Stress and personality types
Personality and Stress | Psych Central
Your unique personality is made up of thoughts, behaviors, and emotional patterns that can affect the way you respond to stress.
Everyone experiences stress, but we all handle it a bit differently. If you’re seeking ways to better manage stress, you may wonder how personality affects a person’s response to stress.
Certain aspects of personality can cause you to react differently to stress than others.
Some traits may help you cope in a healthy way. This may include reaching out to others for support or having a positive outlook. Other personality traits lead to avoidance, which may not resolve stress’s emotional and physical symptoms.
Your main personality traits change throughout your life. So, the way you manage stress can also change over time.
Read on to find out more about the connection between personality and the stress response.
There are five main personality traits.
Your personality can include all or some of these traits. However, some may be more dominant than others.
This is known as the five-factor personality model.
- Neuroticism: emotional instability, self-consciousness
- Extraversion: seeks out excitement and social interactions
- Openness: creative, aesthetic, looks for new experiences
- Agreeableness: tends to be cooperative, trusting, gets along with others
- Conscientiousness: dutiful, competent, has a sense of purpose
These traits may, in part, determine how you respond to stress.
How does personality affect the stress response?
Your personality may inform your stress tolerance level.
For example, neuroticism has the biggest association with a negative stress response. And people with this trait may have a lower stress tolerance level.
However, just because a person can handle stress doesn’t mean they don’t experience it at all.
Experts don’t know exactly why personality influences a person’s stress response, but research offers some clues as to how:
- Environment.
Some environments, like busy workplaces with high social interaction, cause stress for some but complement the personalities of others. - Happiness and positivity. Some personality traits, like extraversion and openness, result in more happy events over the course of a lifetime, which can mitigate stressful experiences. Additionally, extraversion and openness may lead to a positive outlook on life events.
- Conscientiousness. Having this trait may provide you with the capacity to overcome daily hassles.
- Neuroticism. This trait is associated with coping strategies like withdrawal.
- Extroversion and introversion. If you’re extroverted, you may be more likely to seek social support when experiencing stress compared to an introvert.
No matter what personality traits you identify with, it’s possible to adopt healthy and effective stress-coping strategies.
Stress can affect you emotionally and physically, regardless of your personality type.
It’s a natural reaction designed to keep you safe from danger.
During stressful moments, you may experience:
- increased pulse rate
- rapid breathing
- muscle tension
- sweating
- increased oxygen use by the brain
Over time, chronic stress can lead to the following physical symptoms:
- disruption of the body’s systems, like immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems
- sleep disturbances
- memory loss
- headaches
- change in eating habits
Stress can also affect you emotionally. Some things you may feel when you’re experiencing stress include:
- anxiety
- fear
- aggression
- anger
- sadness
- depression
- frustration
- irritability
Stress may also cause you to think differently about yourself.
You may find you engage in negative self-talk, saying things about yourself you would never say about a friend or another person.
Negative self-talk can also become a coping mechanism, especially when you feel isolated.
Stress can also make it harder to concentrate or engage in your favorite activities.
One way researchers know how personality traits impact the stress response is by studying coping strategies.
Some strategies can help you cope as you experience a stressful period or event. Others may not be as healthy.
One 2015 study found that participants with neuroticism tended to have an avoidance style of coping, while people with the other four traits leaned toward active coping techniques.
People who were open and conscientious also were more likely to engage directly with what was causing stress. Similarly, extroverts and those with agreeableness as a trait were better able to reinterpret situations and grow from them.
There are many things you can do to relieve some of the emotional and physical symptoms of stress.
- Remember, you are resilient.
- Challenge your worries and negative self-talk.
- Give yourself permission to feel stress.
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet.
- Get proper sleep.
- Stay active.
If you’re experiencing physical symptoms of stress, consider trying stress-reducing techniques like deep breathing:
- Stand or sit with your feet flat on the ground and hip-width apart.
- Breathe in deeply through your nose and fill your belly with air.
- Breathe out slowly through your mouth.
- Repeat several times, or for about 3 to 5 minutes.
Talking through stress can help reduce negative thoughts and emotions for some people. If you feel comfortable, reach out to someone you trust and share your feelings.
You may also find it helpful to talk with a therapist or counselor. They can help you identify your current stress coping mechanisms and teach you healthy coping strategies.
Stress can have short- and long-term physical and emotional effects. Research has shown that some personality traits can lead to active coping strategies to deal with stress, while neuroticism leads to avoidance and withdrawal.
You’re in charge of choosing healthy coping methods for managing stress, no matter your personality type.
To learn from other people’s stories, consider checking out The Mighty, where people share their personal experiences with health challenges, including mental health conditions.
You may also find it helpful to scroll through uplifting Instagram feeds like Hannah Daisy’s. The artist and mental health occupational therapist posts her “boring self-care” drawings to celebrate everyday victories over health challenges.
If stress is taking over your life and making it hard to perform your typical routine, you might also find it helpful to talk with a mental health professional.
Whatever next step you choose, you have the freedom for it to be the one that’s right for you.
Personality and Stress | Psych Central
Your unique personality is made up of thoughts, behaviors, and emotional patterns that can affect the way you respond to stress.
Everyone experiences stress, but we all handle it a bit differently.
If you’re seeking ways to better manage stress, you may wonder how personality affects a person’s response to stress.
Certain aspects of personality can cause you to react differently to stress than others.
Some traits may help you cope in a healthy way. This may include reaching out to others for support or having a positive outlook. Other personality traits lead to avoidance, which may not resolve stress’s emotional and physical symptoms.
Your main personality traits change throughout your life. So, the way you manage stress can also change over time.
Read on to find out more about the connection between personality and the stress response.
There are five main personality traits.
Your personality can include all or some of these traits. However, some may be more dominant than others.
This is known as the five-factor personality model.
- Neuroticism: emotional instability, self-consciousness
- Extraversion: seeks out excitement and social interactions
- Openness: creative, aesthetic, looks for new experiences
- Agreeableness: tends to be cooperative, trusting, gets along with others
- Conscientiousness: dutiful, competent, has a sense of purpose
These traits may, in part, determine how you respond to stress.
How does personality affect the stress response?
Your personality may inform your stress tolerance level.
For example, neuroticism has the biggest association with a negative stress response. And people with this trait may have a lower stress tolerance level.
However, just because a person can handle stress doesn’t mean they don’t experience it at all.
Experts don’t know exactly why personality influences a person’s stress response, but research offers some clues as to how:
- Environment. Some environments, like busy workplaces with high social interaction, cause stress for some but complement the personalities of others.
- Happiness and positivity. Some personality traits, like extraversion and openness, result in more happy events over the course of a lifetime, which can mitigate stressful experiences. Additionally, extraversion and openness may lead to a positive outlook on life events.
- Conscientiousness. Having this trait may provide you with the capacity to overcome daily hassles.
- Neuroticism. This trait is associated with coping strategies like withdrawal.
- Extroversion and introversion. If you’re extroverted, you may be more likely to seek social support when experiencing stress compared to an introvert.
No matter what personality traits you identify with, it’s possible to adopt healthy and effective stress-coping strategies.
Stress can affect you emotionally and physically, regardless of your personality type. It’s a natural reaction designed to keep you safe from danger.
During stressful moments, you may experience:
- increased pulse rate
- rapid breathing
- muscle tension
- sweating
- increased oxygen use by the brain
Over time, chronic stress can lead to the following physical symptoms:
- disruption of the body’s systems, like immune, digestive, cardiovascular, and reproductive systems
- sleep disturbances
- memory loss
- headaches
- change in eating habits
Stress can also affect you emotionally.
Some things you may feel when you’re experiencing stress include:
- anxiety
- fear
- aggression
- anger
- sadness
- depression
- frustration
- irritability
Stress may also cause you to think differently about yourself.
You may find you engage in negative self-talk, saying things about yourself you would never say about a friend or another person. Negative self-talk can also become a coping mechanism, especially when you feel isolated.
Stress can also make it harder to concentrate or engage in your favorite activities.
One way researchers know how personality traits impact the stress response is by studying coping strategies.
Some strategies can help you cope as you experience a stressful period or event. Others may not be as healthy.
One 2015 study found that participants with neuroticism tended to have an avoidance style of coping, while people with the other four traits leaned toward active coping techniques.
People who were open and conscientious also were more likely to engage directly with what was causing stress. Similarly, extroverts and those with agreeableness as a trait were better able to reinterpret situations and grow from them.
There are many things you can do to relieve some of the emotional and physical symptoms of stress.
- Remember, you are resilient.
- Challenge your worries and negative self-talk.
- Give yourself permission to feel stress.
- Eat a healthy, balanced diet.
- Get proper sleep.
- Stay active.
If you’re experiencing physical symptoms of stress, consider trying stress-reducing techniques like deep breathing:
- Stand or sit with your feet flat on the ground and hip-width apart.
- Breathe in deeply through your nose and fill your belly with air.
- Breathe out slowly through your mouth.
- Repeat several times, or for about 3 to 5 minutes.
Talking through stress can help reduce negative thoughts and emotions for some people.
If you feel comfortable, reach out to someone you trust and share your feelings.
You may also find it helpful to talk with a therapist or counselor. They can help you identify your current stress coping mechanisms and teach you healthy coping strategies.
Stress can have short- and long-term physical and emotional effects. Research has shown that some personality traits can lead to active coping strategies to deal with stress, while neuroticism leads to avoidance and withdrawal.
You’re in charge of choosing healthy coping methods for managing stress, no matter your personality type.
To learn from other people’s stories, consider checking out The Mighty, where people share their personal experiences with health challenges, including mental health conditions.
You may also find it helpful to scroll through uplifting Instagram feeds like Hannah Daisy’s. The artist and mental health occupational therapist posts her “boring self-care” drawings to celebrate everyday victories over health challenges.
If stress is taking over your life and making it hard to perform your typical routine, you might also find it helpful to talk with a mental health professional.
Whatever next step you choose, you have the freedom for it to be the one that’s right for you.
90,000 How do we respond to stress?MBTI
What is a stressor for each personality type and how it can be helped.
Stress is one of the realities of our life. Sooner or later, one way or another, we will find ourselves in a stressful situation that will unsettle us. It is impossible to completely avoid stress, but on the other hand, it is possible to identify the symptoms of stress that are characteristic of oneself and form effective methods for their elimination. When helping another to get out of a crisis situation, you need to remember that those methods that are effective for you may not work in a situation with another person. After all, each person reacts to stress according to his type of personality, and here it is important to understand what words of consolation and what actions can help in each case. Let's look at how each type of personality tends to experience stress and how it can be helped. 
nine0005
Free personality type
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MBTI persons and stress
ISSTJ reaction: which is being knocked out and how to help cope?
ISTJ - Inspector
What unsettles:
- violation of the protocol, instructions, time frames, chaos in the documentation; nine0015 - a sharp change in plans, the need for innovation, spontaneous decision-making, retraining;
- an excess of emotions and the need to communicate with strangers;
- when specific instructions and solutions are replaced by an abstract indication of the direction of the search for a solution.
How can I help an ISTJ out of a stressful situation?
- Praise the ISTJ for their loyalty to tradition and their love of order.
- Remind them of those difficult situations in their lives that are left in the past. The current situation will also end sooner or later. nine0015 - Advise them to relax and enjoy every moment of life without making plans for the future.
ESTJ Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ESTJ - Administrator What unsettles:
- lack of a clear organization of the process, external disorder;
- incompetent environment and irresponsible behavior;
- inability to control the situation;
- program failures and unplanned events; nine0015 - abstract theoretical concepts that do not have a specific application;
- a long stay in an environment with a high emotional background.
How can you help an ESTJ get out of stress?
- Show the ESTJ the value of organizing and following instructions.
- Explain to them that the behavior of others is not caused by personal hostility, but is explained by the opposite properties of their psychological type.
- Reassure them. Tell them that they will certainly succeed if they show patience and consistency. nine0015
ISFJ Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ISFJ - Guardian What unsettles:
- overly active participation in many projects;
- the need to break through, push through your decisions, overcoming resistance;
- criticism and lack of support;
- lack of a clear action plan and vision of the future;
- endless disappointments caused by their own hyper-responsibility. nine0005
How can I help an ISFJ cope with stress?
- Give them time to be alone, relax and deal with their feelings.
- Praise the ISFJ for their kindness, helpfulness, and commitment.
- Remind them how much they have done in the past.
- Convince of the need to relax, play sports, take care of your health.
- Listen. Just be an outpouring vest.
Once ISFJs regain their composure, they will figure out how to proceed. nine0015
ESFJ Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ESFJ - Teacher What unsettles:
- the absence of a clearly defined specific task in the activity;
- conflict environment, situation of competition and confrontation;
- criticism and lack of a trusting atmosphere;
- unstructured external environment and lack of control over the situation;
- discrepancy between the opinions of others and their moral values. nine0005
How can you help an ESFJ overcome stress?
- Listen carefully and agree that ESFJs care about the common good.
- Carefully let them know that disagreeing with their beliefs is not due to the fact that they are not loved and appreciated by others.
- Try to entertain them with an interesting life story, an anecdote, switch their attention to something funny or positive.
ISTP Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope? nine0005
ISTP - Master What unsettles:
- lack of maneuvering space, tight time limits, routine work;
- an excess of communication, a long stay in an emotionally charged environment;
- the predominance of theory over practice;
- irrational environment.
How can I help an ISTP deal with stress?
- Give them time to be alone, cool down, do not try to impose active attention and participation.
- Praise them for diligence and concentration, encourage their ingenuity and resourcefulness. nine0015 - Show patience and kindness, show that you treat them with sympathy and understand what causes their behavior outside the game.
Stress response ESTP: what is unsettling and how to help cope?
ESTP - Entrepreneur
What unsettles:
- the need to strictly follow the rules and instructions;
- inability to control emotions;
- the predominance of theory over practice;
- long-term planning; nine0015 - lack of communication, unwillingness to listen to others.
How to help ESTP cope with stress?
- Do not try to convince them with a hot hand, let them cool down and think.
- Praise them for their enterprise and willingness to act.
- Help them prioritize.
ISFP Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ISFP - Artist What unsettles:
- an atmosphere of misunderstanding, lack of approval and support from others, criticism; nine0015 - a long stay in a rigidly structured environment, the need to follow a clear routine and rules;
- routine work with a high degree of responsibility;
- lack of personal space and the ability to concentrate.
How can you help an ISFP deal with stress?
- Praise the ISFPs for their creativity, freedom, and concern for others.
- Listen carefully when they are ready to share their emotions. nine0015 - Don't rush with advice and logical arguments until you see that they are ready to accept them.
Stress response ESFP : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
ESFP - The soul of the company What can unsettle:
- cold business atmosphere at work, limited friendly contacts;
- routine work related to documentation;
- the need to control emotional manifestations;
- strict rules, norms and time frames. nine0005
How can I help ESFPs cope with stress?
- Praise them for their kindness and willingness to actively participate in the lives of others.
- Let them talk. Usually ESFPs don't tend to keep their feelings and emotions to themselves.
- Do not try to persuade and select arguments from the point of view of logic and rationality, before you are incorrigible irrationals.
- Remind them of situations where their optimism and enthusiasm have helped them succeed in the past.
Stress response INTJ : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
INTJ - Analyst What unsettles:
- conditions in which their ideas and skills are not appreciated;
- excess of communication, noisy fussy atmosphere;
- work with incompetent or ignorant people;
- forced publicity;
- the inability to plan and go at a comfortable pace.
How can I help an INTJ cope with stress?
- Don't be intrusive in your participation, but make it clear that you support them and are always ready to listen and help. nine0015 - Give them time to be alone. As a rule, their constructive thinking will always work in the right direction.
- Do not involve them in active recreation, being in a noisy company, reduce sensory stimulation, television and radio.
- Encourage them to rest, relax in silence and meditate.
Stress response ENTJ : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
ENTJ – Commander Unsettling:
- staying in a community where there are no clear goals, programs and vision of future prospects;
- incompetent irresponsible environment;
- excessive emotional background of communication;
- the impossibility of realizing one's leadership qualities.
How can I help an ENTJ overcome stress?
- Don't try to actively show concern or sympathy, let them sort out their feelings first.
- Compliment their love of moving forward and their commitment to efficiency. nine0015 - When choosing words of consolation, do not show sympathy and emotions of regret. Only constructive logical arguments that will become a hook for ENTJ or a new impetus to action.
Stress response INTP : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
INTP - Innovator What unsettles:
- being in a tough controlled environment, regulated by the framework and rules;
- work in close contact with others, responsibility for the quality of the work of others; nine0015 - excess of extraversion, emotionally charged environments;
- incompetent environment .;
- lack of recognition of their merits.
How can I help INTPs cope with stress?
- Praise INTPs for their outstanding talents and abilities, remind them of how much they've done in the past.
- Do not try to stimulate them to immediate action, decision making.
They need time to cook in themselves a little, until a way out of the situation has crystallized. nine0015 - Encourage them to play sports, walk in the fresh air, change experiences.
- Convince them that a state of inactivity and a lack of understanding of the prospects is a natural and necessary stage on the way to their implementation.
ENTP Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ENTP - Inventor What unsettles:
- routine work, with no changes and progress;
- inability to innovate; nine0015 - rigidly set deadlines, the need to complete the project before all its details are worked out;
- incompetent conservative environment;
- lack of external stimulation and recognition of their merits.
How can ENTPs cope with stress?
- Do not rush with advice, give them time to deal with their feelings.
- Do not convince them to fit into the existing system and put up with the current course of things.
- Praise them for their desire to diversify and improve their lives and the world around them. nine0015 - Encourage them to relax more, take walks, travel.
Response to stress INFJ : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
INFJ - Foreteller What unsettles:
- lack of time and personal space for implementation;
- an excess of communication, the need to contact strangers; nine0015 - lack of understanding and support in close relationships;
- abrupt changes (change of residence, work, relocation).
How can I help INFJs cope with stress?
- Let them talk and be patient. Most likely, they will be irrational and impulsive in their statements, will exaggerate and escalate a heavy emotional background;
- Encourage them to walk, rest, play sports, read books.
ENFJ Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope? nine0005
ENFJ - Mentor What unsettles:
- people who do not live up to their expectations;
- routine work that requires endless reports, work with statements, plans and other documentation;
- lack of a global idea and prospects for activity;
- criticism, distrust, misunderstanding on the part of others;
- lack of gratitude and recognition of their merits;
- lack of opportunity to share their knowledge and experience.
How can I help ENFJs cope with stress?
- Ask them how they feel and if everything is fine. They themselves are rarely ready to start a conversation.
- Praise them for their wisdom and empathy.
- Advise them to switch their attention to an interesting movie or book, to pay attention to their hobbies and self-development.
Response to stress INFP : what is unsettling and how to help cope?
INFP – Idealist What unsettles:
- the need to be scrupulous and attentive to details, no room for error;
- committing actions that go against their values;
- lack of personal space, the need for intensive communication with strangers;
- criticism, lack of support and acceptance from others;
- fear of losing relationships;
- routine work and lack of creative tasks.
How can I help INFP cope with stress?
- Show them that you treat them with sympathy and compassion. nine0015 - Praise them for their honesty and selflessness.
- Listen carefully when they are ready to share their experiences.
- Find in front of them the position of the other conflicting party or an objective pattern, according to which a stressful situation arose.
- Show understanding and patience if they violated any rules and deadlines.
ENFP Stress Response: What's Unsettling and How to Help You Cope?
ENFP - Communicator What unsettles:
- activities aimed at solving exclusively urgent problems, without focusing on future prospects;
- lack of creative tasks, brainstorming, the ability to turn on the imagination;
- criticism and disapproval from others;
- routine scrupulous work, the need to deal with details and details;
- violation of their personal values.
How can you help ENFP cope with stress?
- Give them time to be alone with themselves and sort out their own feelings. nine0015 - Remind them that they are very capable and talented.
- Encourage them to take care of themselves, take time for rest and sports.
- Do not give them advice, but always offer your help and support in their choice.
Elena Lustina
www.my-type.ru
Author and editor of MyType. Psychologist, Trainer,
MBTI® Certified Practitioner
Free Personality Test
| Learn Type |
How different MBTI types react to stress / Sudo Null IT News Everyone is affected by stress. For some, this is an eternal spur to overcome obstacles, and for someone - the desire to escape to Bali or dig in at home for the next millennium.
The Myers-Briggs Typology (MBTI) is one of the most common methods for assessing personnel and building hypotheses about what to do with a person: how to motivate, which team to include, what to expect, etc.
nine0005 In short, the MBTI test assigns you to one of 16 types based on 4 main criteria:
- Extraversion (E) - Introversion (I)
- Sensations (S) - Intuition (N)
- Thinking (T) - Feeling (F)
- Judgment (J) - Perception (P)
All types can be divided into 4 groups: elastic (“stress-resistant” in the basic sense), viscous (slow down in proportion to the level of stress), frame (stress as a stimulant for further development) and fragile (not stress resistant).
What does this mean?
Stretch (ENFP, ISTP, ESTP, INFP)
“Bend but won't break”. Faster than other groups react to stress and begin to cope with it. Reminds me of a spring that shoots as soon as it is released.
Elastic types perfectly solve problems in extreme conditions, as they do not lose their composure, and abrupt changes rather mobilize them and give them energy and drive.
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Reverse side - insensitive to the problems of others, do not understand why others cannot cope on their own. Often they themselves create stressful situations in order to stay in good shape.
Viscous (ENTP, ISFP, ESFP, INTP)
Completely ignore stress when there is little, hoping that everything will work itself out, but as soon as the stress level goes off scale, they can simply give up.
They try to the last to avoid thinking that a stressful situation is happening to them, because as soon as they realize this, they immediately begin to sink a little. It often happens that the same problem that happens once or twice is perceived as absolutely normal, but when this is already the fifth case, the person gives up and is not able to get out of this state himself. nine0005
Frame (ESFJ, INTJ, ENTJ, ISFJ)
“What doesn't kill us makes us stronger” . Easily tolerate stress in small quantities. More serious situations are treated as a challenge and hardening for the future (maybe come in handy).
