Abstract
Although he did not name the outcome “toughness,” 125 years ago, in The principles of psychology, William James wrote a brief theory of toughness in the form of a lifestyle recommendation:
Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test … So with the man who had daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast. (James, 1890, pp. 126–7)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Richard A. Dienstbier
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dienstbier, R.A. (2015). Toughness: An Opponent Process. In: Building Resistance to Stress and Aging. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137454850_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137454850_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-49803-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-45485-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)