• People’s reactions to stress vary considerably
• Personality may make you more vulnerable to stress
• Type B – relaxed, patient & do not anger easily
• Type A – anger with no object or focus, irritable, &
competitive
• Most people exhibit Type A personalities at some
time but not constantly
Coping with Stress
• Stress can smother your life and make you miserable
• Coping with stress is an attempt to gain control over part
of one’s life.
• People cope in many different ways with different
strategies having varying success for different people.
• Coping strategies may not always be healthy
(maladaptive)
Defense Mechanisms
• manners in which we behave or think in certain
ways to better protect or “defend” ourselves.
Defense mechanisms are one way of looking at
how people distance themselves from a full
awareness of unpleasant thoughts, feelings
and behaviors.
• Denial
the refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a
painful event, thought or feeling did not exist.
Fantasy
• daydreaming or your imagination to escape from reality into
a fictitious world a world of success or pleasure.
• Regression
the reversion to an earlier stage of development
in the face of unacceptable thoughts or impulses.
• Projection
is the misattribution of a person’s undesired
thoughts, feelings or impulses onto another person.
• Reaction Formation
converting of unwanted or dangerous thoughts,
feelings or impulses into their opposites.
• Repression
the unconscious blocking of unacceptable
thoughts, feelings and impulses.
• Displacement
redirecting of thoughts feelings and
impulses directed at one person or object, but
taken out upon another person or object.
• Rationalization
– putting something into a different light or
offering a different explanation for one’s
perceptions or behaviors in the face of a
changing reality.
–Sour Graping / Sweet Lemoning
• Sublimation
the channeling of unacceptable impulses,
thoughts and emotions into more acceptable ones
• Compensation
counterbalancing perceived weaknesses by
emphasizing strength in other arenas.
Take note…
• Use defense mechanisms correctly..
Conflict
the arousal of two or more strong motives
that cannot be solved together.
a perceived incompatibility of action or
goals.
Kinds of Conflict
• Approach – Approach
– Choosing between two attractive options
• Approach – Avoidance
– the reduction of one motivating stimulus involves
an increase in another, so that a new adjustment
is demanded.
• Avoidance – Avoidance
– A conflict between two threats or danger
Sources of Conflict
• Personality
• Emotion
• Perception
• Values and ethics
• Communication
• Culture
What are the Characteristics of
Happy People?
• Have high self-esteem (Boyd, et.al 2020)
• Have firm sense of control (Myers & Deiner, 2018)
• Happy individuals are optimistic (Peterson, 2000)
• Happy people like to be with other
people (Selignman,2002)
