Assessment of conceptual tempo in the type A (coronary prone) behavior pattern

Personality Correlates of the Matching Familiar Figures Test in Adults

The Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) measures a dimension of cognitive style known as reflection-impulsivity. Interpretations of the MFFT sometimes supplement its cognitive implications with one of two personality models, impulsivity and/or ego-resilience. Both models have received some research support from studies that used preadolescent subjects. The applicability of these two personality models to adults was evaluated in this research. In three studies on college students, one personality characteristic within the ego-resilience position, independent-oriented achievement, was found to differentiate between impulsive and reflective scorers on the MFFT. No support was found for the impulsivity position. Implications were drawn for the influence of personality on the MFFT.

The protestant work ethic and type A behaviour: a pilot study

40 adult subjects completed three measures of the Protestant Work Ethic and a multidimensional measure of the Type A behaviour pattern. The only consistent pattern of correlations was between the "hard-driving" subscale of the Type A measure and all three total PWE scores for Protestant Work Ethic. Results are discussed in terms of the constituent parts of both concepts.

Type A personality, self-control, and vulnerability to stress

Type A behavior (hard-driving, competitive, time-urgent, hostile-irritable) has been linked to high stress levels and the risk of eventual cardiovascular problems (i.e., coronary heart disease, CHD). However, this pattern of behavior closely resembles the traditional masculine instrumental (goal-oriented) orientation, and, if kept within limits, may be viewed as adaptive in success-oriented, middle-class college students. Hypothetically then, Type A behavior may be displayed by a broad group of individuals, and only in those cases when it is allowed to reach extreme proportions is stress sufficient enough to confer risk. This article considers two lines of reasoning. Is greater self-control required for college women to be Type As, because it involves crossing into traditional male role behavior? Type A women displayed significantly better self-control then Type B women; the opposite result was disclosed for college men with Type As displaying poorer self-control than Type Bs. The question of whether risk-conferring Type A behavior would result from poorer self-control was answered in the affirmative. Self-control assumed moderator status; poorer self-control in both male and female Type As was associated with high levels of day-to-day stress relative to Type As with better self-control. Self-control did not influence stress level in Type Bs. This moderator effect suggests that only Type As who cannot contain their behavior within adaptive limits will be vulnerable to excessive stress and at risk for CHD.

Psychophysiology of type A behavior pattern: a critical analysis

Based on an analysis of 45 studies recently reported in the literature and data from a psychophysiological investigation, the hypothesized physiological mechanisms underlying Type A behavior and the methods used to determine Type A behavior (e.g., Structured Interview, SI, and the Jenkins Activity Survey, JAS) are tested. After determining behavior type with both the SI and JAS, subjects (N = 58 physical-education students) participated in a laboratory/field experiment with two replications consisting of the following conditions: (1) rest, (2) mental arithmetic, (3) reaction time test, (4) preparing and giving a speech, (5) Cold Pressor Test, (6) bicycle ergometric exercise, and (7) 1000 m run. Blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, ventricular ejection time, pulse volume amplitude, pulse transit time, pulse wave velocity, electrodermal activity, respiratory volume, oxygen uptake, and uric catecholamine levels were measured. Results of the analysis of the literature indicate that, with the exception of change scores on systolic blood pressure, mean differences on the physiological measures exhibited by Type A and B men are primarily not significant. The Structured Interview shows only a modest inter-rater reliability. The Jenkins Activity Survey demonstrates relatively low stability upon retest and fails to show sufficient internal consistency. Correlations between these measures are low. No consistent differences on physiological measures could be found in our subjects based on behavior type (according to SI or JAS criteria), although the challenging conditions were selected to elicit Type A behavior. Four our data, differences between Types A and B were also not found for systolic blood pressure, regardless of which behavioral assessment method was employed.

The A type behaviour pattern, mental health and health locus of control beliefs

Despite the fact that a considerable amount of research has considered the relationship between A type behaviours and specific aspects of physical health few studies have looked at the relationship between A type behaviours, mental health and health beliefs. This study set out to determine the relationship between type A behaviours, psychological disturbance and various health locus of control beliefs in a heterogeneous population. It was hypothesized that although A type individuals would have higher disturbance scores, they would have higher internal locus of control beliefs across all subscale scores. The results showed that A type individuals had significantly higher mental distress scores than B types, however there was no relationship between health locus of control beliefs and the A type behaviour pattern. The findings are discussed in terms of the coping strategies of the A type individual.