Type A and Type B personality theory - wikipedia Type A and Type B personality theory Hypothesised duality of personality types Not to be confused with Cluster A personality disorder or Cluster B personality disorder. Type A and Type B personality hypothesis describes two contrasting personality types. In this hypothesis, personalities that are more competitive, highly organized, ambitious, impatient, highly aware of time management and / or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed, less `` neurotic '', ' frantic ', ' explainable ', personalities are labeled Type B. The two cardiologists who developed this theory came to believe that Type A personalities had a greater chance of developing coronary heart disease. Following the results of further studies and considerable controversy about the role of the tobacco industry funding of early research in this area, some reject, either partially or completely, the link between Type A personality and coronary disease. Nevertheless, this research had a significant effect on the development of the health psychology field, in which psychologists look at how an individual 's mental state affects physical health. Contents 1 History 2 The types 2.1 Type A 2.2 Type B 3 Criticism 3.1 Funding by tobacco companies 3.2 Other issues 4 Other studies 4.1 Role of magnesium in cardiovascular health 4.2 Substance abuse 5 See also 6 References History Type A personality behavior was first described as a potential risk factor for heart disease in the 1950s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman. They discovered that their patients were wearing out the arms and upholstery on the chairs in the waiting room. After an eight - and - a-half - year - long study of healthy men between the ages of 35 and 59, Friedman and Rosenman estimated that Type A behavior doubles the risk of coronary heart disease in otherwise healthy individuals. The individuals enrolled in this study were followed well beyond the original time frame of the study. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire, that asked questions like `` Do you feel guilty if you use spare time to relax ? '' and `` Do you generally move, walk, and eat rapidly ? '' Subsequent analysis indicated that although Type A personality is associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease, it does not seem to be a risk factor for mortality. The types Type A The hypothesis describes Type A individuals as outgoing, ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status - conscious, sensitive, impatient, anxious, proactive, and concerned with time management. People with Type A personalities are often high - achieving `` workaholics ''. They push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence. People with Type A personalities experience more job - related stress and less job satisfaction. In his 1996 book dealing with extreme Type A behavior, Type A Behavior : Its Diagnosis and Treatment, Friedman suggests that dangerous Type A behavior is expressed through three major symptoms : ( 1 ) free - floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents ; ( 2 ) time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperation usually described as being `` short - fused '' ; and ( 3 ) a competitive drive, which causes stress and an achievement - driven mentality. The first of these symptoms is believed to be covert and therefore less observable, while the other two are more overt. Type A people were said to be hasty, impatient, impulsive, hyperalert, potentially hostile, and angry. Research has also shown that Type A personalities deal with reality and have certain defenses when it comes to dealing with problems. There are two main methods to assessing Type A behaviour. The first being the SI and the second being the Jenkins Activity Survey ( JAS ) The SI assessment involves an interviewer measuring a persons emotional, nonverbal and verbal responses ( your expressive style ). The JAS involves a self questionnaire with three main categories : Speed and Impatience, Job Involvement, and Hard - Driving Competitiveness. Type B The hypothesis describes Type B individuals as a contrast to those of Type A. Type B personality, by definition, are noted to live at lower stress levels. They typically work steadily, and may enjoy achievement, although they have a greater tendency to disregard physical or mental stress when they do not achieve. When faced with competition, they may focus less on winning or losing than their Type A counterparts, and more on enjoying the game regardless of winning or losing. Unlike the Type A personality 's rhythm of multi-tasked careers, Type B individuals are sometimes attracted to careers of creativity : writer, counselor, therapist, actor or actress. However, network and computer systems managers, professors, and judges are more likely to be Type B individuals as well. Their personal character may enjoy exploring ideas and concepts. Type B personality types are more tolerant than individuals in the Type A category. Criticism Limitations of the original study comprise the inclusion of only middle - aged men and the lack of information regarding the diets of those subjects. While the latter could serve as a confounding variable, the former calls into question whether the findings can be generalized to the remaining male population or to the female population as a whole. Friedman et al. ( 1986 ) conducted a randomized controlled trial on 862 male and female post myocardial infarction patients, ruling out ( by probabilistic equivalence ) diet and other confounds. Subjects in the control group received group cardiac counseling, and subjects in the treatment group received cardiac counseling plus Type A counseling. The recurrence rate was 28 % in the control group and 13 % in the treatment group, a strong and statistically significant finding. Funding by tobacco companies Further discrediting the so - called Type A Behavior Pattern ( TABP ), a study from 2012 -- based on searching the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library -- suggests the phenomenon of initially promising results followed by negative findings to be partly explained by the tobacco industry 's involvement in TABP research to undermine the scientific evidence on smoking and health. The industry 's interest in TABP lasted at least four decades until the late 1990s, involving substantial funding to key researchers encouraged to prove smoking to simply correlate with a personality type prone to coronary heart disease ( CHD ) and cancer. Hence, until the early 1980s, the industry 's strategy consisted of suggesting the risks of smoking to be caused by psychological characteristics of individual smokers rather than tobacco products by deeming the causes of cancer to be multifactorial with stress as a key contributing factor. Philip Morris ( today Altria ) and RJ Reynolds helped generate substantial evidence to support these claims by funding workshops and research aiming to educate about and alter TABP to reduce risks of CHD and cancer. Moreover, Philip Morris primarily funded the Meyer Friedman Institute, e.g. conducting the `` crown - jewel '' trial on the effectiveness of reducing TABP whose expected findings could discredit studies associating smoking with CHD and cancer but failing to control for Type A behaviour. In 1994, Friedman wrote to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration criticising restrictions on indoor smoking to reduce CHD, claiming the evidence remained unreliable since it did not account for the significant confounder of Type A behaviour, notwithstanding the fact that by then, TABP had proven to be significant in only three of twelve studies. Though apparently unpaid for, this letter was approved by and blind - copied to Philip Morris, and Friedman ( falsely ) claimed to receive funding largely from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. When TABP finally became untenable, Philip Morris supported research on its hostility component, allowing Vice President Jetson Lincoln to explain passive smoking lethality by the stress exerted on a non-smoking spouse through media claiming the smoking spouse to be slowly killing themselves. When examining the most recent review on TABP and CHD in this light, the close relationship to the tobacco industry becomes evident : of thirteen etiologic studies in the review, only four reported positive findings, three of which had a direct or indirect link to the industry. Also on the whole most TABP studies had no relationship to the tobacco lobby but the majority of those with positive findings did. Furthermore, TABP was used as a litigation defence, similar to psychosocial stress. Hence, Petticrew et al. proved the tobacco industry to have substantially helped generate the scientific controversy on TABP, contributing to the ( in lay circles ) enduring popularity and prejudice for Type A personality even though it has been scientifically disproven. Other issues Some scholars argue that Type A behavior is not a good predictor of coronary heart disease. According to research by Redford Williams of Duke University, the hostility component of Type A personality is the only significant risk factor. Thus, it is a high level of expressed anger and hostility, not the other elements of Type A behavior, that constitutes the problem. The initial study that pointed to the association of Type A personality and heart attacks had a massive number of questions under consideration. When there are a lot of questions there is a high probability of a false positive. Two subsequent studies that specifically tested for the association were negative. A simple explanation is that the initial finding was chance due to multiple questions being under consideration. Those considerations may have changed. Other studies A study was performed that tested the effect of psychosocial variables, in particular personality and stress, as risk factors for cancer and coronary heart disease ( CHD ). In this study, four personality types were recorded. Type 1 personality is cancer prone, Type 2 is CHD prone, Type 3 is alternating between behaviors characteristic of Types 1 and 2, and Type 4 is a healthy, autonomous type hypothesized to survive best. The data suggests that the Type 1 probands die mainly from cancer, type 2 from CHD, whereas Type 3 and especially Type 4 probands show a much lower death rate. Two additional types of personalities were measured, Type 5 and Type 6. Type 5 is a rational anti-emotional type, which shows characteristics common to Type 1 and Type 2. Type 6 personality shows psychopathic tendencies and is prone to drug addiction and AIDS. While most studies attempt to show the correlation between personality types and coronary heart disease, studies have suggested that mental attitudes constitute an important prognostic factor for cancer. As a method of treatment for cancer - prone patients, behavior therapy is used. The patient is taught to express his / her emotions more freely, in a socially acceptable manner, to become autonomous and be able to stand up for his / her rights. Behavior therapy would also teach them how to cope with stress - producing situations more successfully. The effectiveness of therapy in preventing death in cancer and CHD is evident. The statistical data associated with higher death rates is impressive. Other measures of therapy have been attempted, such as group therapy. The effects were not as dramatic as behavior therapy, but still showed improvement in preventing death among cancer and CHD patients. From the study above, several conclusions have been made. A relationship between personality and cancer exists, along with a relationship between personality and coronary heart disease. Personality type acts as a risk factor for diseases and interacts synergistically with other risk factors, such as smoking and heredity. It has been statistically proven that behavior therapy can significantly reduce the likelihood of cancer or coronary heart disease mortality. On the contrary, psychoanalysis can increase the likelihood of cancer and coronary heart disease mortality drastically. Studies suggest that both body and mental disease arise from each other. Mental disorders arise from physical causes, and likewise, physical disorders arise from mental causes. While Type A personality did not show a strong direct relationship between its attributes and the cause of coronary heart disease, other types of personalities have shown strong influences on both cancer - prone patients and those prone to coronary heart disease. A study conducted by the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine re-examined the association between the Type A concept with cardiovascular ( CVD ) and non-cardiovascular ( non-CVD ) mortality by using a long follow - up ( on average 20.6 years ) of a large population - based sample of elderly males ( N = 2,682 ), by applying multiple Type A measures at baseline, and looking separately at early and later follow - up years. The study sample were the participants of the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, ( KIHD ), which includes a randomly selected representative sample of Eastern Finnish men, aged 42 -- 60 years at baseline in the 1980s. They were followed up until the end of 2011 through linkage with the National Death Registry. Four self - administered scales, Bortner Short Rating Scale, Framingham Type A Behavior Pattern Scale, Jenkins Activity Survey, and Finnish Type A Scale, were used for Type A assessment at the start of follow - up. Type A measures were inconsistently associated with cardiovascular mortality, and most associations were non-significant. Some scales suggested slightly decreased, rather than increased, risk of CVD death during the follow - up. Associations with non-cardiovascular deaths were even weaker. The study 's findings further suggest that there is no evidence to support the Type A as a risk factor for CVD and non-CVD mortality. Role of magnesium in cardiovascular health Maintaining healthy magnesium ( Mg ) levels in the body plays a strong role in protecting the cardiovascular health of an individual. An analysis of the literature suggests the possible role of Mg deficiency in the susceptibility to cardiovascular diseases, observed among subjects displaying a type A behavior pattern. Type A subjects are more sensitive to stress and produce more catecholamines than type B subjects. This, in turn, seems to induce an intracellular Mg loss. In the long run, type A individuals would develop a state of Mg deficiency, which may promote a greater sensitivity to stress and, ultimately, lead to the development of cardiovascular problems. Substance abuse In a 1998 study done by Ball et al., they looked at differences in Type A and Type B personalities based on substance use. Their results showed that Type B personalities had more severe issues with substance abuse than Type A personalities. Another discover in their research was more Type B personalities had been diagnosed with a personality disorder than users who had Type A personalities. Type B personalities were rated higher than Type A personalities on symptoms of all DSM - IV personality disorders, with the exception of schizoid personality disorder. See also Alpha ( ethology ) Hans Eysenck § Model of personality Humorism Type D personality References Jump up ^ Friedman, Howard, S. ; Booth - Kewley, Stephanie ( 1 October 1987 ). `` Personality, Type A behaviour, and coronary heart disease : the role of emotional expression ''. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 53 ( 4 ) : 783 -- 792. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Eysenck H.J. ( 1990 ). `` Type A Behavior and Coronary Heart Disease : The Third Stage ''. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. 5 : 25 -- 44. Jump up ^ McLeod, Saul. `` Type A personality ''. Simply Psychology. Retrieved 21 March 2018. Jump up ^ Friedman, M. ; Rosenman, R. ( 1959 ). `` Association of specific overt behaviour pattern with blood and cardiovascular findings ''. Journal of the American Medical Association. 169 : 1286 -- 1296. doi : 10.1001 / jama. 1959.03000290012005. ^ Jump up to : McLeod, Saul. `` Type A Personality ''. Simply Psychology. Retrieved 21 March 2018. Jump up ^ Ragland, D. ; Brand, R. ( 1988 ). `` Type A Behavior and Mortality from Coronary Heart Disease ''. The New England Journal of Medicine. 318 : 65 -- 69. doi : 10.1056 / nejm198801143180201. Jump up ^ McLeod, Saul. `` Type A Personality ''. Retrieved 29 December 2013. Jump up ^ Kirkcaldy, B., Shepard, R., & Furnham, A. ( 2002 ). The influence of type A behaviour and locus of control upon job satisfaction and occupational health. Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 1361 - 1371. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00018-1 Jump up ^ Friedman, M. ( 1996 ). Type A Behavior : Its Diagnosis and Treatment. New York, Plenum Press ( Kluwer Academic Press ), pp. 31 ff. Jump up ^ Smith, T.W. ; Gallo, L.C. ( 2001 ). `` Personality traits as risk factors for physical illness. In A. Baum, T. Revenson, & J. Singer ( Eds. ) ''. Hand - book of health psychology : 139 -- 172 -- via Hillsdale, NJ : Erlbaum. Jump up ^ O'Connor, John ( 1 December 2002 ). `` Type A, type b and the kleinian positions : do they relate to similar processes ? ''. Psychoanalytic psychology. 19 ( 1 ) : 95 -- 117. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Friedman, Howard, S. ; Booth - Kewley, Stephanie ( 1 October 1987 ). `` Personality, type a behaviour, and coronary heart disease : the role of emotional expression ''. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 53 ( 4 ) : 783 -- 792. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Friedman, Howard, S. ; Booth - Kewley, Stephanie ( 1 October 1987 ). `` Personality, type a behavior, and coronary heart disease : the role of emotional expression ''. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 53 ( 4 ) : 783 -- 792. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Meyer Friedman ; Carl E. Thoresen ; James J. Gill ; Diane Ulmer ; Lynda H. Powell ; Virginia A. Price ; Byron Brown ; Leonti Thompson ; David D. Rabin ; William S. Breall ; Edward Bourg ; Richard Levy ; Theodore Dixon ( 1 October 1986 ). `` Alteration of type A behavior and its effect on cardiac recurrences in post myocardial infarction patients : Summary results of the recurrent coronary prevention project ''. American Heart Journal. 112 ( 4 ) : 653 -- 665. doi : 10.1016 / 0002 - 8703 ( 86 ) 90458 - 8. CS1 maint : Uses authors parameter ( link ) ^ Jump up to : Petticrew, M.P. ; K. Lee ; M. McKee ( 2012 ). `` Type A behavior pattern and coronary heart disease : Philip Morris 's `` crown jewel '' ``. American Journal of Public Health. 102 ( 11 ) : 2018 -- 2025. doi : 10.2105 / AJPH. 2012.300816. PMC 3477961. PMID 22994187. Jump up ^ Landman, A. ; D.K. Cortese ; S. Glantz ( 2008 ). `` Tobacco industry sociological programs to influence public beliefs about smoking ''. Social Science & Medicine. 66 ( 4 ) : 970 -- 981. doi : 10.1016 / j. socscimed. 2007.11. 007. PMC 2267871. Jump up ^ Petticrew, M.P. ; Lee, K. ( 2011 ). `` The `` father of stress meets `` big tobacco '' : Hans Selye and the tobacco industry ``. American Journal of Public Health. 101 ( 3 ) : 411 -- 418. doi : 10.2105 / AJPH. 2009.177634. PMC 3036703. PMID 20466961. Jump up ^ Smith, E.A. ( 2007 ). `` '' It 's interesting how few people die from smoking `` : tobacco industry efforts to minimize risk and discredit health promotion ''. European Journal of Public Health. 17 ( 2 ) : 162 -- 170. doi : 10.1093 / eurpub / ckl097. Jump up ^ Friedman, Meyer. `` Letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ''. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Retrieved 13 November 2013. Jump up ^ Wall, C.R. `` Philip Morris research ''. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Retrieved 13 November 2013. Jump up ^ Lincoln, J.E. `` Letters to the editor RE : `` Effects of passive smoking in the multiple rist factor intervention tral '' ``. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Retrieved 13 November 2013. Jump up ^ Kuper, H. ; M. Marmot ; H. Hemingway ( 2002 ). `` Systematic review of prospective cohort studies of psychosocial factors in the etiology and prognosis of coronary heart disease ''. Seminars in Vascular Medicine. 2 ( 3 ) : 267 -- 314. doi : 10.1055 / s - 2002 - 35401. Jump up ^ Philip Morris Inc. `` Deposition of Robert D. Verhalen, Dr P.H., September 29, 1998, Northwest Laborers - Employees Health & Security Trust Fund v. Philip Morris Inc. '' Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. Retrieved 13 November 2013. Jump up ^ `` Bates, K.L. ( 2006 ). Type A personality not linked to heart disease ''. Retrieved 2006 - 11 - 05. Jump up ^ Williams, R.B. ( 2001 ). Hostility : Effects on health and the potential for successful behavioral approaches to prevention and treatment. In A. Baum, T.A. Revenson & J.E. Singer ( Eds. ) Handbook of Health Psychology. Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum. Jump up ^ Grossarth - Maticek, R., & Eysenck, H.J., & Vetter, H., 1988 Jump up ^ Grossarth - Maticek R. ; Eysenck H.J. ; Vetter H. ( 1988 ). `` Personality Type, Smoking Habit and Their Interaction as Predictors of Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease ''. Personality and Individual Differences. 9 : 479 -- 495. doi : 10.1016 / 0191 - 8869 ( 88 ) 90125 - 0. Jump up ^ Grossarth - Maticek R. ; Eysenck H.J. ( 1991 ). `` Creative Novation Behaviour Therapy as a Prophylactic Treatment for Cancer and Coronary Heart Disease : I. Description of Treatment ''. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 29 : 1 -- 16. doi : 10.1016 / s0005 - 7967 ( 09 ) 80002 - 8. ^ Jump up to : Eysenck, H.J. ( 1986 ). Smoking and Health. In R. Tollison ( Ed. ), Smoking and Health ( pp. 17 - 88 ). Lexington, MA : Lexington Jump up ^ Šmigelskas K, Žemaitienė N, Julkunen J, Kauhanen J ( 2015 ). `` Type A behavior pattern is not a predictor of premature mortality ''. Int J Behav Med. 22 : 161 -- 9. doi : 10.1007 / s12529 - 014 - 9435 - 1. PMID 25169700. Jump up ^ Henrotte JG ( 2013 - 03 - 25 ). `` Type A behavior and magnesium metabolism ''. Magnesium. 5 : 201 -- 10. PMID 3523058. ^ Jump up to : Ball, Samuel, A. ; Kranzler, Henry, R. ; Tennen, Howard ; Poling, James, C. ; Rounsaville, Bruce, J. ( 1998 ). `` Personality disorder and dimension differences between type a and type b substance abusers ''. Journal of personality disorders. 12 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 12. doi : 10.1521 / pedi. 1998.12. 1.1. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Personality theories Biospheric model of personality Cognitive - affective personality system Constructivism ( psychological school ) Distressed personality type Ego psychology Hypostatic model of personality Nature versus nurture Personal construct theory Personality Assessment System Personality systematics Personology Phenomenal field theory Positive Disintegration Psychological behaviorism Self monitoring Situationism ( psychology ) Trait theory Two - factor models of personality Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory&oldid=854580882 '' Categories : Ischemic heart diseases Personality typologies Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL CS1 maint : Uses authors parameter Articles with short description Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from March 2018 All articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Eesti فارسی Français Norsk Русский 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 12 August 2018, at 10 : 57 ( UTC ). 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Question: which type of personality is more prone to stress
Answer: Type A