Type A Personality: Characteristics and Related Factors

Type A personality is a category used to describe a particular type of stress response. It is a proposal that arose in the 50s, when two cardiologists wanted to study the relationship between some personality traits and the development of heart disease.

Currently, the type A personality is one of four personality patterns (there are also B, C, and D) that we They have served to describe how people relate to each other and how we react to external factors. Next We will see what a type A personality is like and what is its relationship with cardiovascular diseases, as well as the investigations that have related them.

• Related article: "The main theories of personality"

Type A Personality Characteristics

The classification we know as “type A personality” was suggested by American cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Raymond Rosenman in the 50's.

In very general terms, what they observed was that a set of responses to stress, such as competitiveness, a sense of constant urgency, and hostility (what they called Type A Personality), are related to a greater probability of developing coronary heart disease and a higher blood pressure high.

Although they limited themselves to relating the response to stress and heart disease, their classification has now been taken up and conceptualized as a set of behavioral responses known as the Type A Personality Pattern either Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP).

1. competitiveness

TABP is characterized by a tendency towards competitiveness, which makes the person always self-critical and that seeks to achieve its objectives for the satisfaction of fulfilling them, rather than for the fact of enjoying the process.

That is, the competitiveness is related to consistent experiences of success, because it implies a disciplined personality and allows goals to be met, but it can also be a permanent stressor.

• You may be interested in: "6 tricks to deal with very competitive people"

2. sense of urgency

It is a personality that seems to be always “against the clock”, with an overload of work and with a permanent need to comply with rules and schedules. They are people who do many things at the same time and always "on time", therefore, the moments that are not considered as "productive" can generate a lot of anxiety.

For the same reason, they tend to be impatient people who they are very involved in their work activities and that they tend to overreact at times, for example, when things don't go as planned.

3. Hostility

The previous characteristic is related to the fact that the person frequently highlights the negative more than the positive of others and of circumstances, developing constant frustration, and even a lack of empathy, or in the worst case, a behavior aggressive. The consequence is that the person is almost always perceived as hostile or that she is always angry.

In sum, the Type A personality implies a success orientation with a tendency toward competitiveness, a sense of urgency, and a low tolerance for frustration. They tend to be ambitious, extremely hard-working and demanding people who commit themselves to several activities at the same time, which they consider urgent and therefore generate constant tension.

Other personality patterns: Type B, C and D

While investigating Type A personality patterns, Friedman and Rosenman found that not all Type A personalities are the same. So, they proposed that the type A personality could be either A-1 or A-2; and it could also be type B, which included subtypes B-3 and B-4.

To explain it better, let's imagine a straight line in which one end has the letter A and the other end the letter B, and in the middle are the codes A-1, A-2, B-3 and B-4. We would find the type A personality, and the A-1 subtype at the first extreme, which is the most notorious manifestation of the traits that we explained above.

The A-2 personality is the next segment, and refers to people who are less distressed and less competitively oriented. On the other hand, if the person is success oriented, but it is calmer than overloaded, then it is a type B-3 personality.

Finally, at the other end of the line we have the type B personality pattern, which is about a person who is perceived as more serene and peaceful (those would be type B-4 personalities).

However, the investigations that followed the studies by Friedman and Rosenman were not limited to studying the Type A personality, so four personality patterns are currently recognized: type A, type B, C, and type d.

Type A personality and heart disease

Friedman and Rosenman conducted a longitudinal study with 3,154 healthy men between the ages of 39 and 59 to whom they applied a questionnaire exploring emotional dimensions and some lifestyles, from which they categorized the type A personality traits.

Eight years later, 257 of the participants had developed coronary heart disease, and by the end of the research, 70% of those who had developed it were men who had type A personality patterns.

They also found was that the people who were in end A and end B they had very different blood pressure levels: very high values ​​at the first extreme and more normal values ​​at the second (250/130 mm. Hg and 155/95 mm. Hg. respectively).

Some limits in the investigation of the type A personality pattern

Are they should not be understood as closed, fixed or immovable categories, but as a continuum. In other words, we can find ourselves in type A or B at different times and depending on the demands of the environment.

For example, the same researchers found that people at the extreme of personality type A, they could be found more towards the extreme B during the weekends or when the routines were modified very demanding.

On the other hand, one of the limitations of the study is that it was only carried out with men, so its results cannot be fully applied to the female population (lifestyles, social demands and stress response are different).

Likewise, it has been found that there are other more decisive risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases, such as smoking, sedentary life or obesity.

Due to the above, and also due to the popularity it has gained in some sectors of both medicine and clinical psychology, type A personality is a theory that has been researched and updated constantly.

Bibliographic references

• McLeod, S. (2017). Type A Personality. Retrieved April 3, 2018. Available in https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-a.html
• Petticrew, M. Lee, K. & McKee, M. (2012). Type A Behavior Pattern and Coronary Heart Disease: Philip Morris's “Crown Jewel”. Am J Public Health, 102(11): 2018-2025.
• Friedmann, H. & Booth-Kewley, S. (1987). Personality, Type A Behavior, and Coronary Heart Disease: The Role of Emotional Expression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 53(4): 783-792.
• Friedmann, M. (1977). Type A behavior pattern: some of its pathophysiological component. Bull. no. And Acad. Med. 53(7): 593-604.
• Rosenmann, R. & Friedmann, M. (1977). Modifying type a behavior pattern. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 21(4): 323-331.