Personality Types^ Flashcards
Friedman
Type A
- hostile, competitive
- high levels = vulnerable to coronary heart disease
Type B
- relaxed, tolerant
Friedman & Rosenman
Western Collaborative Group Study (WCGS)
prospective study of 3000+ men in California
medically assessed, free of CHD at start
PT assessed with 25 q’s in a structured interview
- q’s phrased to elicit TA responses (aggressive, interrupt)
8 and half yrs later, 257 got CHD
- 70% were TA
- twice as many as TB who got CHD
TA: high stress hormones, blood pressure and cholesterol
Type C
Temoshok
people pleaser
passive, self-sacrificing to avoid conflict
repress emotions (some think can lead to cancer)
traits raise physiological response than increase vulnerability to CHD
Dattore et al
prospective study
studied 200 veterans from the Vietnam War
75 had cancer VS rest in CG
scales to measure repression of emotions and symptoms of depr years before diagnosis
Cancer group had more emo repression and less depr symptoms than CG
Problems With Type A Concept
TA concept is too broad
researchers focused on hostile component to explain link between stress and CHD
Carmelli et al
- analysed 27 year follow up data from WCGS
- higher CHD related death rates in subgroup of men with high hostile scores
not the broad TA that is linked with illness but the hostile component
Contradictory Type C Evidence
proof challenges role of TC in cancer
Greer & Morris
- found link between breast cancer and emo suppression of TC
- but link was only in women under 50
research has inconsistent findings
role of PT in cancer is not clear, varies with age and bio factors
Real World Applications
Type A & B can improve health
Ragland & Brand
- follow up men from the WCGS who survived HA
- death rate for TB survivors > TA death rate
- could be due to TA being more likely to change their beh after HA
VS Real World Applications
all P from the original study were men
findings would not apply to women and their response to stress
beta bias - women are ignored
ethonocentric - centre on California
Type A & B (AO3)
link between PT and SRD is inconsistent
limits its practical use
can’t determine who will have SRD based on their personality types
