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Human Relations for Career & Personal Success, 11e (DuBrin)
Chapter 17 Managing Stress and Personal Problems
1) Stress is a(n) ________.
A) external force acting on the individual
B) internal reaction to a force
C) internal force acting on the individual
2) Charlotte opens the trunk to her car, and sees a large rattle snake. Which of Charlotte’s
behaviors would not suggest that she is not experiencing the fight-or-flight response?
A) She slams the door shut, screams, and calls 911.
B) She grabs the rattle snake by the throat and throws it to the ground.
C) She jumps three feet, and starts running at high speed.
D) She closes the trunk, then sends a text to her best friend about the incident.
3) A positive byproduct of experiencing considerable stress is that you are better able to ward off
4) One of your classmates taking this test right now, finds it so overwhelming that he runs out of
the room to calm down. He is experiencing the fight-or-flight response.
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5) Todd, a sales representative, is facing the challenge stressor of trying to close a sale on a
major account. During the meeting with the customer, Todd is therefore likely to ________.
A) be strongly motivated and perform well
B) be poorly motivated out of fear, and perform poorly
C) develop severe emotional symptoms of stress
6) Tanya, a sales representative, is facing the hindrance stressor of trying to resolve a problem
with an angry, hostile customer. During the meeting with the customer, Tanya is therefore likely
to ________.
A) be strongly motivated and perform well
B) be poorly motivated and perform poorly
C) develop symptoms of burnout
D) not take the customer’s dissatisfaction too seriously
7) You know that you are suffering from burnout when you are ________.
A) exhausted from facing the same stressors for a long time
B) a victim of workplace violence
C) deal with the fight-or-flight response
D) think it is time for a career change
8) Baxter, a health and fitness club manager, is experiencing moderate stress today that places
him in the optimal performance zone. As a result, Baxter will probably ________.
A) experience a mild degree of burnout
B) switch quickly to Type A behavior
C) become agitated and forgetful
D) think more clearly today about work problems
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9) Lucy faces the challenge stressor of having to redesign her company website within ten days,
so she is likely to be highly motivated and perform well.
10) Pablo faces the hindrance stressors of backstabbing, a boss who goes ballistic, and being
11) In general, job creativity tends to be higher under conditions of moderate or low stress.
12) One year ago Chantal, a systems administrator, narrowly escaped a house fire. While
watching her house burn from the street outside her house, she was mugged. The next day,
Chantal learned that her position had been outsourced to Nigeria. Chantal frequently has
flashbacks about those horrible days, suggesting that she is suffering from PTSD.
13) Being conscientious and striving for perfection are helpful preventive tactics against burnout.
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14) The stressor of a significant life change implies that ________.
A) getting old is a major stressor for most people
B) having to cope with major change creates stress
C) pleasant changes rarely create stress
15) One of the ways in which low self-esteem contributes to experiencing stress is that people
with low self-esteem ________.
A) doubt their ability to work out of problems
B) actively seek out stressful situations
C) perceive most stressors to be of the challenge type
D) usually suffer from damaged immune systems
16) Everyday annoyances ________.
A) generally elevate job performance
B) have the highest life-change unit value
C) may be irritating but do not create much stress
D) often have a major impact on health
17) A person with Type A behavior ________.
A) is not always in a hurry
B) gets a heart attack at an early age
C) is impatient and angry
D) wants success at any price
18) Angela has negative affectivity. Faced with an ordinary problem, she is likely to ________.
A) shrug it off
B) magnify it and create stress for herself
C) count to ten backwards
19) According to a national survey, the major stressor among American adults is frustrations
associated with commuting.
20) One reason that low self-esteem makes a person more stress prone is that the person is
21) The features of the Type A behavior pattern closely associated with coronary heart disease
are hostility, anger, cynicism, and suspiciousness.
22) People with an internal locus of control are highly susceptible to stress.
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23) Martha experiences negative affectivity so she is more likely to look for than solve problems.
24) On her second day in her new position as cost estimator, Melissa is assigned a cubicle, and
then told by her manager, “Enjoy your new job. I’ll get back to you in a few days with an
assignment.” Melissa is likely to experience ________.
A) job burnout
B) stress stemming from an internal locus of control
C) role overload stress
D) role underload stress
25) Lily, a vegetarian, is the produce buyer at a supermarket chain. Top management informs
Lily that she will now become the meat, poultry and fish buyer. Which cause of stress is Lily
likely to experience?
A) Role conflict
B) Role ambiguity
C) Role underload
D) Role overload
26) Gil keyboards night and day, and slowly develops a terrible pain in both wrists because his
wrist tendons have swelled, resulting in a pinching of the median nerve. Gil visits the company
medical office, and the nurse practitioner is most likely to inform him that he is suffering from
________.
A) the emotional instability syndrome
B) challenging stressors
C) carpal tunnel syndrome
D) burnout
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27) Megan is the most likely to suffer from emotional labor when she has to ________.
A) work hard, even on Monday
B) express her anger frequently throughout the day
C) sell customers products or services they really do not want
D) smile frequently at customers who give her a hard time
28) Ben works as an accountant at the headquarters of a fast-food chain. His boss regularly
insults him with such comments as, “You are the dumbest accountant I ever met,” and “You
could easily be replaced with software.” Ben will most likely experience ________.
A) psychological distress
B) Type A behavior
C) emotional labor
29) Incivility by coworkers tends to ________.
A) make work exciting and fun for most workers
B) be perceived as a challenge stressor by most workers
C) have stress-related negative consequences
D) create stress mostly for people with negative affectivity
30) Duff works in a setting with considerable noise pollution. As a result, he might very well
suffer from high blood pressure and maybe a heart attack.
31) Emergency nurse Candace has to take care of a convicted serial killer who has been brought
into the emergency room. Her professional role requires that she smiles and give reassurance as
she tends to the wounded killer. Candace will most likely experience emotional labor.
32) Research suggests that emotional labor can sometimes be avoided if the worker learns to
recognize the emotions of a customer, client, or patient.
33) Research suggests that abusive supervision apparently is a challenge stressor because
performance usually increases when workers are abused by their supervisor.
34) Cognitive-behavioral interventions help you deal with stress by ________.
A) thinking constructively about a problem
B) learning to apply relaxation techniques while on the job
C) getting you to overcome bad food habits
D) getting you to exercise properly
35) Carla, an optics technician working at a large company, is stressed out because she is in
heavy debt, drinks beer excessively, and smokes one pack of cigarettes per day. Which type of
organizational support would be best for Carly?
A) Encouragement from her supervisor
B) Emergency loan program
C) Urgent care (First Aid) facility
D) Employee assistance program
36) The relaxation response is designed to counteract ________.
A) a slow respiration rate
B) visualization
C) the fight-or-flight response
D) rehearsing a stressful situation
37) The stress reduction technique of meditation requires that the person ________.
A) attain a deep state of mental and physical calmness
B) engage in intense physical exercise
C) inhale and exhale deeply
D) float in heavily salted water
38) Cognitive-behavioral interventions are aimed at reducing stress by helping you become so
involved in physical activity that you become too fatigued to think about personal problems.
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39) Apparently talking to others to reduce stress has a scientific basis. Engaging socially with
40) Company wellness programs are designed to keep workers healthy, and they also include
41) Meditation is a favorite relaxation technique of hyperactive people because mediation can be
readily practiced while talking on a cell phone or watching television.
42) Heavy equipment operator Donna engages in mindfulness when she tells the other workers to
mind where they or going, or risk getting hit by her equipment.
43) Yoga is both a physical exercise and a way of developing mental attitudes that calm the body
and the mind.
44) An important link between diet and stress is that certain foods, such as donuts and pastries
have so much sugar that they often enhance stress.
45) A major element of self-defeating behavior is that the person ________.
A) suffers a defeat himself or herself
B) works against his or her own self-interest
C) has low self-confidence and low self-esteem
D) works hard but is defeated by environmental forces
46) A key recommendation for overcoming self-defeating behavior is to ________.
A) study the defeats of other people
B) solicit feedback on one’s actions
C) criticize others rather than oneself
D) learn a new life script each month
47) A major way of benefiting from criticism is to ________.
A) be quite selective about listening to criticism
B) demand documentation from the criticizer
C) accept criticism only from people with winner scripts
D) stand outside oneself to observe the criticism
48) In terms of developing resilience, the purpose of conducting a failure analysis is to
________.
A) analyze why the failure took place
B) figure out who to blame for one’s failure
C) identify the leading stressors in the situation
49) An effective way of benefiting from criticism is to act as a detached observer looking for
useful information.
50) Sally successfully completes a course in resilience training, so she now knows how to steel
herself against difficult situations instead of becoming overly stressed.