Chapter 4 Coping Processes

1. Chapter 4 Coping Processes

2. The Concept of Coping • Coping refers to “efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate the demands created by stress”. • General points for consideration: • There are many different ways of coping. • Individuals have unique styles of coping. • Coping strategies vary in their effectiveness.

3. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value • Giving up. • People often develop learned helplessness if they frequently encounter aversive events they cannot control, and they give up. • Sometimes, however, this tendency is transferred to situations in which the person is not really helpless.

4. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Giving up. (cont.) • Cognitive interpretation of aversive events may determine whether we feel helpless or not. • People with a “pessimistic explanatory style” view aversive events as “out of their control”, feel helpless, and give up. • This coping strategy is called “behavioral disengagement” and is associated with increased distress.

5. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Striking out at others. • Frustration caused by stressful events may elicit aggression, “behavior intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally”. • People often act out toward others who had nothing to do with their frustration. • Using a substitute target in this manner was called “displacement” by Freud.

6. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Striking out at others. (cont.) • Freud believed aggressive acts could release pent-up emotional tension and called the process catharsis. • However, research finds that acting aggressively produces more, not less anger and aggression.

7. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Indulging yourself. • When stressed by events that are going poorly, some people seek out alternative sources of satisfaction by indulging in: • Excessive eating, drinking and smoking; • gambling & drug use; and • Internet addiction – spending excessive time online to avoid the real world. • These behaviors are usually not healthy and create more problems in the long-run.

8. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Blaming yourself. • People often become highly critical of themselves when stressed. • Albert Ellis called this “catastrophic thinking” which involves: • Attributing failures to personal shortcomings; • Focusing on negative feedback; and • Being overly pessimistic about the future. • This pattern perpetuates negative emotional reactions to stress.

9. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Using defensive coping. • Defense mechanisms are “largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt”. • Defense mechanisms shield us from emotional discomfort caused by stress. • However, most involve a degree of self-deception, a distortion of reality.

10. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Using defensive coping. (cont.) • Defense mechanisms are considered normal, and can operate at various levels of consciousness. • Are they healthy? • Generally, they are not, because: • They are avoidance strategies; • They often involve “wishful thinking”; and • Some have been linked to poor health.

11. Common Coping Patterns of Limited Value (cont.) • Are they healthy? (cont.) • Sometimes, however, they are useful for severe stress because they buffer us from extremely negative emotions. • (e.g., unrealistic optimism may benefit a terminally ill patient.)

12. The Nature of Constructive Coping • Constructive coping - “refers to efforts to deal with stressful events that are judged to be relatively healthful”. • Constructive coping involves: • Confronting problems directly. • Realistic appraisals of stress and coping resources. • Learning to recognize and manage disruptive emotional reactions to stress.

13. The Nature of Constructive Coping (cont.) • Constructive coping involves: (cont.) • Learning to exert some control over potentially harmful or destructive habitual behaviors. • There are three main categories of constructive coping strategies (see Figure 4.4): • Appraisal-Focused • Problem-Focused • Emotion-Focused

14. Figure 4.4

15. Appraisal-Focused Coping • In Ellis’ A-B-C model (see Figure 4.5) he explains how our appraisal (or beliefs about stressful events) is critical to the coping process. • Negative appraisals (or beliefs) are often associated with catastrophic thinking, which exaggerates the magnitude of our problems, whereas • Positive (realistic and/or optimistic) appraisals allow constructive coping.

16. Figure 4.5

17. Appraisal-Focused Coping (cont.) • The roots of catastrophic thinking. • Unrealistic, negative appraisals stem from irrational assumptions we hold, such as: • “I must have love and affection from certain people.” • “I must perform well in all endeavors.” • “Other people should always behave competently and be considerate of me.” • “Events should always go the way I like.”

18. Appraisal-Focused Coping (cont.) • Catastrophic thinking can be reduced by: • Learning to detect it when it occurs. • Learning to dispute irrational assumptions. • Defusing stressful situations with humor. • Reinterpreting stressful situations in a more positive light.

19. Problem-Focused Coping • Problem-focused coping involves techniques aimed at solving the problems that are causing stress. • Four techniques are especially helpful: • Using “Systematic Problem Solving”. • Seeking help. • Effective time-management. • Improving self-control.

20. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • “Systematic Problem Solving” is a step-by-step technique for tackling problems. • Clarify the problem – often people do not know what, exactly, is causing stress. • Generate alternative courses of action – use “brainstorming” to generate ideas. • Evaluate your alternatives and select a course of action. • Take action while maintaining flexibility.

21. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Seeking help. • It is often helpful to seek aid from friends, family, co-workers and neighbors. • Using time more effectively. • A common source of stress is “time pressure” – a feeling of not having enough time to accomplish tasks. • Often, this can be improved by using the time we have more effectively.

22. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Using time more effectively. (cont.) • The causes of wasted time: • Inability to set or stick to priorities. • Inability to say “no” to others’ demands on our time. • Inability to delegate responsibility. • Inability to throw things away. • Inability to accept anything less than perfection.

23. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Using time more effectively. (cont.) • The problem of procrastination: • About 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators (Ferrari, 2001). • Many claim to benefit from this tactic (e.g., saying they “work well under pressure”). • However, procrastinators also tend to experience more anxiety and health problems.

24. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Using time more effectively. (cont.) • Time management techniques: • Monitor your use of time – keep a record to see where it all goes. • Clarify your goals – decide what you want to accomplish with your time. • Plan your activities using a schedule – planning saves time in the long-run.

25. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Using time more effectively. (cont.) • Protect your prime time – announce to others when you’re blocking off certain times to work so you won’t be interrupted. • Increase your efficiency. Try these tips: • Handle paper once. • Tackle one task at a time. • Group similar tasks together. • Make use of your “downtime”.

26. Problem-Focused Coping (cont.) • Improving self-control. • “Behavior Modification”,an application of operant conditioning,is a technique designed to increase wanted behaviors, and decrease unwanted behaviors. • See the Application at the end of this chapter for more details.

27. Emotion-Focused Coping • Enhancing emotional intelligence. • Emotional intelligence – “consists of the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion”.

28. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Emotional intelligence has four components: • Accurately perceiving emotions in yourself and others. • Knowing how your emotions shape your thinking. • An understanding of complex, or contradictory emotions. • Regulation of emotions, especially negative ones.

29. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Releasing pent-up emotions. • Efforts to actively suppress emotions, especially anger, tend to increase stress and physiological arousal. • In contrast, “emotional disclosure” is associated with better mood, more positive self-perceptions, and better health.

30. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Managing hostility and forgiving others. • When we feel “wronged”, our natural tendency is to seek revenge or hold a grudge. • Forgiving others goes counter to these instincts, but is associated with better adjustment and well-being.

31. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Meditating. • Meditation – is “a family of mental exercises in which a conscious attempt is made to focus attention in a nonanalytical way”. • Benefits include • Decreases in heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide elimination (see Figure 4.13), that indicate a state of deep relaxation.

32. Figure 4.13

33. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Benefits include (cont.) • Increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, which indicates a focusing of attention. • Lower levels of stress hormones. • Lower anxiety. • Better mood. • A sense of control.

34. Emotion-Focused Coping (cont.) • Using relaxation procedures. • One well-known technique is Benson’s “relaxation response”. Four factors are critical: • A quiet environment. • A mental device (or focal point). • A passive attitude. • A comfortable position.

35. Application: Achieving Self-Control • Self-modification is a process (see Figure 4.15) designed to change behavior. • It involves the following five steps: • Specifying your target behavior. – Know what it is that you want to change. • Gathering baseline data. • Know where you are now so that you can track progress.

36. Figure 4.15

37. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Step 2 (cont.) • Observe your behavior for a period of time and monitor three things: • The initial response level of your target behavior (e.g., how many calories you consume). • Monitor antecedents – “events that precede the target response”. • Monitor consequences of the target behavior.

38. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Designing your program. • Your goal should be to either increase or decrease a target response. • To increase a target response: • Select a reinforcer. • Arrange the contingencies – describe the exact behavior that must occur in order to get the reinforcer.

39. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Step 3 (cont.) • Contingences could include the use of: • Token economies – give yourself symbolic reinforcers that are then exchanged for real reinforcers (see Figure 4.18). • Shaping – reinforce “closer and closer approximations of the desired response”.

40. Figure 4.18

41. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Decreasing response strength. • Using reinforcement – reward yourself for NOT emitting a behavior, or emitting it less often (e.g., eating less). • Controlling antecedents – avoid exposure to events that trigger the behavior. • Punishment – if you choose this, don’t use punishment alone (combine with reinforcement) and use a mild punishment.

42. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Executing and evaluating your program. • Implement your plan and make sure it is working. • You can avoid “cheating” by using a behavioral contract – a “written agreement outlining a promise to adhere to the contingencies of a behavior modification program”.

43. Application: Achieving Self-Control (cont.) • Ending your Program. • Make sure to spell out the conditions under which you will end the program. • It is also helpful to set terminal goals (e.g., reaching a certain weight).