Princess M.

Sembran
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY REPORT SUMMARY

Positive Coping

We have seen how a variety of

emotions and behaviors can impact
health and wellness. These include
better social support, use of humor,
increased compassion, and for some
people at least, taking time out for a
good cry. It is by means of such
positive coping that wellness is
enhanced, for one of
life’s certainties is it is sometimes
challenging.

Definition of Positive Coping

Positive coping has been defined as “a

response aimed at diminishing the Importance of Daily Hassles
physical, emotional, and psychological
burden that is linked to stressful life The above definition of coping includes
events and daily hassles” (Snyder & responses to major life events as well
Dinoff, 1999, p. 5). Effective coping as to daily hassles or those minor
should reduce the burden of challenges irritations that hinder life from going
from short-term immediate stress and smoothly. An important question is
contributes to the relief of longer-term which is more detrimental to our
stress relief by building resources that wellbeing—the big and significant life
inhibit or buffer future challenges. events that must be confronted from
These resources can be physiological, time
such as better health status; to time or the smaller hassles that we
psychological, such as greater cope with regularly? Surprisingly,
subjective well-being; and social, such studies have shown that it is the
as having more intimate social support smaller, daily hassles that can be more
networks. More effective coping problematic for us (Lazarus, 2007).
programs generally take a Why so? Many significant life events,
multidimensional approach and impact such as marriage, the death of a family
many core areas that can be used for member, or the birth of one’s child not
resource building (see Synder, 1999). only occur infrequently but are also
As evidenced by an effective coping associated with socially prescribed or
skills program for youth with type 1 religious rituals, such as with weddings
diabetes, such interventions are and funerals, that help people handle
increasingly offered on the Internet the changes involved.
(Whittemore et al., 2012).

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POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY REPORT SUMMARY

It seems that daily hassles are more stressors, and if a resultant

likely to impact a person’s current interpretation is negative, it produces
mood, and persistent negative mood is or exacerbates stress. That is, the
likely to affect well-being. Therefore, interpretive meaning system
the cumulative effects of many smaller intervenes between an actual objective
stressors in a relatively short period of event and its psychological effects on a
time may be more important than the person. In practice, any good stress
impact of relatively infrequent major management program combines these
life events. This conclusion suggests two approaches.
that stress management and positive
coping need to be built into one’s daily
routine. A large-scale study by Aldwin,
Jeong, Igarashi, Choun, and Spiro
(2014) found that when older men
experienced a high level of daily
hassles, they were at increased risk for
dying early just as if they had
experienced more devastating life
events such as the death of a loved
one. In Aldwin’s view,
the actual number of one’s daily
hassles has less impact on health and
longevity than one’s perception of
them—and an ability to take hassles in Coping Styles
stride.
Lazarus and Folkman (1984) contended
that specific coping styles can be
Dimensions of Positive Coping grouped into three subtypes: 1)
attempts to change emotions
In general, positive coping strategies (emotion-ocused coping), 2) attempts
follow two approaches. The first to change the situation that caused a
focuses on the external environment, stress (problem-focused coping), and
physical health, and health behavior, 3) simple avoidance of the challenge
suggesting, for example, an increased presented by a stressor (emotional
exercise regime to enhance physical avoidance). Newer perspectives
well-being. The second approach recognize that these three styles do
focuses on psychological factors, not capture all the important ways
usually people use to adapt to challenges.
cognitive factors such as attitudes, Annette Stanton argued that emotion
beliefs, or expectations by which focused
people interpret and give meaning to coping itself should be divided into two
life events. These interpretive habits types: emotional processing and
are habitually stimulated by potential emotional expression (Stanton, Parsa,
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& Austenfeld, 2002). Similarly, event, and simply allowing feelings to

problem-focused coping has also been be present.
divided into two types: behavioral and
cognitive. A quick summary of these Another way to take on the challenge
coping styles appears as follows: of our emotions is through emotional
expression, which conveys the feelings
1. Emotion focused: Focus primarily on associated with a stressor by
the emotional reactions to the stressor. articulating them, engaging in the arts,
a) Emotional processing: or having a good cry. Studies have
Understand reaction to a stressor. found that using emotion-focused
b) Emotional expression: Express coping is an adaptive and therefore
emotions related to stress. helpful way of dealing with stressors. In
terms of positive health, it can be an
2. Problem focused: Focus primarily on effective and wise way to cope with the
the situation or cognitions related to a challenges of diseases or conditions
stressor. like chronic pain or infertility
a) Behavioral: Take action to fix a (Austenfeld & Stanton, 2004).
real-world situation.
b) Cognitive: Change thinking to fix
a problem.

3. Emotional avoidance: Avoid, ignore,

or deny the reality of either the
stressor or the emotional
consequences or both.

According to Lazarus and Folkman

(1984), emotion-focused coping is
“directed at regulating emotional
responses to problems” (p. 150). The
goal is to deal with the emotional The other major approach, problem-
reactions to a stressor. In Stanton’s focused coping, involves the use of 1)
conceptualization, approach-oriented, behavioral strategies that change a
emotion-focused coping is a movement situation or context in which stress
toward the emotions involved with the occurs or 2) cognitive
stressor, rather than one away from
them (Stanton et al., 2002). One way of strategies that alter our perceptions of
embracing the emotional components the stressor. Behavioral problem-
of stress is through emotional focused coping is exemplified by an
processing, which consists of individual in a stressful and unfulfilling
acknowledging feelings, taking time to vocation who switches careers.
discover one’s true feelings about an Cognitive problem-focused coping
requires changing one’s thinking about
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a situation through cognitive group were more likely to use problem-

reappraisal, which entails doing so in a focused strategies (American College
realistic and of Cardiology, 2017). In the
honest manner. We can change our researchers’ view, people with higher
attitudes, beliefs, or expectations levels of stress are more likely to use
about an event and diminish our inefficient coping strategies, such as
stressful reaction to it. self-blame or suppressing negative
thoughts, rather than information-
Finally, the goal can also be to forget seeking
an anxiety, eliminate a worry, or just and taking control over stress-inducing
not deal with a stressor via emotional situations.
avoidance. This response is
accomplished through defensive Of course, some situations simply
reappraisals, which consist of attempts demand one style of coping. For
to draw attention away from the more instance, if one has been laid off,
painful elements of a situation by emotion-focused coping helps with
reinterpreting it, using positive thinking emotional reactions, but behavioral
to block out negative emotions, or problem-focused coping is the only way
using selective attention. to obtain a new job. Even denial or
Of course, people often combine these avoidance can be helpful under certain
types of coping. For instance, if you restricted
consistently take your work problems circumstances. For instance, denial can
home to your spouse and the help protect one against overwhelming
discussions help you decide on a anxiety
course to change the situation, then during the early stages of a serious
you employ both emotion-focused and illness (Froese, Hackett, Cassem, &
problem-focused coping to help solve Silverberg, 1974) and can be “healthy”
the problem. under certain circumstances (Druss &
Douglas, 1988). Nevertheless, denial is
The three major styles of coping are usually a poor long-term solution to the
not equally effective for each individual anxiety associated with illness (see
or in each situation. Some people Froese et al., 1974).
prefer an emotional approach style of
coping, whereas others prefer to tackle
head-on the external context in which
stress occurs (Stanton, Kirk, Cameron,
& Danoff-Burg, 2000). One study found
that individuals who had suffered a
heart attack were more likely to use
emotion-focused strategies for dealing
with stress than those who had not
suffered a heart attack or who had
heart disease; the latter
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more interactive model—a dynamic

system that considers psychological,
physical, and spiritual factors in our
health.

Summary

This chapter opened with a discussion

of wellness, that is, the notion that
total well-being is an interaction of
physical, emotional, and spiritual
wellbeing. The fields of health
psychology and
psychoneuroimmunology were
introduced. These areas have begun to
change how scientists believe the
mind and body interact. It now appears
that psychological factors can have a
direct influence on certain physical
processes such as our immune system
responses.

Comments on Positive Coping and We next reviewed psychological factors

Health that impact health, such as positive
emotionality, social support, optimistic
Coping styles, resources, and orientation, and confidence in one’s
strategies interact in complex ways. ability to bounce back from temporary
Our appraisal of events is impacted by difficulty. Positive coping strategies
our sense of optimism, which can be often involve interpretation of the
enhanced by good physical events of our lives and the meaning we
conditioning and in turn is affected by give to them. We have noted that
a sense of control or self-efficacy that coping is personal: What coping
allows one to maintain a consistent strategy works for each person is
exercise regime. Positive emotions are determined by a unique combination of
central to the development of positive personality and situational variables.
health and even longevity. Research is
just beginning to investigate how
psychological factors interact to help
enhance health. Nonetheless, the
results so far imply that emotions are
important to our health. Furthermore,
the old Cartesian distinction between
mind and body is finally giving way to a
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