Rethink Stress

"In early 2010, near the height of the financial collapse, Alia Crum and Shawn Achor went into a prominent investment bank to test whether a change in mindset about stress could alter the way stress affected people.

"In the study, published in April in The Journal of Social and Psychological Sciences, 380 employees were split into three groups. One group watched a series of videos showing how stress can be enhancing, a second watched videos on how stress can be debilitating and the third watched no videos. As compared to the other two groups, the stress-is-enhancing group had a significant reduction in stress-related physical symptoms (such as headaches, backaches, fatigue) and a significant improvement in a productivity assessment, increasing from 1.9 to 2.6 on a four point scale.

"In a follow-up study, not yet published, the investigators trained 200 managers at the same investment bank on how to use their current stress to their advantage at work. The effects of the second experiment showed further improvements in work effectiveness and health outcomes."

Trainers
Accessed June 2013:


 * Shawn Achor
 * Alia Crum
 * Eric Karpinski

Criticism

 * Michael Barker, "Don't stress about stress?", Thoughts of a Leicester Socialist, June 14, 2013.

Contact
Web: http://rethinkstress.com