Individual Differences in Stress, Personality Types

• define personality

  - the combination of characteristics or qualities that forman individual's distinctive character
• type A personality

  - time pressured/conscious/urgent

  - excessive competitiveness

  - anger
• type B personality

  considered to be a healthier personality type

  - patient

  - relaxed

  - non competitiveness

  - tolerant
• how do Type A individuals respond to stress?

  - respond more negatively to stressful situations than TypeB's

  - more likely to have their 'fight or flight' response set off by things in their environment
• what does this response do to Type A individuals?

  - more likely to have the stress hormones present in their bodies

  - over a long period of time can increase their risk of suffering from a range of stress-related illness

  - due to immunosuppression and wear/tear of the CV system
• procedure, Friedman + Rosenman (1974)

  - 3.2k cali men, 39-59 yrs old, interviewed and classified as type A, B, X

  - behaviour assessed through structured interview

  - ppts asked 25 q's about everyday pressures: impatience, competitiveness, motivation for success

  - followed for 8.5 yrs, longitudinal
• how was the interview conducted? (Friedman + Rosenman)

  - conducted in a provocative manner in an attempt to elicit Type A behaviours

  - eg: deliberately interrupted them, spoke slowly and sensitively

  - to see how they would react and note down any behavioural signs of Type A
• findings, Friedman + Rosenman

  - Type A found to be more prone to CHD, independent of lifestyle factors

  - 257/3200 men suffered CHD

  - 70% (of 257) were Type A individuals

  - 30% (of 257) were Type B individuals
• conclusions, Friedman + Rosenman

  - Type A behaviour increases vulnerability to heart disease, suggesting psychological factors can have physiological effects

  - stressors are not harmful in themselves: it is how people perceive and react to them that is potentially dangerous for health
• quantitative findings, Friedman + Rosenman

  - heart attacks: Type A = 12.8%, Type B = 6.0%

  - recurring heart attacks: Type A = 2.6%, Type B = 0.8%

  - fatal heart attacks: Type A = 2.7%, Type B = 1.1%

  Type A's more likely to smoke and have a family history of CHD, inc. their risk
• A03, Friedman + Rosenman

  - those who don't possess elements of hardiness may be less protected against the negative effects of stress

  - gender biased: androcentric, behaviour + attributes of Type A are very 'masculine'

  - not an experimental study, cause and effect cannot be established
• type C personality

  - strongly suppress emotions, particularly negative ones

  - introverted, sensitive, thoughtful, conformist, unassertive (avoid confrontation)
• what are Type C prone to?

  - developing certain cancers, depression and illnesses associated with immunosuppressive
• research into Type C: procedure, Morris et al. (1981)

  - over a period of 2 yrs, women attending a cancer clinic in London

  - 75 women were interviewed, asked about how often they expressed: affection, unhappiness by crying or losing control when angry, to assess typical patterns of emotional behaviour

  - interviewer not aware of initial diagnosis of cancer
• findings, Morris et al.

  - women with cancerous breast lumps were also found to have reported they both experience and expressed far less anger (Type C) than women with non-cancerous lumps
• conclusions, Morris et al.

  - this supports the idea of a link between cancer and the suppression of anger
• A03, Type C research

  - studies considered as unethical, might cause further distress to ill women

  - practical applications: help reduce Type C women developing cancer
• hardy personality

  - enables people to cope better with stress, supposedly encourages resilience; protecting them against negative effects of stress

  - associated with lower physiological arousal in presence of stressors
• the 3 C's, Kobasa (the hardy personality)

  - control

  - commitment

  - challenge
• define control: the hardy personality

  hardy people see themselves in control of their lives

  - feel a sense of personal control over what they're doing

  - actively strive to influence environments rather than bing controlled by external factors
• define commitment: the hardy personality

  hardy people are involved in the world around them

  - eg: relationships, activities, selves

  - commutes to what they're doing and have a strong sense of self and purpose
• define challenge: the hardy personality

  see problems as challenges to be overcome and mastered, rather than threats or stressors

  - see change as expected and an opportunity for development
• procedure, Kobasa (1979)

  - 800 middle/upper male executives contacted and asked to identify life event they had experienced in last 3 yrs (using slight adapt of SRRS)

  - asked to list any illness episodes experienced in this tike

  - high stress/low illness = 86 ppts, high stress/high illness = 75 ppts

  - 3 months later the final ppts asked to complete several personality tests, including assessments of the 3 C's
• findings, Kobasa (1979)

  - individuals in high stress/low illness scored high on all 3 characteristics of hardy personality

  - high stress/high illness scored lower on those variables
• conclusions, Kobasa (1979)

  - this research suggests that some highly stressed individuals do not experience illness as they have a hardy personality, which encourages resilience
• A03, Kobasa

  - gender bias (androcentric), research only involves males
• evaluating hardiness

  - social desirability bias, due to the use of self report questionnaires

  - research has questioned the extent to which 'hardiness' is a personality type, some argue control is the key factor
• what is the potential problem with labelling people as being Type A, B, C or Hardy types?

  - could lead to self-fulfilling prophecies, where individuals adopt the characteristics ascribed to the label put upon them