Stress - 6. Individual Differences in Stress Flashcards
3 types of personality
Type A, B and C
Personality type A
Competitive
Time urgent
Impatient
Hostile
Aggressive
Traits of a perfectionist
Why are personality type A individuals vulnerable to stress-related illness?
Because their traits are believed to lead to high blood pressure and raised stress hormones, which can lead to coronary heard disease
In order to keep up with high pace of life, more adrenaline is released throughout the day
Personality type B
Relaxed
Do one thing at a time
Patient
Expresses feelings
Very laid back
Personality type B and stress-related illness
Less vulnerable to stress-related illness
Personality type C
Poor self-motivation
Helplessness
Cognitive distortion where perception of failure repeatedly overt comes protests of success
Passive (wait to be told what to do)
External locus of control
Emotional dysfunction
Self-sacrificing
Personality type C and stress-related illness
Suppression of negative emotions causes fight or flight response to repeatedly get triggered and immune suppression
Who carried out research into the role of personality on the effects of stress?
Friedman and Rosenman
Friedman and Rosenman carried out interviews with their participants where they kept on interrupting their participants to see how they would react. How did Type A participants react and how did Type B participants react?
Type A were competitive and demonstrated impatience when being interrupted
Type B were laid back and didn’t react to interruptions
What did Friedman and Rosenman use to determine the personality type of their participants?
They used their responses to interruptions during structured interviews
Participants split into type A, type B or type X (combination of A and B)
Of original 3200 participants in Friedman and Rosenman’s study, how many developed CHD within 8.5 years of the study? What percentage of these individuals were classified as Type A?
Of original 3200, 257 participants had developed CHD during 8.5 years
70% of the 257 participants were classified as type B
What did Type A participants have higher levels of compared to Type B participants in Friedman and Rosenman’s study?
Higher levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cholesterol
Higher blood pressure
More likely to smoke
Negative evaluation of Friedman and Rosenman’s study
Only men used in study (gender and beta-bias)
Only correlation established
Who carried out research into personality type C?
Datore et al
Procedure of Datore et Al’s study into personality type C and stress-related illness
Studied 200 men from Vietnam war
75 had cancer and remaining had no cancer diagnosis
Participants completed self-report questionnaire to measure their suppression of emotions and depression
Findings of Datore et Al’s study into personality type C and stress-related illness
Veterans diagnosed with cancer scored much higher on suppression of emotions but lower on depression scale compared to non-cancer group
Conclusion of Datore et Al’s study into personality type C and stress-related illness
Findings support idea that people who suppress their emotions may be more vulnerable to illness
Personality type C correlated to illness
Who coined the term hardy personality?
Kobasa
3 elements of Kobasa’s hardy personality
Commitment
Challenge
Control
Commitment element of Kobasa’s hardy personality
Hardy individuals show greater involvement in their work and personal relationships
100% effort goes into whatever they do
Strong sense of involvement in the world
Challenge element of Kobasa’s hardy personality
Stressful situations are seen as a challenge
Challenge seen as an opportunity for personal growth and development, rather than a stressor or threat
Control element of Kobasa’s hardy personality
Feel like they are in control of their lives and so are less likely to blame others for things
Similar to having internal locus of control
Are hardy people more or less likely to suffer from stress?
Less likely
How did Kobasa find out whether people have a hardy personality or not?
Developed a questionnaire which would identify how much control and commitment individuals had in their life, and whether or not they looked at different stressors as a challenge they could overcome
Kobasa’s research and findings
Studied 800 male American business executives assessing stress using Holme and Rahe’s SRRS
Some had high stress with low illness
Others had high stress with high illness
Kobasa gave the participants a personality test and found that those with high stress and low illness scored highly on all 3 hardiness characteristics
Real life application of hardiness personality
Applicants for US Navy Seals are screened for hardiness
Hardiness training has become widespread in US military
Lifton et al found that students with low hardiness were more likely to drop out of university than those with high hardiness (study of 5 US universities)
Evaluation of Kobasa’s hardiness personality
Kobasa’s research has potential investigator bias , investigator effects as research supports the hypothesis
