Many people think they understand
stress. In reality, however, stress is
complex and often misunderstood. To
learn how job stress truly works, we must first define it and then relate it to
the individual in the workplace.
Stress Defined
Although
stress has been defined in many ways, a common ground of most definitions is
that stress is caused by a stimulus, that the stimulus can be either physical
or psychological and that individual respond to the stimulus in some way. Here, then we define stress as a person's
adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological or physical
demands on that person. Let us look at each component of this definition. First is the notion of adaptation. People adapt to stressful circumstances in any of several different ways. Second is the role of the stimulus. This stimulus is generally called a stressor. That is, a stressor is anything that induces stress. The definition also notes that stressors can be either psychological or physical. Finally, the demands placed on the individual by the stressor must be excessive for stress to result. Of course, what is excessive for one person may be perfectly tolerable for another.
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