Work

When Stress Becomes Human: The Joint Effect of Anthropomorphism and Generalized Trust on Stress Mindset

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Stress mindset-the extent to which individuals believe that stress has enhancing rather than debilitating consequences-is an important predictor of mental health, highlighting the need to identify factors that shape it. While previous research has shown that externally provided persuasive information about the beneficial consequences of stress fosters a more stress-is-enhancing mindset, little is known about whether and when individuals' internal cognitive strategies can also foster this mindset. This research focuses on a specific internal cognitive strategy-anthropomorphism-and investigates whether it and generalized trust jointly shape individuals' stress mindset. Two experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 shows that compared with non-anthropomorphism, anthropomorphism leads to a more stress-is-enhancing mindset among individuals with high generalized trust, but not among those with low generalized trust. Study 2 further demonstrates that this joint effect is mediated by enhanced perceived altruistic motivation. This research introduces stress as a new anthropomorphic entity and extends the stress mindset literature by showing that an internal cognitive strategy and a social belief jointly shape individuals' stress mindset.

Source: Behavioral Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/bs16081297

Authors: Wenjian Fan, Qian Sun, Qianyun Gao, Lvmin Wu, Lin Liu

Institutions: Shanghai Normal University, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Xihua University, Neusoft Institute Guangdong

Language: English

Topic: Stress and Burnout Research

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,654

Funders: Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou University