Final answer:
Individuals tend to use emotion-focused coping strategies when they believe they cannot change a stressful situation or when they appraise a stressful event as a challenge rather than a threat.
Step-by-step explanation:
Problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping are two fundamental coping strategies that individuals use when dealing with stress. Problem-focused coping involves actively trying to manage or alter the source of the stress, while emotion-focused coping focuses on changing or reducing the negative emotions associated with stress.
Individuals tend to use emotion-focused coping strategies when they believe they cannot change a stressful situation or when they appraise a stressful event as a challenge rather than a threat. For example, if someone encounters daily hassles, such as obnoxious cell-phone talkers, they might use emotion-focused coping to minimize their negative emotions by avoiding or distancing themselves from the problem.
Entering the resistance phase of the general adaptation syndrome, which is a physiological response to stress, may also lead individuals to use emotion-focused coping strategies to alleviate the negative emotional impact of the stress.