This consideration differences of focal persons is important for at least three reasons.
1. Some people arouse hostility and aggression in their associates while others invoke sympathy and supportive responses because of their personality features. Likewise, some people encourage while others discourage free and open communication in view of their personality traits as perceived by their subordinates and associates.
2. Personality characteristics tend to produce differential emotional reactions to stress. Some people tolerate severely stressful situations while others are overwhelmed with tensions and anxieties under similar circumstances.
3. Individual personalities lead to individual differences in styles of coping with stress. When exposed to tension-producing situations, some people tend to be problem oriented, that is, to deal with the objective situations in order to eliminate their stressful characteristics. Others happen to deal with the emotional experiences, which the stress arouses in them, rather than with the determinants of experience. Still others tend to deal with derivative problems, which may be created by their efforts, to cope with the stress. They may happen to project hostility on to others and thus, make easier guilt-free aggression against them. The dangers inherent in such a hostile counter- attack are obvious.