Type B Personality Essay

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INTRODUCTION In the 1950s a study conducted by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and R.H. Rosenman connected two personality types to heart disease risk.They came up with a theory that best illustrates two opposing personality types Type A and Type B.The types define two sets of behavioral and emotional tendencies, which could raise or lower a person’s chance of acquiring coronary heart disease(CHD) or other health related issues. This paper would mainly focus on the comparison between Type A and Type B personality.Subsequently,this paper would aim on criticism received by the theory connecting personality with the chance of having CHD. FRIEDMAN & ROSENMAN’S LONGITUDINAL STUDY (1974) The study consisted of 3200 participants (all men) .They all were given questionnaires and from their responses and their manner, each participant was put into one of two groups: Type A -they are competitive, ambitious, impatient, aggressive, fast talking Type B-they are relaxed, non-competitive. Eight years later it was observed that 257 of the participants had developed CHD. 70% of these had originally been classed as Type A. The conclusion to be drawn from this study was that there may be a link between behaviour (or personality) with CHD. TYPE A TYPE B COMPARISION Psychologists identified three major components that appear to make up the type A trait.Firstly,type A people have a higher competitive achievement striving than type B people.Type A people work work harder at achievement tasks regardless of outside pressure ,such as deadlines.Secondly,Type A individuals show a sense of time urgency.They feel time is important and shouldn’t be wasted.Whereas Type B people may procrastinate ,Type A’s jump right in.Studies find that Type A students volu... ... middle of paper ... ...ealth problems.According to several research’s ,the hostility component of the Type A behaviour is only the significant risk factor.[ Bunde & Suls,2006;Krantz & McCeney,2002] Statisticians have argued that the original study by Friedman and Rosenman had serious limitations, including large and unequal sample sizes, and less than 1% of the variance in relationship explained by Type A personality.[ http://fileserver.net-texts.com/asset.aspx?dl=no&id=10756] CONCLUSION Despite the criticism faced by the Type theory ,there might be a connection between a personality trait and the chance of getting coronary heart disease.From the initial studies it might be observed that Type A people are more likely to get CHD.But on further research it may be argued that the hostility component alone of the Type A behaviour may be the personality factor increasing the chances of CHD.

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