| fight-or-flight reaction | Adaptive response to stressful situations exhibited by animals and humans in which they choose to either fight or attempt to escape.
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| eustress | Type of stress that provides challenges that motivate individuals to work hard and meet their goals.
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| distress | A type of stress resulting from chronically demanding situations that produce negative health outcomes.
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| General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) | A nearly identical response sequence to almost any disease or trauma (e.g., poisoning, injury, psychological stress); identified by Hans Seyle.
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| alarm reaction | Stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome in which the body mobilizes resources to cope with added stress.
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| stress hormone | Chemical (e.g., adrenalin, noradrenalin, epinephrine, or cortisol) released in the body when a person encounters stressful or demanding situations.
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| resistance | Stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome in which the body copes with the original source of stress, but resistance to other stressors is lowered.
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| exhaustion | A stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome in which overall resistance drops and adverse consequences (e.g., burnout, severe illness, and even death) can result unless stress is reduced.
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| problem-focused coping | A type of coping directed at managing or altering a problem causing the stress.
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| emotion-focused coping | Type of coping that involves reducing the emotional response to a problem by avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from the problem.
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| stressors | Physical or psychological demands to which an individual responds.
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| strains | Reaction or response to stressors.
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| autonomy | The extent to which employees can control how and when they perform the tasks of their job.
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| interpersonal conflict | Negative interactions with co-workers, supervisors, or clients which can range from heated arguments to subtle incidents of unfriendly behavior.
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| role stressors | Collective term for stressors resulting from the multiple task requirements or roles of employees.
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| role | The expectations regarding the responsibilities and requirements of a particular job.
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| role ambiguity | Stressor that occurs when employees lack clear knowledge of what behavior is expected in their job.
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| role conflict | Stressor that occurs when demands from different sources are incompatible.
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| role overload | Stressor that occurs when an individual is expected to fulfill too many roles at the same time.
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| work-family conflict | Conflict that occurs when workers experience conflict between the roles they fulfill at work and in their personal lives.
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| emotional labor | Regulation of one's emotions to meet job or organizational demands. Such regulation can be achieved through surface acting and deep acting.
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| surface acting | A type of emotional labor that consists of managing or faking one's expressions or emotions.
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| deep acting | A type of emotional labor that consists of managing one's feelings, including the emotions required by the job.
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| burnout | An extreme state of psychological strain resulting from a prolonged response to chronic job stressors that exceed an individual's resources to cope with them.
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| emotional exhaustion | Type of burnout that occurs when individuals feel emotionally drained by work.
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| depersonalization | Type of burnout that occurs when individuals become hardened by their job and tend to treat clients or patients like objects.
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| low personal accomplishment | A type of burnout in which individuals feel they cannot deal with problems effectively and understand or identify with others' problems.
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| Demand-Control model | A model suggesting that two factors are prominent in producing job stress: job demands and individual control; developed by Robert Karasek.
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| job demand | Component of demand-control model that refers to the workload or intellectual requirements of the job.
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| job control | Component of Demand-Control model that refers to a combination of autonomy in the job and discretion for using different skills.
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| person-job (P-J) fit | Extent to which the skills, abilities, and interests of an individual are compatible with the demands of the job.
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| person-organization (P-O) fit | Extent to which the values of an employee are consistent with the values held by most others in the organization.
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| locus of control (LOC) | A construct that refers to the belief of individuals that what happens to them is under their control (internal LOC) or beyond their control (external LOC).
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| hardiness | A set of personality characteristics that provide resistance to stress. Hardy individuals feel in control of their lives, have a sense of commitment to their family and their work goals and values, and see unexpected change as a challenge.
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| self-esteem | A positive self-worth or self-concept that is an important resource for coping.
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| Type A behavior pattern (TABP) | A set of characteristics exhibited by individuals who are engaged in a chronic struggle to obtain an unlimited number of poorly defined things from their environment in the shortest period of time. Characteristics or subcomponents of TABP include hostility, achievement strivings, impatience/irritability, and time urgency.
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| coronary-prone personality | Alternative name given to the Type A behavior pattern (TABP) because of its links to coronary heart disease and heart attacks.
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| hostility | Type A behavior pattern subcomponent associated with increased secretion of stress hormones as well as increased risk of coronary heart disease and other long-term, harmful health outcomes.
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| achievement strivings (AS) | Type A behavior pattern subcomponent involving the tendency to be active and to work hard in achieving one's goals.
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| impatience/irritability (II) | Type A behavior pattern subcomponent that reflects intolerance and frustration resulting from being slowed down.
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| time urgency | Type A behavior pattern subcomponent that refers to the feeling of being pressured by inadequate time.
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| occupational health psychology | Field that involves the application of psychology to improving the quality of work life, and to protecting and promoting the safety, health, and well-being of workers.
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| primary prevention strategy | Stress prevention strategy concerned with modifying or eliminating stressors in the work environment.
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| cognitive restructuring | Type of stress intervention that focuses on changing perceptions and thought processes that lead to stress; reduces stress by changing the individual's perception of, or capacity to meet the demands of, the work environment.
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| secondary prevention strategy | Stress prevention strategy that involves modifying responses to inevitable demands or stressors.
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| stress management training | A training program useful for helping employees deal with workplace stressors that are difficult to remove or change.
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| cardiac psychology | Field that combines the expertise of medical doctors (cardiologists) and psychologists in an effort to reduce heart disease by changing the thought processes of Type A heart patients.
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| hurry sickness | Severe and chronic feelings of time urgency that negatively affect one's lifestyle.
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| stress inoculation | Common type of stress management training that usually combines primary prevention and secondary prevention strategies.
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| progressive muscle relaxation | Stress management technique to relax the muscles, by moving through each major muscle group in the body, thereby helping to progressively relax the entire body.
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| biofeedback | Stress management technique that teaches individuals to control certain body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, and even skin temperature by responding to feedback from an electronic instrument.
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| social support | The comfort, assistance, or information an individual receives through formal or informal contacts with individuals or groups.
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| buffer or moderator hypothesis | Hypothesis that social support moderates or reduces health problems by protecting individuals from the negative effects of work stressors.
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| tertiary prevention strategy | Stress prevention strategy focused on healing the negative effects of stressors.
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| employee assistance program (EAP) | Counseling provided by an organization to deal with work stress, alcohol or drug difficulties, and problems stemming from outside the job; originally developed by organizations to address alcohol and drug problems, but subsequently broadened to include stress management interventions.
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