Reconciling the Interpersonal Consequences of Stress Mindset Interventions

Abstract

Interventions aimed at promoting a mindset that stress can be enhancing appear to benefit individuals by buffering the impacts of stress on health and performance. However, recent evidence has suggested that while stress mindset interventions may produce favorable intrapersonal outcomes, they may have unintended interpersonal consequences. This study examined the impact of a stress mindset intervention on perceptions of others’ stress and intentions to provide social support. A preregistered 2 × 2 mixed experimental design was adopted, testing three models. Participants were randomized (N = 176; 76% female) into an intervention or control group (between-subjects factor in all models). In an online survey, participants completed self-report measures of stress mindset and rated their perceptions of distress and their social support intentions, toward a close friend and a colleague, in two hypothetical scenarios. Stress mindset was the within-subjects factor in the first model. Relationship type was the counterbalanced within-subjects factor in the second and third models. The intervention yielded a significant large effect on stress mindset. No significant differences in stress perceptions or social support intentions emerged between the groups. Contrary to previous findings, we did not find evidence that promoting the mindset that stress can be enhancing alters the way people perceive and intend to respond to others’ stress. Hence, current findings support stress mindset interventions as valuable for stress management and provide directions for future research and practice.