this is an organisational behaviour assignment please read the context and questions on the picture:

The Personality Trait Intolerance of Uncertainty Causes Anguish During COVID

High levels of it have put people at risk of emotional problems

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental disorders in the U$.$S$.$ But a simple diagnosis of

generalized anxiety disorder may not capture the specifics of what bothers some people. A subgroup of

anxiety sufferers may experience extreme distress when confronting the inherent uncertainties that turn

up in any life circumstance, whether helping a relative with a severe illness or choosing a new route to

work that is safe and easy to navigate.

Such people may respond to their feelings by leaving nothing to chance. At work, they appear polished

and prepared when giving a presentation because they consider every question that could be posed by

colleagues beforehand and memorize possible answers in the days leading up to a meeting. Still, all of

the prep work may do little to relieve feelings of painful anxiety.

Psychologists, though, are learning new ways to treat these sufferers, who can be identified through

their answers to a psychological measurement known as the intolerance of uncertainty scale $($IUS$).$

Patients can then benefit from specialized treatment.

These patients are typical of the ones psychologist Keith Bredemeier sees at the University of

Pennsylvanias Centre for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. When encountering patients with a high

score on the IUS, Bredemeier may explicitly target enhancing their comfort levels with lifes unpredictability as a treatment goal. Since therapy is adapted to patients' salient personality traits,

treatment for uncertainty distress may be added to their treatment plans just as treatments for eating

disorders, for example, may focus on clients' perfectionism. And therapy for obsessive$-$compulsive

disorder may concentrate on patients' inflated sense of responsibility.

Difficulty dealing with uncertainty was first identified in the early $1990$s as a distinguishable personality

trait. It is one we all have to some degree, but many of us have it at an elevated level. Like

perfectionism or rigidity, it is really a predisposition, not a diagnosable disorder. People who have high

levels of perfectionism, for example, are at greater risk of developing anorexia. And someone with a

high level of intolerance of uncertainty $($IU$)$ may end up developing an anxiety disorder.

To cope, a person may live along a narrow, predictable track. Everything may seem fine to them on the

surface, but their risk for developing anxiety, depression or emotional distress is higher especially if

something such as$,$ say, a pandemic wreaks havoc on a carefully planned life.

In the decades since the IUS was developed, researchers have found it useful for understanding why

some patients are anxious, devising targeted therapies and assessing a patients progress. In

psychology labs, investigators have probed how uncertainty affects peoples brain and behaviour.

Clinicians have used the concept to develop programs that teach parents of autistic children strategies

to help their children better tolerate uncertainty. And tourism specialists have delved into which clients

might prefer guided tours instead of unguided ones. Most of all, because the pandemic blew away a

sense of predictability in everyday life, the concept has sparked an explosion of research globally to find

out how those who typically feel this type of distress are faring in these uncertain times and what might

be done to help them.

IT BEGAN WITH A HUNCH

In the $1990$s Mark Freeston and Michel Dugas were part of a team at Laval University in Quebec

looking into generalized anxiety disorder. The focus in the field was on worry. The thinking at the time

was that worry was some form of problem$-$solving gone wrong or a problem$-$solving deficit, notes

Freeston, who is now at Newcastle University in England. But Freeston and his colleagues saw

something different in their patients behaviour. They knew how to solve problems, but something was

getting in the way, he says. The team hypothesized that anxious people might have a negative

reaction to uncertainty. Following a clinical hunch, he says, the group developed the IUS and tested it

out.

When filling out this questionnaire, people indicated how they might react to statements such as

Unforeseen events upset me greatly and It frustrates me not having all the information I need. The

scale accurately assessed subjects reactions cognitive, emotional, and behavioural to uncertain

situations in which they felt they did not know vital information or could not control the future.

EVOLUTION AND FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

For humans and other animals, fear of uncertainty is a default state, says health psychologist Jos F$.$

Brosschot of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Carry your cat into an unfamiliar empty room, he

suggests. No fierce dog or hostile human is there, but there is also no obvious place to hide. Without a

safe spot, the animal might be apt to claw at your chest in terror. In the wild, Brosschot and his

colleagues wrote in a $2018$ paper, organisms have survived not by waiting for more evidence of threat

but instead by erring on the side of caution.... Those who fled at the first sign of unsafety continued to

live and pass their genes.

From birth, humans have to carefully learn the cues that signal safety. For a toddler, safety is wherever

their caregiver is$.$ Over time, if we grow up in a secure environment with supportive parents, we learn to

feel safe when there is no obvious danger. We become better able to tolerate uncertainty. But for those

of us who grew up abused, neglected, or otherwise deprived of feeling safe, uncertainty is threatening.

UNCERTAINTY IN THE LAB

At the University of Reading in England, psychologist Jayne Morriss has subjected volunteers in her

laboratory to unpleasant experiences that they may or may not be able to predict, from a mild electric

shock to a terrifying scream. Before doing so$,$ she already assessed them with the usual psychological

tests, including the IUS. She also ascertained their thresholds for receiving a mild electric shock. Then,

as they sat in front of a computer that told them whether, when or if they would receive a shock $($or hear

a scream$),$ she measured their physiological responses with a magnetic resonance imaging scanner,

skin conductance sensors or registers of startle response, depending on the study. Invariably, people

high in IU show greater physiological distress.

One of her studies, published last year and entitled, in part, I Told You It Was Safe, produced

intriguing results. The subjects were told that they would receive a shock at a certain time, at an

unknown time, or not at all or$,$ more emphatically, that they definitely would not get shocked. The

surprising result is that those with high IU scores showed the greatest physiological distress during the

certain$-$to$-$be$-$safe period.

This seems counterintuitive, yet it is easy to explain. Those of us who grew up with unpredictable

danger or inconsistent safety are ever vigilant for harm. People consistently high in IU have trouble

recognizing when they are safe, Freeston says. Just telling them its safe isnt enough.

In fact, Morriss has shown in other studies that subjects with high IU need a greater number of

exposures to a now safe scenario that was previously unsafe before they have no distress response. In

other words, they have more difficulty updating their perception of safety.

TAILORING THERAPY

As intolerance of uncertainty has begun to be studied as a separate trait from a tendency to worry,

psychologists have identified typical behaviours often unconstructive ones that people use to tampdown their distress at not knowing. They overprepare, perhaps memorizing answers to all the possible

questions anticipated for an upcoming presentation. Some collect every bit of information they can find

online and offline. They constantly seek reassurance from others and look for media sources they can

trust. Or they avoid situations with unknown outcomes. If they do not know how they will do on a test,

they may avoid looking at their textbooks or procrastinate. They may impulsively make a choice, even a

bad one, in order to resolve their uncertainty about something. They may also decide that they know an

answer and close their minds to new information.

Bredemeier adapts treatments for these patients at his clinic. To help a client feel more comfortable

with uncertainty, he first has them list situations that feel mildly to intensely uncomfortable. Lets say

someone dislikes ordering from a new restaurant without first reading reviews or avoids taking a

different route to work. The worst situation of all would be delegating an important task at work. The

person just cannot do it$.$

In response, the therapist asks a client to do each task, starting with the easiest one first. A feeling of

uncertainty grows, but the person stays aware of thoughts and feelings and reflects on the outcome.

Maybe the client wishes they had ordered the usual takeout. Maybe they have found a favourite new

restaurant. The outcome is less important than becoming more comfortable with some unpredictability.

After a series of these experiments, the client is likely to score lower on IU and eventually reduce

inflexible behaviours.

COVID: UNCERTAINTY IN REAL TIME

When the pandemic hit, none of us knew from day to day what would happen. No one knew how

infections or the threat of them would affect work, school, or travel. Nobody liked the

unpredictability. Dozens of studies worldwide showed that people high in IU were at greatest risk of

emotional problems.

A study published in January $2022$ is especially noteworthy. Two years before COVID emerged, a team

at the University of Illinois at Chicago used two methods to measure volunteers uncertainty intolerance

during predictable and unpredictable shocks. The researchers administered the IUS self$-$report

questionnaire before the experiment. And during it$,$ they monitored subjects neural response with

functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Two years later, at the height of the pandemic, the researchers asked these same volunteers detailed

questions about their emotional reactions to the crisis. Having higher self$-$reported IU or greater activity

in a brain area called the anterior insula during imaging independently predicted an increase in anxiety,

depression or emotional distress.

Therapists have begun to target their patients uncertainty intolerance to help them through the

pandemic because COVIDs unpredictability exacerbates classic IU behaviours in some people. Some

read everything they can find on the Internet, wash their hands incessantly and rarely leave home. Others refuse to alter their routines even if they are putting themselves or others at risk. There are

endless permutations of dealing with this continuing state of just not knowing.

As Bredemeier says, All of us like to feel certain. Its just a question of how much distress it causes us$.$

Intolerance of uncertainty is a matter of degree.