The existing stress inoculation studies could not explained specifically a true character of mediated variables which decreased a stress because decrease of stress through stress inoculation was explained with the concept of causing motive to develop ...
The existing stress inoculation studies could not explained specifically a true character of mediated variables which decreased a stress because decrease of stress through stress inoculation was explained with the concept of causing motive to develop a new skill or psychological preparation on coming the stress situation. In this study, set the cognitive structure about stress stimulus as a medicated variable that explains the reduction of stress and applied the method of attitude inoculation to real stress situation. In preceding studies, it was discovered that resistance to attitude persuasion results from the change of cognitive structures, that is change, from bipolarity to duality structure. By the way, cognitive structure changing bipolar into dualistic meant that one looked at a attitude object not only a perspective of hygenic value but jilbak value and changed a perspective toward a attitude object.
Therefore, this study hypothesized that the change of perspective to stress stimulus caused stress reduction. The situation of having an injection was selected as a stress situation and primary school students were chosen as study subjects. Because most of students look at the situation of having an injection only on pain perspective, like 'painful-not painful', they became pain oriented group. But one who look at the situation with health perspective, like 'be sick-not be sick', they became health oriented group, accordingly their stress will decrease. Based on this assumption, the hypotheses of this study were set as follows.
Hypothesis 1. Health oriented group will feel less stress than pain oriented group, just before having an injection.
Hypothesis 2. Health oriented group will decrease more avoidance motive and increase more approach motive than pain oriented group, just before having an injection.
Hypothesis 3. Health oriented group will response less evaluative than pain oriented group about having an injection.
To test above hypotheses, experiment 1 and 2 were progressed. In experiment 1, pain oriented group and health oriented group were divided to examine hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 and the difference of stress, approach motive, avoidance motive, avoidance motive according to each group was analyzed. The results supported above two hypotheses, that is, health oriented group felt less stress than pain oriented group and the avoidance motive was decreased, whereas approach motive was increased.
In experiment 2, it was tested whether health oriented group and pain oriented group were created through the inoculation treatment and support treatment, next, was inspected whether the results of hypothesis 1 and 2 that revealed in experiment 1 were supported, last hypothesis 2 was tested.
The results supported above three hypotheses, that is, health oriented group was created through the inoculation treatment and pain oriented group was created through the supportive treatment. As the inoculation treatment group felt less stress than supportive treatment group and avoidance motive was decreased whereas approach motive was increased, hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2 of experiment 1 were supported. Lastly, It was revealed that inoculation treatment group responsed less evaluative than supportive treatment group about injection stimulus, the thpothesis 3 was supported.
The suggestions of this study are as follows.
1. The method of attitude inoculation treatment can be applied to stress situation.
2. The stress is decreased through the change of perspective toward stress stimulus.
3. The change of perspective toward stress stimulus changes a motivational property and decreases the evaluative response of people who has stress.
The significance and limitation of this study was discussed lately.