Effect Of Personality On Stress- type A and B Flashcards
What was the aim of their research?
To see if stressed personality types were more likely to get coronary heart disease than less stressed personality types
Who studied different personality types?
Friedman and rosenman
How old were the participants? Which gender? How many?
3200 49-59 males
How was the sample attained
By responding to an advertisement
How did they study the participants?
Through observations and interviews (structured to measure impatience, competitiveness and hostility)
What were the traits of a type A1 personality?
Type A1- high levels of impatience, hostility and competitiveness.
Work against the clock and multitask. Show irritation and impatience in others.
Unhappy doing nothing
play to win
Measure achievement through productivity
Self critical
Hostile to outside world and direct anger inward
What are the traits of a type A2 personality?
Show some characteristics of type A, but not all
What are the traits of a type X personality?
Equal amounts of type A and type B
What are the traits of a type B personality?
More relaxed
Show lower levels of hostility, impatience and competitiveness
Not so driven to succeed or impress
When were the men assessed again to see if they have coronary heart disease ?
8 years later
How many men had coronary heart disease? What is the result as a percentage of type A men?
257 had CHD, 70% were type A
What other factors did they take into account?
Smoking, obesity, blood pressure. All these factors are linked to CHD
Which personality types had higher levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline? What does this suggest?
Type A, suggesting that personality type is linked to stress
What can be concluded by this study?
It is thought that the way different personalities experience stress is the issue
Type As release more stress chemicals, because of how the mind experiences the situation- they are competitive so they get stressed when they lose
They get angry easily leading to a increased heart rate
The stress chemicals inhibit the digestive system, causing higher cholesterol levels which could increase chances of CHD
What are the practical applications of the study?
Can advise type A people lifestyle changes to reduce their risk
How is assessing personalities through 2 methods a strength?
It makes the results more reliable
Give a strength to the study?
Many extraneous variables were controlled so it’s easy to see a cause and effect relationship between personality type and CHD
Does the study have population validity?
No because the participant were only American males. We don’t know how personality type affects women. The study may also be culture bias as it doesn’t tell us about any other culture
How is it a weakness that they did observations and interviews?
The results may be affected by interviewer/observer effects and by interviewer/observer bias
What is a weakness to Friedman’s and rosenman’s study?
Not all extraneous variables were controlled eg support at home, major life events which could affect results
