Week 5 Lecture 8 - personality and physical health

Question 1

What did a study that looked at the 5 year survival rates for recipients of ‘Medicare’ aged 65-100 yrs find?

Answer 1

• those high in conscientiousness had higher rates of survival
• were half as likely to die

Question 2

What are the 4 potential pathways between personality and health?

Answer 2

• direct causation
• correlational
• causal change
• somatogenic

Question 3

Friedman and Rosenman (1959):
Looked at personality factors that predict cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

What did they conclude?

Answer 3

• Type A ——— Type B
• on a continuum

Type A:
- competitive, driven, impatient, anger, hostility

Type B:
- relaxed, take life as it comes

• Type A had increased risk of CVD

Question 4

What are 2 ways of measuring Type A personality?

Answer 4

• Original ‘challenging’ interview-based measure mainly captured anger & hostility components
• Self-report ‘Jenkins Activity Survey’ (Jenkins, Zyzanski & Rosenman, 1979) covers broader range of components –> also captured components of impatience and time available

Question 5

What did a meta-analysis on Type A personality and CVD risk find?

Answer 5

• A significant but modest effect of Type A on CVD
• Differences in results related to inconsistencies in personality assessments used

Question 6

Glass separated Type A personality into 3 components

What were they?

Answer 6

• competitively striving for achievement
• sense of urgency
• hostility –> seen as most toxic

Question 7

What did a meta-analysis by Chida & Steptoe (2009) conclude? (type A)

Answer 7

Anger and hostility are significantly associated with heart disease incidence & prognosis

Question 8

Apart from Type A - Type B, what other “disease-prone” personality types are there?

Answer 8

Cancer-prone –> Type C:
- Kissen & Eysenck –> high E, Low N
- supresses and represses emotions

Distressed –> Type D:
- Denollet
- depressed and socially inhibited

Question 9

Is there evidence for Type C?

Answer 9

• little convincing evidence
• much of Eysenck’s subsequent work on this topic considered questionable

Question 10

Is there evidence for Type D?

Answer 10

• poorer recovery from heart attack and increased risk of future heart problems

Question 11

Is there a link between conscientiousness and longevity?

Answer 11

yes

Question 12

What are 2 potential mechanisms behind the link between conscientiousness and longevity?

Answer 12

Causal behavioural chain mechanism:
- C –> healthy behaviours –> increased longevity

Causal biological chain mechanism:
- C –> better coping mechanisms –> lowers interleukin-6 –> increased longevity

Question 13

What is high C associated with?

Answer 13

• fewer daily stressors
• better coping if stressors are experienced

Question 14

What can high N lead to?

Answer 14

reduced longevity

Question 15

Is the evidence that high N leads to reduced longevity clear?

Answer 15

no
- Some confounding of socio-economic status (SES).
- Some inconsistent results

Question 16

In what cases can N lead to increased longevity?

Answer 16

“healthy N”
- high anxiety but low depression and vulnerability
- engagement in preventative behaviours

Question 17

How has E been linked to longevity?

Answer 17

Chapman, Roberts & Duberstein (2011):
- Mixed results for extraversion.
- Different effects of specific facets…
- Positive associations between E and mortality partly explained by smoking.

Ploubidis & Grundy (2009)
- 9003 people completed EPI
- 5755 followed up 20 years later
- Higher E associated with increased mortality

-Excitement-seeking/ impulsivity facets associated with destructive addictive behaviours

Question 18

What evidence is there for protective effects of extraversion?

Answer 18

Weiss et al. (2013): Some evidence for:
- warmth, positive emotions –> more social ties + support, active and engaged life
- increased longevity

• E –> increased immune functioning

Question 19

Weiss et al. (2012):
- Personality ratings of 283 captive Western Mountain Gorillas
- Rated on ‘Gorilla Behavior Index’ in 1993

What traits were they rated on?

Answer 19

Extraversion
- Active: moves a lot
- Playful: initiates play and joins in when play is solicited.
- Sociable: seeks companionship of others

Dominance
- Strong: depends on sturdiness and muscular strength.

Fearful (N)
- Insecure: hesitates to act alone

Understanding (A)
- Protective: prevents harm or possible harm to others

Question 20

Weiss et al. (2012) examined personality predictors of survival for extraverted goriilas

What was found?

Answer 20

E May represent:
- Immune functioning
- Stronger social ties/support
- Lower cardiovascular disease

Protective effects of extraversion are ‘old’

Question 21

Is openness to experienced linked to longevity?

Answer 21

• Good evidence for positive association with longevity
• Mechanism unclear.
• role of cognitive reserve –> resilience to effects of neural disease or injury

Question 22

Waxman et al. (2013) found that Very/Extremely low birth weight (V/E LBW) were associated with which adult personality

Answer 22

Lower E and O
Higher N, A, C
Higher ‘Cautiousness’

Question 23

What were the potential mechanisms behind Waxman et al. (2013) findings? (LBW babies)

Answer 23

• Extra-uterine brain development
• Subsequent illness
• Higher parental monitoring and behavioural restrictions

Question 24

In a meta analysis, Jokela et al. (2014) examined the impact of chronic disease(s) on Big 5 traits

What was found?

Answer 24

• ‘Dose-dependent’ decreases in E, ES(N), C & O.
• Disease-specific effects greatest changes for stroke.
• Least change for cancer.

Question 25

What are some potential mechanisms behind the findings of the meta-analysis by Jokela et al. (2014)?

Answer 25

• Neural function
• Coping with distress and challenges of disease (N).
• Fatigue (E).
• Lowered ability to organise life (C)

Question 26

What are some practical applications of examining the relationship between personality and physical health?

Answer 26

Hagger-Johnson and Pollard Whiteman (2008): The 5 Ts:
- Targeting campaigns to personality traits.
- Tailoring interventions to personality profiles
- Personality ‘Training’
- ‘Treatment’ of personality…
- (recording) Transformation