This is own stress or second-hand stress?
While doing teaching
fellowship in the University of Glasgow, invigilation of exams with other
faculty members was a due part of the job. For me, it was the most tiring and
difficult part of the job. I often used to think that why invigilation causes
so much fatigue and stress.
Sometimes, I felt that
it was due to 500 years old structure of the building (Bute Hall in University
of Glasgow) where most of the exams take place. Strolling in historical
buildings and newly constructed buildings causes quite different feelings. Here,
in QAU, again feeling the same issue that invigilation is a tough job.
In exams, students are
going through a tough mental process and they emit stressful thoughts in the
environment. As thoughts are contagious, they affect the persons in close
proximity. Therefore, an invigilator suffers from stress even though this is not
own stress.
If someone feels
stress then it is important to check whether this is own stress or second-hand
stress before going for a remedy.
Recently, researchers
(a study led by Professor Elaine Hatfield) in the University of Hawaii found
out that second-hand stress is passed on each other in an office just like flu
and cold.
This research notes
that human brains perform like a sponge that absorbs emotions emitted from
people around. Stress of people around acts like a depressant in the brain,
that forces the brain to think about own worries.
The research also
shows that females are at higher risk as they are more in tune with the
feelings of others.
Sometimes people say
that I am not feeling comfortable but I do not know why. Similarly sometimes
some people say that something is wrong but I do not know what that is or
sometimes people become stressful without any reason. To my understanding, this
is due to second hand stress.
Hatfield and Rapson (1993) define emotional contagion:
"The tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions,
vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person’s and,
consequently, to converge emotionally.”‖
Theoretically, emotions can be caught in several ways.
Earlier research on this topic shows that this is a conscious
process through imagination, reasoning and analysis.
Recently, most neuroscientists, primatologist and
psychologist argue that this is unconscious process which is my main point in
the above post.
