The ABC of stress and personality traits

Personalities can be categorized in many ways. One of these is a classification into opposing types A and B. Whereas most people have a mix of type A and type B traits, a clear type A personality implies heightened stress sensitivity. What characterizes Type A personality and is it linked to stress?

Type A compared with Type B personality trait

Type A and B personality traits are concerned with how people react to stress. Although the name implies a personality typology, it is more accurately conceptualized as a trait continuum, with Type-A and Type-B individuals at each end.

Type A personalities are distinguished by a constant sense of being pressed for time and a strong sense of competitiveness. Individuals with a Type A personality tend to be more stressed, dislike failure, and find it difficult to stop working even when they have achieved their goals.

Type A individuals are very competitive, are always pressed for time, and can be aggressive and hostile. This means that they are ready to do anything to achieve their goals, even if they have to harass other people. They are driven, hardworking and determined to succeed. They are frequently quick and decisive, with a natural tendency for multitasking. They may also be under a lot of stress. This led researchers originally to believe that people with type A personalities were more likely to develop heart disease, although this was later disputed. We will come back to this later.

Type B individuals, on the other hand, are more relaxed, patient, and easy-going. They are in everything the opposite of Type A individuals. They procrastinate, but can be hard workers as well. However, they do not stress out when particular goals have not been achieved.

How the theory about Type A and B personalities was born

Cardiologists Friedman and Rosenman discovered Type A behavior by chance when their waiting-room chairs needed to be reupholstered much sooner than expected. When the upholsterer arrived to do the work, he carefully examined the chairs and noticed that the upholstery had worn in an unusual pattern: "there's something different about your patients, I've never seen anyone wear out chairs like this."

Unlike most patients who patiently wait, the cardiac patients appeared unable to sit in their seats for long periods of time and wore out the chair arms. They sat on the edge of the seat and frequently leaped up.

However, the doctors dismissed this remark at first, and it wasn't until five years later that they began their formal research.

This behavior was classified as Type A personality by Friedman and Rosenman in 1976. They then conducted research to show that people with type A personalities are more likely to develop heart disease and high blood pressure than type Bs.

Although Friedman and Rosenman referred to it as "Type A personality," it is now thought of as a set of behavioral responses known as the Type A Behavior Pattern.

Some characteristics of Type A personality

Competitiveness. Type A personalities are competitive and self-critical. They strive for goals without taking pleasure in their efforts or accomplishments. This is linked to the presence of a significant life imbalance. This is distinguished by a high level of work involvement. Type A personalities are easily 'wound up' and have a tendency to overreact. They also have high blood pressure (hypertension).

Impatience and being pressed for time. Type A personalities are constantly pressed for time: Type A personalities appear to be constantly racing against the clock. They frequently become impatient with delays and unproductive time, schedule commitments too tightly, and attempt to multitask, such as reading while eating or watching television.

Hostility. Type A people are easily aroused to rage or hostility, which they may or may not express openly. Such people are prone to seeing the worst in others, displaying rage, envy, and a lack of compassion. When this behavior is manifested openly (i.e., physically), it usually involves aggression and possibly bullying. Hostility appears to be the most important risk factor for heart disease, and it is a better predictor than the Type A Behavior Pattern as a whole.

Type B and C personalities

The easygoing, patient, and easy-going demeanor of the type B personality is its distinguishing feature. People with a Type B personality prefer to work methodically, taking pleasure in their successes, but they do not usually become anxious when objectives are not met.

People with Type B personalities are typically more accepting of others, more laid-back than Type A people, more contemplative, less anxious, and show greater imagination and creativity.

Around the same time as Types A and B were described, Green and Morris introduced Type C. They found that this personality type is more prone than others to develop cancers. People with type C personalities are docile, patient, detail-oriented, and like to please  people. They repress desires, needs, and emotions, especially unpleasant ones like rage. This indicates that such a person also exhibits "pathological niceness," "conflict avoidance," "high social desirability," and "excessive compliance."

There is still a fourth personality type in the “ABC” classification, which is Type D. You can read more about Type D and stress in this article.

Type A and stress

In their research, Friedman and Rosenman found that people with a typical Type A personality profile had twice the risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those with a Type B personality. Individuals with Type A are more susceptible to having their environment trigger their " fight-or-flight" reaction. This is to say that even little problems that arise in their daily lives, at work or at home, trigger stress reactions.

The fight-or-flight response is a physiological response that takes place when we are in the face of anything that is physically or mentally alarming. It is generated by stress hormones, most notably adrenaline (epinephrine) and to a lesser extent, cortisol. Both are rapidly produced once a stressor is perceived. The fight-or-flight response allows you to actively combat or deal with the stressor, or to flee or withdraw from it.

Type A individuals have a higher likelihood of having stress hormones circulating in their blood, which over time results in a variety of stress-related disorders. Cardiovascular diseases are common diseases that are brought about by stress. This is because the stress hormones, especially adrenaline, put a lot of strain on the cardiovascular system. They make the heart beat faster and increase blood pressure.

Type A and B classification is oversimplified

Ever since Freedman and Rosenman have presented their theory about Type A and B personality traits, researchers have argued that the classification is too simple, and that the relationship between Type A and cardiovascular disease does not hold.

To start with the latter, Freedman and Rosenman have studied only adult males. Other researchers have later assessed whether the same personality traits could be found in women, and whether women with Type A are more at risk for cardiovascular disease. This turned out not to be the case. This may be related to the fact that women usually do not opt for the fight-or-flight response, but rather for the tend-or-befriend response. This is fundamentally different from the fight-or-flight response. It rather encompasses taking care of others rather than oneself as a mechanism to cope with stress. This is brought about by the hormone oxytocin, which has a calming and stress-reducing effect. 

Also, there are people who score high for the Type B personality trait, but are actually concealing their desires and anger (Type A characteristics). They could thus be Type A individuals erroneously classified as Type B individuals. Also, some people with type A personalities are motivated, balanced people who are unlikely to develop coronary heart disease.

Thus, as with all personality trait classifications, the division into Type A and Type B (and Type C and D), is not as simple as ABC. Human personalities are too complex to be categorized into well-defined groups. However, there are aspects of the description of the Type A personality that are useful to estimate whether you are prone to stress. This is mostly related to hostility, which has turned out to be a much more reliable predictor of coronary heart disease and stress than Type A personality per se. Also, hostility can be seen as the fight component of the fight-or-flight reaction, clearly linking hostility with stress. Thus, if you find yourself to be hostile towards others (perhaps difficult to admit?), know that your stress hormones are circulating at high concentration through your body. This does increase the risk for stress-related diseases.

If you recognize you are often aggressive towards others, try to unwind by listening to soothing music, take time for hobbies to take your mind off of stress, exercise and spend time with your family. Your mind and heart will thank you for it.