450 



PSYCHOLOGY OF STRESS 



adapted to it, so that they ceased to be 

 bothered as they were at first. In an ex- 

 periment with human subjects (35, 36), one 

 group had mastery over a strong electric 

 shock which was used to produce fear and 

 anxiety, in the sense that they both knew 

 when it was coming and controlled its ad- 

 ministration. The other group lacked such 

 cognitive structure and control. All other 

 aspects of the situation were the same for 

 both groups. In this study, the former sub- 

 jects showed less inner physiological (auto- 

 nomic) arousal, were less disturbed by the 

 shocks, were less anxious in anticipation of 

 the shocks, and adapted to them more easily. 

 In addition, various overt responses were 

 disrupted less for these subjects, and in retro- 

 spect they showed less cognitive distortion 

 in their description of various technical as- 

 pects of the situation. 



Motivational Patterns and Emotional Stress 



Generally speaking, motivation initiates, 

 directs, and sustains an individual's behav- 

 ior, and is a critical factor in his adjustment 

 to emotional stress (7). If a person is re- 

 quired to perform a certain task, it is impor- 

 tant to know both whether his motivations 

 for doing it are strong and enduring. It is 

 also important to know the quality or nature 

 of his motivational patterns. For example, 

 one may be motivated to carry out his 

 assigned task, but underneath may also be 

 driven to do the opposite (e.g., be aggressive 

 against the authority figure, or punish him- 

 seK), so that he is torn in conflict, ambiva- 

 lent, and hence inefficient and undependable 

 in the stress-producing situation. 



A series of motivations found to go hand 

 in hand with emotional stability and de- 

 pendability for hazardous duty (68) include 

 the following: sociocentric motives, such as 

 the desire to contribute to the welfare of the 

 group or society, or to help achieve a com- 

 monly shared goal, and motivations based 

 on reahstic confidence in one's ability and 

 training to do the work involved. Unde- 

 sirable motivations, found in unstable in- 



dividuals, are egocentric and stem from the 

 desire to escape from something distasteful 

 (as from work, home or personal problems), 

 for superficial status motives (financial pres- 

 tige), or from attempts to gain seK-respect 

 through short-cuts (e.g., to ease a guilty 

 conscience). 



Emotional stress is likely to result if the 

 individual's motivations are inappropriate, 

 inadequate, or in confhct, in terms of the 

 demands and gratifications of a particular 

 situation. In such cases, the individual does 

 not feel satisfied in his work; he feels frus- 

 trated and unhappy, and is basically unwill- 

 ing and unable to do his part in the face of 

 stress. 



Inappropriate motives are often charac- 

 terized by being too narrow or specific to 

 cover the range of activities that must be 

 engaged in. In submarine warfare, if the 

 men are motivated only to sink enemy ship- 

 ping, they will have a feeling of success when 

 this is accomplished; if they fail to do so, 

 they will feel disgruntled, demoralized, and 

 personally inadequate. However, under the 

 same objective conditions, the feeling of suc- 

 cess could be achieved, either by broadening 

 and making more flexible the dominant mo- 

 tivational patterns, or changing the whole 

 outlook, or adding substitute goals (cf. 45). 

 Substitute behavior is more effective when 

 similar goals (rather than similar acts) are 

 involved (15). Futhermore, if one has iden- 

 tified with other individuals or groups, he 

 may gain basic satisfactions when they 

 achieve the desired goal (46). Thus, if dur- 

 ing training or briefing, men were shown 

 motion pictures of an effective air-sea rescue, 

 or really became convinced of the importance 

 of reconnaissance work, and if good rapport 

 existed between the various branches of the 

 service, the sense of drudgery and futility 

 would not weigh so heavily on men engaged 

 in this type of duty. Rather, such work 

 would become both important and satisfying. 



Monotonous, repetitious, routine work 

 which at the same time requires close atten- 

 tion is frequently marked by inadequate 



