The Article by Hobfoll (2014), Essay Example

The article by Hobfoll (2014) discusses how people react to stress and stressors in their lives. In addition, examining the psychological factors of how resilient people are to social stressors, technology stressors and individual stressors. The author points out that people adapt to social and environmental changes by using self-psychology as a tool for human response to stress. The human being has the ability to either respond in negative fashion to the toxic stressors or find a positive psychological peace of mind that results in well-being. The health of an individuals well-being is underestimated because humans’ psychological health is not challenge until a stressor exposes the weak mental link(Hobfoll,2014). The reaction to good stress and toxic stressor is triggered when the mental state of a person can react either negatively or positive depending on their state of mind.

The resource model indicates that human beings have a set of personal management tools that responded to an issue with flight or fight mechanism to either relieve the stress, avoid the stress or let the stress consumed and damage their state of well-being.

According to Hobfoll (2014) on the tools that people can use accomplish personal goals and succeed when experiencing stress is self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is one personal beliefs about being capable of planning and executing a plan of action to address or resolve certain personal situations. In layman terms, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief his own ability to succeed in any situation. The self-efficacy methods may appear to be an easy task because everyone can identify what they want in life and what they want to eliminate to become successful. However, making the plan and executing the positive results is not always guaranteed. The ability of a person who is perceived as cocky or overbearing has the perfect internal controls to overcome any stressful situation. Consequently, the confidence is the key to their personal health and assist with keeping their well-being intact.

The psychological thought pattern that believes that the goal can be accomplished allowing the mind and body to overcome the stressor or barrier. The author believes that an individual can have that internal controls that react to your belief in self under any circumstances and how you feel about yourself can determine whether you are successful. The power of positive thinking allows the individual to use their self-efficacy skills to recovery from personal disappointment, tragedy and set-backs.

The author discusses another personal resource call personality hardiness which is the belief in self and the way we see and react to the environment around us. A person that has the characteristics of a person of hardiness may be a CEO who has control over their lives and are goal oriented seeking positive outcomes. The CEO welcomes daily stressors because it allows them to use their personality hardiness skills to accept the stress but let their personal positive physiological state produce positive outcomes.

Hobfoll (2014) suggests that individuals that have positions that demand the commitment to goals and successful outcomes do not have health problems. The psychological hardiness is referred to as cognitive hardiness or personality hardiness is characterized by one of three attitudes such as commitment, challenge and control(Hobfoll,2014). These resource characteristics help the individual with the courage and motivation to conquer stressful situations and continue personal growth. The three core dimensions of commitment, challenge and control helps with cognitive strength, emotional positive responses and improved behavioral qualities. The mastery of personal hardiness has successful help individuals in stressful jobs acclimated and improve their mental health and well-being using the core dimensions to overcome any potential toxic stressors.