About the lecture

In this lecture, we explore individual differences in people’s responses to stressful events, focusing in particular on: (i) Kobasa’s 1979 concept of hardiness, split into three key attitudes: commitment, control, and challenge; (ii) one way of understanding hardiness being a sensitiveness to the changeability of events, leading to finding potential change or disruption less threatening and stressful; (iii) another key factor in the success of hardy people at dealing with stress being linked to their active coping strategies, utilising task-focused coping rather than disengagement or avoidant strategies; (iv) the ‘pop psychology’ phenomenon of Type A and B personalities (as well as the lesser researched Type C), focusing on conceptualising these as a continuum rather than explicit ‘types’ and understanding the impact of each on health; (v) Shelley Taylor’s ‘tend and befriend’ hypothesis, suggesting a different reaction from ‘fight or flight’ in women.

About the lecturer

Dr Livia Tomova is a research associate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, with an interest in how stress, loneliness and social isolation affect the brain and mind. Dr Tomova’s current research focuses on biological markers indicating vulnerability to the effects of isolation and loneliness in adolescents and young adults. Some of Dr Tomova’s recent publications include 'The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health' (2020) and 'Acute stress alters neural patterns of value representation for others' (2020).