Beliefs about stressors alter stressors' impact: Evidence from two experience-sampling studies

Participants from two samples (n = 31 human resources staff, n = 36 teachers) rated the extent to which they believed varying levels of a pre-defined stressor influenced positive affect, negative affect, and work performance. Participants then carried personal digital assistants for five working days, and provided data on levels of the pre-defined stressor and on momentary negative and positive affect. For both samples, momentary negative affect was more strongly associated with stressors for those participants who believed stressors caused them to feel greater negative affect. For both samples too, the association between participants’ momentary negative affect and average levels of stressors across the working week was moderated by beliefs concerning stressors’ impact on work performance.