Which of the following stress resistant personality traits has been given by Kobasa?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Hardiness
Option (1) Openness — Incorrect. Openness to experience is one of the Big Five personality factors found by Costa and McCrae: people high on it are imaginative, curious and open to new ideas. It is not Kobasa’s stress-resistant trait.
Option (2) Assertiveness — Incorrect. It is a life skill, a behaviour that helps one communicate one’s feelings, needs and opinions plainly and confidently. It helps in meeting life’s challenges but is not the personality trait Kobasa described.
Option (3) Cardinal — Incorrect. Cardinal traits come from Allport’s trait theory: highly generalised dispositions around which a person’s whole life revolves, such as Gandhi’s non-violence.
Option (4) Hardiness — Correct. Kobasa found that people with high stress but low illness share the traits of hardiness, ‘the three Cs’: commitment, control and challenge. Hardiness is a set of beliefs about oneself, the world and how they interact.
NCERT (2025-26): “Promoting Positive Health and Well-being Stress Resistant Personality : Recent studies by Kobasa have shown that people with high levels of stress but low levels of illness share three characteristics, which are referred to as the personality traits of hardiness. It consists of ‘the three Cs’, i.e. commitment, control, and challenge. Hardiness is a set of beliefs about oneself, the world, and how they interact. It takes shape as a sense of personal commitment to what you are doing, a sense of control over your life, and a feeling of challenge.…” |