Regulating Stress in Complex Tasks: Human Performance Implications of Adaptive and Maladaptive Coping Strategies

Complex tasks impose varying demands on performers. When task demands change, stress increases, and performers must cope with this change in stress. Previous research indicates that people generally regulate this stress by coping in three ways: focusing on the task, focusing on their emotions, or disengaging from the task [1]. With all three approaches, performers' stress will decrease; however, performance decrements typically follow with emotion-focus or avoidance strategies. Previous research identifies task-focused coping (TFC) as an adaptive stress regulation technique, whereas emotion-focused coping (EFC) and avoidance coping (AC) are maladaptive techniques for performance [2]. This distinction has implications for a wide variety of human performance contexts, as training on the task and training stress regulation techniques are two interrelated means for improving performance [3, 4]. The present work examined how learners coped with a stressful, unfamiliar, complex task and how this affected their task performance. Results suggested that higher TFC was associated with higher accuracy and higher EFC was associated with lower accuracy and slower reaction times. Further analyses indicated that EFC indirectly harms accuracy and timeliness through its influence on slower reaction times. Training interventions that address learners' poor reaction times may serve as beneficial countermeasures when learners employ maladaptive stress coping techniques. Implications of these findings for adaptive training systems and future research directions will be discussed.