Stress causes negative emotions – are you NUTS?

Stress has been defined in many ways – one conceptualization that I find powerful and useful is the NUTS framework developed by Dr. Sonia Lupien. As per it, stress results when one or more of the following four ingredients are present in a situation. NOVELTY Something new you have not experienced before UNPREDICTABILITY Something you had no way of knowing it would occur THREAT TO THE EGO Your competence as a person is called into question SENSE OF CONTROL You feel you have little or no control over the situation English: Emotions Q-sort (Photo credit: Wikipedia) These conditions need not be aversive for the situation or event to feel stressful. For example, a person who is recently promoted may feel stress because of the new responsibilities that are novel and maybe he has no real option of declining the promotion, so he has little control too in the matter. Or consider the birth of a new born. So both positive and negative life events may lead to stress and maybe its more about how you are appraising stressful event. If you are appraising a Novel event as a disruption of schedule/ comfort you will probably feel disgust; if you are appraising the same event as an opportunity to explore new stuff, you will most probably feel surprise / wonder. Its also conceivable that those high in the personality trait of Openness to experience may have more positive appraisals. Similarly, an unpredictable situation may result in sadness if the unpredictability of rewards/ ...
Source: The Mouse Trap - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: emotion Agreeableness appraisal emotions Extraversion and introversion Openness to experience Stress Source Type: podcasts