Social Psychological and Neuroendocrine Stress Reactions in Highly Mechanised Work

Abstract Social psychological theory on relations between production technology and work satisfaction was combined with arousal theory based on psychophysiological stress research in a study of workers in a highly mechanised production industry. A group of workers whose tasks were characterised by rcpetitiveness, physical constraint, machine-regulation of work pace and high demands for continuous attention (high-risk group) was compared to a control group who performed their work under less monotonous and more flexible conditions. Both groups were studied at work and during free hours with regard to urinary excretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline as well as self-ratings of mood and alertness. During work the high-risk group excreted significantly more catecholamines than the control group. The results suggest that the combination of monotony and mental overload experienced by the high-risk group demands continuous mobilisation of biochemical adaptive resources which in the long run may prove harmful to the individual. This assumption was supported by the fact that the risk group showed a higher frequency of psychosomatic illness and absenteeism than the control group.