Stress-Personality and Stress

Question 1

What is personality?

Answer 1

Set of characteristic behaviours, attitudes and general temperament that remain relatively stable and distinguish one individual from another

Question 2

What are individual differences in stress?

Answer 2

Personality types : A, B and C

Question 3

What did Friedman and Rosenman (1959) look into?

Answer 3

They looked into role personality; type a b and c

Question 4

How did Friedman and Rosenman look into this and what did they do to achieveit?

Answer 4

• While interviewing their participants they kept on interrupting to see what they would do
• They used interviews and self-report

Question 5

What did Friedman and Rosenman end up finding?

Answer 5

• They found that Type A participants were competitive, hostile and ambitious- demonstrating many different characteristics such as: impatience, workaholism and always rushing around
• Type B participants were non-competitive relaxed and easy going

Question 6

What is Type A linked to?

Answer 6

• Time urgency
• Impatience
• Hostility and aggression
• Can lead to high blood pressure and raised stress hormones; leading to coronary heart disease

Question 7

What further study supports Type A personality leading to CHD?

Answer 7

Myrek (2001) carried out meta-analysis of 35 studies on topic; found association between CHD and a component of Type A personality

Question 8

What is a Type C personality traits?

Answer 8

• Poor self-motivation
• Please others at own expense, often depressed
• People pleasers, strive to be compliant, patient and self-sacrificing
• Wish to avoid conflict by suppressing negative emotions
• Incur risk of cancer

Question 9

What is Patrick Datorre et Al’s research for Type C?

Answer 9

1) -Studied 200 veterans of Vietnam war
2) -75 cancer patients and rest was control group of non-cancer
3) -All completed scales to measure repression of emotions and symptoms of depression years before they were diagnosed

Question 10

What was found as a result of Patrick Datorre et al’s research?

Answer 10

• Researchers found cancer patients reported significantly greater emotional repression and fewer depression symptoms than non-cancer controls
• Supports view that people who repress their emotions are unlikely to acknowledge they are depressed
• Evidence of link between Type C and cancer-proneness

Question 11

What was the link between Type A’s behaviour and CHD study called and what was the procedure?

Answer 11

Friedman and Rosenman (1959-1974)
1)-At the beginning of the longitudinal study, approx 3000 men aged 39-59 living in Cali were examined for signs of CHD and their personalities assessed by interview

2) -Interview consisted of 25 questions about how they respond to everyday pressures e.g. respondents asked how they would cope with having to wait in a long queue
3) -Interview conducted in provocative manner to try to elicit Type A behaviour e.g. interviewer might speak slowly and hesitant to someone Type A may want to interrupt
4) -On basis of interview, participants classed as Type A or B

Question 12

What were the findings of Friedman and Rosenman (1959-74) CHD to Type A study?

Answer 12

• After 8 1/2 years, 257 original participants developed CHD
• Types A’s had higher blood pressure and higher cholesterol
• Twice as many Type A participants died of cardiovascular problems

Question 13

What was the conclusion of the CHD study by Friedman and Rosenman?

Answer 13

Type A behaviour pattern increases individual’s experience of stress, which increases physiological reactivity, and that in turn increases vulnerability to CHD