Hardiness (psychology)

Psychological hardiness, alternatively referred to as personality hardiness or cognitive hardiness in the literature, is a personality style first introduced by Suzanne C. Kobasa in 1979. Kobasa described a pattern of personality characteristics that distinguished managers and executives who remained healthy under life stress, as compared to those who developed health problems. In the following years, the concept of hardiness was further elaborated in a book and a series of research reports by Salvatore Maddi, Kobasa and their graduate students at the University of Chicago. In early research on hardiness, it was usually defined as a personality structure that functions as a resistance resource in encounters with stressful conditions. The personality structure is composed of the three related general dispositions: commitment a tendency to involve oneself in activities in life and to have a genuine interest in and curiosity about the surrounding world (activities, things, other people) control a tendency to believe and act as if one can influence the events taking place around oneself through one’s own efforts challenge the belief that change, rather than stability, is the normal mode of life and constitutes motivating opportunities for personal growth rather than threats to security Maddi characterized hardiness as a combination of three attitudes (commitment, control, and challenge) that provide the courage and motivation needed to turn stressful circumstances from potential calamities into opportunities for personal growth. P.T. Bartone considers hardiness as something more global than mere attitudes. He conceives of hardiness as a broad personality style or generalized mode of functioning that includes cognitive, emotional, and behavioural qualities. This style of functioning affects how one views oneself and interacts with the world around. Early conceptualizations of hardiness are evident in Maddi's work, most notably in his descriptions of the ideal identity and premorbid personality.