Coping strategies in psychology - what determines human behavior during stress?

Stress in our lives is quite common. Almost all people experience them, feel them, and talk about them. The reason for this phenomenon today is everything that a person faces every day, from work and family relationships to the situation in the country and in the world in general. But the human body is designed in such a way that it constantly needs balance. And what happens in life, including the relationship of people to each other, systematically violates this balance, as a result of which the body is simply forced to work to the limit of its capabilities, while trying, at the same time, to maintain the balance of all physiological and mental processes, in other words, to function practically without rest. The good news is that a person is able to overcome stressful situations of almost any severity, neutralizing the pressure exerted on him by external circumstances. But before we talk about how this usually happens, let's say a few more words about stress.

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General characteristics of stress

A stressful state is characterized as a tense physical and mental state of the body. In general, in minimal doses, stress is needed by the body to maintain its optimal operating mode, but in excessive quantities it has an extremely negative effect on a person’s well-being and efficiency, thus causing psychosomatic diseases.

The founder of the doctrine of stress is the Canadian pathologist and endocrinologist Hans Selye, according to whose ideas stress is a stimulus for the body to achieve resistance in response to negative factors.

Selye identified two types of stress:

• Eostress – stress that causes a positive effect
• Distress is stress that causes a negative effect

Stress consists of three phases:

• Alarm phase
• Resistance phase
• Exhaustion phase

It is interesting that people with a stable psyche are able to overcome the stage of anxiety, thereby avoiding stress.

If we talk about the present time, then stress is divided into emotional and informational. The first is associated with the emotional component of a person’s life, and the second is associated with the huge amount of information that bombards him. But, whatever the stress, its impact on the individual is in most cases the same. In the process of studying the influence of stress on a person, the question arose about his coping with difficult life situations, and the theory of coping appeared.

Literature

in Russian

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• Odintsova M.A. Semenova E.M. Overcoming strategies of behavior of Belarusians and Russians // Cultural-historical psychology. 2011. No. 3. - P. 75 - 81
• Odintsova M.A. Overcoming behavior of persons united by similar traumatic experiences // News of Saratov University. New series: Philosophy. Psychology. Pedagogy. 2015. T.15. No. 1. P. 104—110
• Odintsova M. A. Psychology of vitality. M.: Flint. 2015.
• Semichev S. B. Theory of crises and psychoprophylaxis. — Proceedings / Leningrad. scientific research Psychoneurological Institute named after. V. M. Bekhtereva, t. 63. Neuroses and borderline states. L., 1972, pp. 96-99.

in other languages

• Ayers T. S., Sandier I. N., West S. G., & Roosa M. W. (1996). A dispositional and situational assessment of children's coping: Testing alternative models of coping // Journal of Personality (English) Russian, 64, 923-958.
• Carpenter B. N. (1992). Issues and advances in coping research // Personal coping: Theory, research and application. Westport: Praeger. P.1-13.
• Causey D. L., & Dubow, E. F. (1993). Negotiating the transition to junior high school: The contributions of coping strategies and perceptions of the school environment. // Prevention in Human Services, 10, 59-81.
• Compas B. E., Forsythe, C. J., & Wagner, B. M. (1988). Consistency and variability in causal attributions and coping with stress // Cognitive therapy and research. 12, 305-320.
• Compas, B. E., Malcarne, V. L., & Fondacaro, K. M. (1988). Coping with stressful events in older children and young adolescents // Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (English) Russian, 563, 405-411.
• Compas, B. E., Banez, G. A., Malcarne, V., & Worsham, N. (1991). Perceived control and coping with stress: A developmental perspective // ​​Journal of Social Issues (English) Russian, 47, 23-34.
• Compas, B. E., Ey, S., Worsham, N. L., Howell, D. C. (1996). When mom or dad has cancer: II Coping, cognitive appraisals, and psychological distress in children of cancer patients // Child Development (English) Russian, 15, 167-175.
• Compas. B. E., Malcarne., V. L., & Fondacaro, K. M. (1988). Coping with stressful events in older children and adolescents. // Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (English) Russian, 56 (3), 405-411.
• Ebata, A., & Moos, T. (1991). Coping and adjustment in distressed and healthy adolescents // Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (English) Russian, 12, 33-54.
• Frydenberg E. (1997). Adolescent Coping: Theoretical and Research Perspectives. London: Routledge.
• Herman-Stahl, M. A., Stemmler, M., & Petersen, A. C. (1995). Approach and avoidant coping: Implications for adolescent mental health // Journal of Youth and Adolescence (English) Russian, 24, 649-655.
• Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York, Springer.
• Maddi S. (2002). 8th International Conference on Motivation. Abstracts. Moscow, 2002.
• Parsons, A., Frydenberg, E., and Poole, C. (1996). Overachievement and coping strategies in adolescent males // British Journal of Educational Psychology (English) Russian, 66, 109-14.
• Schwarzer R. & Scholz U. (2000). Cross-cultural assessment of coping resources: the general perceived self-efficacy scale. Paper presented at the Asian Congress of Health Psychology 2000: Health Psychology and Culture, Tokyo, Japan, August 28-29.
• Seiffge-Krenke, I. (1998). Social skill and coping style as risk and protective factors // In I. Seiffge-Krenke, I. (Ed.), Adolescents' health: a developmental perspective (pp. 1250150). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Seligman, M. E. (1992). Learned Optimism. NSW: Random House Australia.
• Seligman, M. E. (1995). The Optimistic Child. NSW: Random House Australia.
• Solcova, I., and Tomanek, P.. (1994). Daily stress coping strategies: An effect of Hardiness // Studia Psychologica, 1994, v36 (n5), 390-392.
• Wethington E., Kessler R. C. (1991). Situations and processes of coping // The social context of coping. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 13-29.
• Williams, Paula G., Wiebe, Deborah J., and Smith, Timothy W. (1992). Coping processes as mediators of the relationship between Hardiness and health // Journal of Behavioral Medicine (English) Russian, Jun, v15 (n3): 237-255.

Coping theory

The theory of coping, as a question about a person’s interaction with problems in life, appeared in psychological science in the second half of the 20th century. And the very concept of “coping” (from the English “to cope” - to cope, cope) was introduced by the famous American psychologist Abraham Maslow.

Coping is usually understood as a person’s constantly changing behavioral and cognitive attempts to cope with special internal or external demands that are assessed as tension or exceed the individual’s ability to overcome them. In simpler terms, coping is a form of behavior that reflects a person’s readiness to solve life’s problems; behavior that is aimed at adapting to circumstances and which implies an already formed ability to use specific means to cope with stress. Choosing active actions increases the likelihood of a person eliminating the impact of sources of stress on his personality.

The details of this skill are intertwined with self-concept, empathy, environmental conditions, and locus of control. According to Abraham Maslow, coping behavior is the opposite of expressive behavior.

Selection of adaptation strategies

Some studies have shown that different personality traits are associated with certain coping strategies. Thus, insecure and anxious people prefer avoiding and distancing techniques of psychological defense. Choleric people choose aggressive and risky methods of overcoming difficulties. Accordingly, the specialist needs to focus on the patient’s capabilities. Also, sometimes it is necessary to replace an unstable protection technique with another method. For example, if a person reacts aggressively to any stimuli.

The most universal and simple adaptation methods are positive reappraisal, planning and self-control. These techniques can be taught to most patients. It is often recommended to combine these coping techniques with counterproductive techniques such as distraction and distancing. In this case, a person will be able to simultaneously distract himself from unpleasant experiences and find a way to solve the problem in a comfortable environment. It is important not to impose complex types of coping on patients with unstable mental health.

Problem Resolution

Problem solving can also include avoiding problems and seeking social support. Coping behavior here is implemented through the use of strategies that take as a basis the resources of the individual and the environment. One of the most important environmental resources is social support, and personal ones include positive self-esteem, an optimistic worldview, the potential for empathy, an internal locus of control, the ability for interpersonal interaction and some other psychological structures.

When a source of stress affects a person, a primary assessment occurs, based on which the type of situation is determined - favorable or threatening. From this moment, individual protection mechanisms begin to form. The processes that characterize a person’s coping with an unfavorable situation are part of the emotional reactions on which emotional stability depends. They are aimed at removing, eliminating or reducing the current source of stress, which at this stage is assessed secondarily. The result of the secondary assessment is that the person chooses one of three further behavioral strategies.

Classification

Experts have studied more than four hundred techniques for suppressing the effects of stress. The approach to classifying this phenomenon may vary. Some psychologists prefer to separate coping strategies that focus on ways to solve a problem and adaptation mechanisms that are associated exclusively with the emotional state. Others share direct coping strategies and types of avoidant behavior. At the same time, there is a generally accepted classification that includes well-studied techniques.

Main types of coping strategies:

1. Active search for ways to overcome difficulties associated with analytical thinking. This is a productive type of coping strategy that allows an individual to calmly solve the problem that has arisen and not succumb to negative emotions. Voluntary and involuntary methods of protecting the psyche are used.
2. A method of confrontation that involves an aggressive and risky solution to a problem. The role of a defensive reaction is self-confidence.
3. Method of accepting responsibility: the individual understands that only he can solve the problem that has arisen.
4. Avoidance behavior is a maladaptive coping strategy that involves distancing oneself from any difficulty.
5. Self-control is the suppression of experiences that prevent you from finding a way to solve a problem.
6. Positive reappraisal. Identifying the positive aspects of the situation and thus changing the emotional perception of the difficulty.
7. Receiving help from society. A coping strategy may consist of communication that helps to speak out and receive psychological support.

It is important to determine the optimal defensive reaction in a particular situation. Many types of psychotherapy are aimed at identifying ways to deal with stress and selecting more effective techniques.

Examples of defensive reactions

For each type of coping strategy, characteristic examples can be given that demonstrate the essence of the defensive reaction:

• The child was bullied by high school students. The student’s actions began to be ridiculed. Avoidance behavior has developed, in which the individual avoids companies and prefers to spend time alone.
• A lonely man heard a loud noise in the kitchen at night. A brief feeling of fear gave way to aggression: he took a heavy object and headed to the kitchen, ready to defend his life and his property. Another coping strategy in such a situation may be to try to hide.
• The applicant received the exam results and realized that she would not be able to enter the university. The girl goes to visit her friend and tells her about the situation in order to receive psychological support.

It should be borne in mind that the reaction to stress largely depends on gender and upbringing. Gender determines some behavioral stereotypes in stressful situations.

Coping

Coping occurs, as a rule, without the participation of the emotional component, but only in the case when the threat to a person is not assessed by him as real, for example, when he does not come into contact with objects, does not interact with people, etc.

Whatever the protective process, it will always be aimed at ridding a person of the mismatch of his motives and disunity of feelings, protecting him from receiving and realizing painful and negative emotions and eliminating tension and anxiety.

Maximum protection, which gives the greatest result, at the same time is only a tiny fraction of what coping behavior is generally capable of. Effective use of coping strategies can increase a person’s ability to adapt, but only when coping strategies are applied consciously, actively and depending on the specific situation.

Types of psychological defense

Coping and psychological defense are mechanisms that allow the individual to adapt to changing external situations that act as stimuli.

These mechanisms are similar to each other, but have certain differences

:

• Coping occurs in a person’s mind; he can control behavior and change tactics; and psychological defense arises in the unconscious and it is impossible to fully control it.
• Psychological protection is aimed only at reducing psycho-emotional stress, and coping allows you to build effective relationships.
• Coping unfolds gradually over a certain period of time; and psychological defense occurs at lightning speed, while a distortion of reality is observed.
• Coping presupposes the presence of certain resources inherent in it, and psychological defense indicates a lack of resources and flexibility of consciousness.

Just like coping, psychological defense can be presented in various forms.

:

• Repression
  : a person forgets a situation that caused him discomfort. However, such a mechanism is not always reliable, since memories can return again. And to effectively forget, the brain spends a huge amount of resources.
• Projection
  : This is a mechanism in which one's own thoughts and desires are unconsciously attributed to other people; this allows you to relieve yourself of responsibility for actions that seem “wrong.” For example, strong jealousy may be a consequence of the desire to cheat on your wife.
• Introjection
  : this is the indiscriminate appropriation of other people's thoughts, norms, rules to oneself, regardless of one's own desires. In childhood, introjection is a normal mechanism, since all education and training are based on it (it is known that children perceive all information about the world uncritically); but in adulthood it can lead to the inability to have one’s own opinion, feel and think independently; a person turns into some kind of biorobot.
• Merger
  : in this behavior, the boundary between one’s own and another personality disappears, leaving one all-encompassing “we”. This mechanism manifests itself positively in the relationship between a very young child and his mother, since it allows the child to survive in the first years of his existence. But in adults, fusion gives rise to the disappearance of the ability to feel, relationships are deprived of passion.
• Rationalization
  : this mechanism encourages you to look for the causes of unpleasant situations not in yourself, but in some external circumstances. For example, a person, having failed to get a job that interests him, tries to convince himself and others that he himself did not particularly want to get it, since the work is supposedly tedious and uninteresting. Rationalization often manifests itself as devaluation.
• Denial
  : This is a mechanism that manifests itself as an attempt to deny obvious facts. Denial is a complete rejection of unpleasant information. This behavior is reminiscent of the actions of a small child who thinks that if he closes his eyes and does not look at the bee, it will disappear and will not sting him. Naturally, such actions do not make the problem disappear, and sooner or later the presence of the problem has to be recognized (although often by that time it has already had its final impact on the person).
• Regression
  : in this case, a person adapts to a difficult situation by returning to forms of behavior familiar from childhood - such as crying, whims, emotional requests, etc. A person learns on an unconscious level that such behavior guarantees a way out of a difficult situation, since it really worked in childhood : after all, his parents decided almost everything for him. However, in adulthood, regression is usually an indicator of immaturity, mental weakness, and inability to find a successful strategy to solve a problem.
• Sublimation
  : a mechanism in which, in an attempt to forget a traumatic situation, a person switches to some other activity that is socially acceptable; most often it is creativity and sports. Sublimation is a productive defense mechanism because it has given society many great works of art and sporting achievements.
• Reactive formation
  : in this case, consciousness protects a person from unpleasant impulses, producing opposite impulses, and often in an exaggerated form. For example, a person believes that it is unacceptable to even lightly spank children for pranks, and those parents who do this should be immediately brought to justice (or shot).

Criterion for success or failure

A coping strategy, based on the third criterion, can be successful - use constructive behavior to overcome a stressful situation, or unsuccessful - use unconstructive behavior that does not allow one to overcome a stressful situation.

Any coping strategy that a person uses can be assessed based on the above criteria, even for the simple reason that a person who finds himself in a stressful situation can use either one or several coping strategies at once.

Based on all this, we can assume that there is a direct relationship between those personality patterns through which people form their attitude towards the difficulties and problems that arise in life, and which coping strategy they choose. And in order to understand which coping strategy is best for you personally, you need to know yourself as best as possible and understand your reactions to certain events happening in life.

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Key words:1Psychoregulation

Resource approach

As stated above, each person has a set of certain resources that help control the situation, feelings, and emotions. With their help, you can maintain mental and physical health even in the most difficult, one might say, critical situations.

These resources are internal and external. The first include innate abilities, as well as skills and abilities that were acquired as they grew older. External - tools for dealing with stress from the environment, moral and emotional support from loved ones.

Each psychologist has his own opinion about resources. S, Selingman believed that the most important thing to combat stress is optimism. Ah, Bandura was banking on self-efficacy. For others, resilience is considered the most important indicator. Be that as it may, all these qualities influence the formation of coping strategies as much as changing circumstances.

If material and social resources were lacking in childhood, the repertoire of strategies in the future will be small. A person can even consciously narrow their spectrum. A good example: reluctance to interact with other people. Because of this, not only the circle of contacts decreases, but also the resources of the environment become smaller.

Self-change

Finally, one of the most important ways of coping is reassessment of values, as well as self-change. The circumstances in which a person must overcome conflict are seen as a source of personal growth, an opportunity to gain experience and change for the better.

Self-perception may change in such a person towards the idea of ​​himself as a confident and strong person. Thus, the crisis acts as a basis for changing the system of worldviews and values, an opportunity to join new philosophical or religious views. That is why any, even the most unsuccessful experience can have a positive aspect - if it serves as the basis for positive personal transformations.

Basic definitions

Coping behavior is the actions performed by a person aimed at overcoming stress. This term includes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral methods. They are used to cope with the demands of everyday life. Coping behavior is also emotion management and stress management. This category includes all strategies aimed at self-regulation of behavior.