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The aim of this study was to assess quality of performance of attention-demanding task of Type A and Type B individuals and their emotional reactivity during the task. 38 individuals were selected to participate in a study from 226 undergraduate students and classified as Type A (n=19) or as Type B (n=19) on the basis of their scores on the Adolescent/Adult Type A Behavior Scale – 3. They performed ABQ test to measure their focus and attentiveness in three different situations: when giving basic instructions, when giving the instructions with time limitations and stimulus to compete and when criticizing while doing the task. The emotional reactivity during the performances of the task was evaluated using Emotional Assessment Scale. The results of the study showed better Type A students’ performance on tasks in all three situations comparing to Type B students. Students having Type A behaviour pattern reported higher level of competiveness when being given the instructions of time limitations and stimulus to compete and when criticizing their performance than Type B students. Moreover, Type A students reported having more anger while performing the task when being criticized than Type B students.

This paper reports some data on socio-demographic correlates of the Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) based on a sample of employed individuals in Papua New Guinea (PNG). A total of 356 participants aged 21–51 years (mean=33.9, S.D.=6.84) representing managerial, administrative, and technical jobs in two public sector organisations completed the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and a questionnaire on the socio-demographic profile of the participants. The results showed that participants, on average, self-reported much more as Type B's than Type A's compared to the JAS norms as is reported in the literature. However, the results on the effects of socio-demographic factors on the expression of the TABP revealed greater consistency with normative data and with expectations based on the literature. This finding minimised potential cultural considerations in favour of the theory that the ambient situation in which an individual dwells exerts stronger influence on the expression of the TABP. In this regard, socio-demographic factors play an important role in promoting the expressions of the TABP.

Measures of actual and reported physiological functioning were obtained from 39 white-collar workers under rest and bogus ultrasound conditions, with the latter condition being designed to focus their attention on internal physiological functioning. The actual physiological measures consisted of changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, skin resistance, and peripheral temperature, and there were corresponding self-report measures, as well as an assessment of reported stress. There were only modest relationships between actual and reported changes in physiological functioning, and there were very few effects of Type A and neuroticism on actual physiological changes. The attentional manipulation had more effect on Type As than on Type Bs for changes in reported heart rate, respiratory rate, sweat, and stress; it also had more effect on those low in neuroticism than those high in neuroticism for changes in reported sweat and stress, and there were similar (but non-significant) effects in the reported heart rate and respiratory rate data. Theoretical accounts of these findings for Type A behaviour pattern and neuroticism are discussed.

Emotional styles and coping strategies related to Type A behaviour in 364 healthy young men were examined. It was found that a global index of Type A behaviour was not a useful concept but the psychological nature of Type A behaviour could be understood through its different dimensions. At least two different sets of Type A components were found. The first represented a person who scored high on the Engagement-Involvement factor of Type A behaviour. He was characterized by a positive attitude toward emotions and an ability to perceive and express them adequately. When faced with stress he used problem-focused coping. The other type scored high on the Hard-driving factor of Type A behaviour. He was characterized by high discomfort with emotions and a proneness to express emotions through somatic symptoms. In stressful situations he used withdrawal. Depression was strongly included in that combination. It may be that rather than tha whole Type A behaviour pattern the last mentioned combination represents coronary-prone behaviour.

The present study examined several hypotheses concerning behavioural and physiological differences between Type A and B individuals when involved in a competitive driving game. The results showed Type As expressed a greater desire to win the competition than did Type B Ss and were more erratic and more careless in performing the task. This distinct style was salient when Type As were involved in competition. Furthermore Type As increased heart rate (HR) more than Type Bs during both competition and practice. Results are discussed in terms of assessing the Type A behaviour pattern for predicting driver performance and improving road safety. Possible implications of the present results for the modification of Type A are also discussed.

This investigation explored the conceptual and empirical linkages between the Protestant work ethic (PWE) and the Type A behaviour pattern (TABP). Considering the apparent similarities between these work-related variables, surprisingly little is known about the relationship between them. In one sample ( N = 214), a global Type A measure correlated significantly but weakly with the PWE, while in another ( N = 136) the nature of the PWE-TABP relationship depended on the particular TABP subscale under consideration; i.e. near-zero for “impatience-irritability” but positive for “achievement strivngs”. These findings are consistent with the earlier work of Furnham ( Psychological Reports, 66 , 323–328, 1990). Additional analysis suggests, however, that the overlap between these variables is attributable to the influence of the need for achievement. When the effects of this third variable are held constant, the PWE is orthogonal to the TABP.

Analysis of the moderating effects of private and public self-consciousness (PSC and PuSC) on the relationship between self-report measures of the Type A behaviour pattern and a structured interview measure of the pattern showed that the samples low in PSC and PuSC had stronger relationships between the variables than those high, contrary to expectations. The results are discussed in terms of the need to take account of other variables in the test situation.

Fifteen boys and eleven girls between three and six years of age were examined at a day-care center and at home as regards their catecholamine and cortisol excretion. Behaviour pattern was assessed by the MYTH-scale, which measures the competitiveness, impatience-anger and aggression components of the type A behaviour pattern in children (Matthews and Angulo, 1980). The boys obtained higher type A scores and excreted more adrenaline and noradrenaline than the girls, while cortisol excretion did not differ between the sexes. In view of previous findings, the results suggest that sex differences in catecholamine excretion in children are induced by sex related differences in behaviour. This relationship in childhood could be of relevance for sex differences in catecholamine responses observed in adulthood. In both sexes, adrenaline excretion was significantly elevated at the day-care center compared with the at-home levels, indicating that mental arousal was greater at the center. In a separate part of the study, eleven new children were tested while they were adjusting to the day-care situation; it was found that only noradrenaline levels during the first week at the center were significantly elevated.

The Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) has emerged as a predictor of reaction to stress in interaction with a range of task and environmental variables. This paper reports the results of two experimental studies to demonstrate that, in order to predict the role of the TABP, measured both by questionnaire and by structured interview in reaction to stress in demanding cognitive tasks, the influence of the nature of the feedback given to performers (success or failure at earlier stages of the task) and the degree to which the performers are aware of being observed directly (high versus low levels of manipulated self-awareness) need to be taken into account. The nature of the internal standards that people who, to a greater or less extent possess the TABP, must be known before predictions can be made about how performance will be affected.

Although the concept of arousal has led to the development of various psychological constructs, and instruments for measuring them, few attempts have been made to investigate the relationship between more than two of these measures in a moderately large heterogeneous population. This study set out to compare measures of extraversion, sensation seeking, stimulus screening and the Type A behaviour pattern. Subscale, as well as total scale, scores were intercorrelated. The results showed that all the measures correlated significantly positively but that the highest correlations were between the subscale scores on the various tests. The implications for individual-difference measurement are considered.

This study examines the possibility that Type A behaviour is related to physique, and thus, is secondary to physique as a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Scores on a modified version of the 1966 Jenkins Activity Survey were correlated with a number of physical parameters. Age was found to have the highest correlation of -0.177. When the effects of age were adjusted for, only 7.1% of variation in JAS scores was explained by the body measurements used to define physique. In addition, when high and low scorers on the JAS were compared, no significant differences were found between the groups on any of the body measurements. Since this study found no significant relationship between JAS scores and physique, the results do not controvert the supposition that Type A behaviour is an independent risk factor for CHD.

Early views of the Type A behaviour pattern (TABP) sought to disengage it from either neuroticism or emotional distress. Recent evidence challenging these views has, however, recommended a reevaluation of the area. Data arising from the present study indicate the TABP to be statistically related to measures of both neuroticism and emotional distress, though whether this association extends to a conceptional similarity, particularly with the former, is a matter for further discussion.