Page 192 - Petelin, Ana, Nejc Šarabon, Boštjan Žvanut, eds. 2017. Zdravje delovno aktivne populacije ▪︎ Health of the Working-Age Population. Proceedings. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 192
avje delovno aktivne populacije | health of the working-age population 190 Theoretical Framework
Coping with stress is an everyday thing, playing important role in the physical
and psychological well-being of a person (Carver, Scheier in Weintraub 1989).
Stress is defined as physical response to life situations, as a reaction to physical
threats of environment. It is the inner, conditioned reaction of individual to the
perceived external pressures, manifested in the form of fight or flight. The indi-
vidual’s choice of stress handling strategy depends on his dealing with stressful
situations and its impact on his health (van Heck in de Ridder 2001).
Emotions play key role in individual’s life, representing a significant part
in the diversity of everyday life: in the experience of self, mutual relations,
workplace, creative processes, sports, etc. (Cvetek 2014, 5). Theories of lifelong
emotional development are a relative novelty in the field of psychology of emo-
tions. So far two theories of functional emotional development are known. The
first theory is an internalized model of emotional development and emotional
regulation by Holodynski and Fridlmeier, focusing mostly on the management
of emotions competence. The second theory is Greenspan’s theory of function-
al emotional development, which is somewhat wider and related to the devel-
opment of self, consciousness and thinking. Greenspan promoted the idea of
the higher mental competences (logical thinking and the use of symbols) basi-
cally resulting from the transformation of affect, meaning that development of
these competences is in fact based on the prior emotional development (Cvet-
ek 2014, 95). According to Greenspan’s theory sequence of periods in emotional
development cannot be skipped, every developmental competence comprising
all the prior ones (Greenspan 1989). If a person fails to develop earlier emotion-
al competences not all is lost for him yet; it just means this person has to make a
conscious effort of returning to the lower developmental grade. Only when the
individual manages to develop the lacking comptence can he develop or perfect
the following one. According to Greenspan (Cvetek 2014, 95 - 167), the compe-
tences are: emotional steadiness and interest in the world, intimate connect-
edness to others, mutual deliberate exchange, mutual social problem solving,
use of symbolic imagery, emotional logical thinking, comparative emotion-
al thinking, differentiation of emotional nuances, reflective emotional think-
ing, consideration of the unconscious, contemplating one’s future, inner emo-
tional autonomy, intimate commitment, responsible care for other people and
emotional parenthood, care for the wider social community, universal love and
wisdom (Carver, Scheier in Weintraub 1989).
The Present Study
The purpose of our research study was to ascertain the impact of emotional
competences upon individual’s stress coping strategies. We posed the follow-
ing research question: » How dimensions of emotional competences correlate
with the utilisation of coping strategies?
Coping with stress is an everyday thing, playing important role in the physical
and psychological well-being of a person (Carver, Scheier in Weintraub 1989).
Stress is defined as physical response to life situations, as a reaction to physical
threats of environment. It is the inner, conditioned reaction of individual to the
perceived external pressures, manifested in the form of fight or flight. The indi-
vidual’s choice of stress handling strategy depends on his dealing with stressful
situations and its impact on his health (van Heck in de Ridder 2001).
Emotions play key role in individual’s life, representing a significant part
in the diversity of everyday life: in the experience of self, mutual relations,
workplace, creative processes, sports, etc. (Cvetek 2014, 5). Theories of lifelong
emotional development are a relative novelty in the field of psychology of emo-
tions. So far two theories of functional emotional development are known. The
first theory is an internalized model of emotional development and emotional
regulation by Holodynski and Fridlmeier, focusing mostly on the management
of emotions competence. The second theory is Greenspan’s theory of function-
al emotional development, which is somewhat wider and related to the devel-
opment of self, consciousness and thinking. Greenspan promoted the idea of
the higher mental competences (logical thinking and the use of symbols) basi-
cally resulting from the transformation of affect, meaning that development of
these competences is in fact based on the prior emotional development (Cvet-
ek 2014, 95). According to Greenspan’s theory sequence of periods in emotional
development cannot be skipped, every developmental competence comprising
all the prior ones (Greenspan 1989). If a person fails to develop earlier emotion-
al competences not all is lost for him yet; it just means this person has to make a
conscious effort of returning to the lower developmental grade. Only when the
individual manages to develop the lacking comptence can he develop or perfect
the following one. According to Greenspan (Cvetek 2014, 95 - 167), the compe-
tences are: emotional steadiness and interest in the world, intimate connect-
edness to others, mutual deliberate exchange, mutual social problem solving,
use of symbolic imagery, emotional logical thinking, comparative emotion-
al thinking, differentiation of emotional nuances, reflective emotional think-
ing, consideration of the unconscious, contemplating one’s future, inner emo-
tional autonomy, intimate commitment, responsible care for other people and
emotional parenthood, care for the wider social community, universal love and
wisdom (Carver, Scheier in Weintraub 1989).
The Present Study
The purpose of our research study was to ascertain the impact of emotional
competences upon individual’s stress coping strategies. We posed the follow-
ing research question: » How dimensions of emotional competences correlate
with the utilisation of coping strategies?
