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The Roots of Psychological Stress: Do you know how COR theory reveals the importance of resources?
In today's fast-paced life, stress seems to have become the norm for many people. And what is the source of this psychological pressure? According to the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), we understand that psychological stress largely stems from people's desire and protection of resources. This theory was first proposed by Stevan E. Hobfoll in 1989 to expand the theoretical framework of stress. Its core concept is the protection and pursuit of resources.
Hobfer pointed out that psychological stress occurs in three situations: the threat of resource loss, the actual net loss of resources, and the failure to obtain new resources after consuming resources or making significant efforts.
According to COR theory, resources cover various elements that individuals value, including physical objects, status and conditions. When these resources are lost, individuals turn to varying degrees of stress, which further affects behavior and mental health.
History of Stress Theory
Behind the formation of COR theory, there is a long history of psychological research. As early as 1932, Walter Bradford Cannon was one of the first researchers to explore the concept of stress in humans. He focused on how to deal with stress. Later, Hans Selye followed up this research in 1950 and pointed out that stress is a protective mechanism for the body. By 1982, Eliot and Astolfo argued that stress should be viewed as a stimulus rather than a reaction, a view that was recognized by some in the scientific community.
However, the core foundation of COR theory mainly comes from the constant stress model established by Joseph McGrath in 1970, which defines stress as an imbalance between environmental demands and the subject's ability to respond.
Basic principles of COR
COR theory covers two basic principles and aims to protect resources from loss. The first is the primacy principle of resource loss, which means that the loss of resources is more harmful to individuals than the gain of resources. For example, the harm of losing a salary will far outweigh the positive impact of a salary increase of the same amount.
The second principle is resource investment, which states that people will tend to invest resources to protect themselves from losses, recover from losses, and obtain more resources. According to a journal article in the Annals of Organizational Psychology, resources can include "health, happiness, family, self-esteem, and a sense of meaning in life."
Research Area
COR theory has been widely used in multiple research fields, including work/family stress, occupational burnout and general stress. Especially in the study of work/family stress, COR theory explores how resource allocation affects people's family life. Some studies show that overinvesting resources in work can lead to problems at home.
In addition, research on occupational burnout focuses on the impact of resource use on mood and finds that emotional exhaustion has the strongest association with depressive symptoms.
In terms of general stress, COR theory also explores how resource loss affects an individual's stress level. Although COR theory mainly studies occupational burnout and the work field, there is currently no integrated analysis of other stress studies.
Summary
For example, a meta-analysis by Lee and Ashforth in 1996 studied the relationship between needs and resources and found that the primacy principle of resource loss was confirmed. This research shows that individuals are more sensitive to needs than access to resources. In terms of the relationship between job control and COR, Park et al. pointed out in their 2009 integrated analysis study that there is an interrelationship between the constructs of job control and occupational burnout.
With the deepening of research on COR theory, we can't help but think, in such a resource theory, how can individuals effectively manage their own resources to reduce stress and improve quality of life?
