Type A Personality Description

Type A personality description is a theory that describes a behavior pattern and is a popular theory. The opposite of the type A is the Type B personality. The type B personality indivduals are patient, relaxed and easy-going people. They lack the sense of urgency and are often thought to be apathetic and disengaged individuals. In this article we will cover the type A personality traits and try to learn more about such individuals.

Type A Personality Symptoms

Dr. Meyer Friedman and his colleague R.H. Rosenman worked together and developed a theory about the type A individual behavior. They gave the following type A traitss that help express the behavior of an individual under this personality type.

• The type A personality has an insufficient level of self-esteem and have an intrinsic insecurity. This forms the major cause of development of this personality type. This trait is covert and therefore, is not easily observed by others.
• These people are easily irritated and exasperated due to urgency in time and impatience.
• Minor incidents can lead to free-floating hostility in these individuals.

The sense of impatience and easily impatient behavior were found to be at risk in development of heart diseases and heart attacks by Friedman and Rosenman. Thus, heart attack and type A personality traits became synonyms of each other due to this theory put forward by the duo.

Assessment of Type A Personality

The type A assessment is usually a 15 minute interview that examines verbal and nonverbal behavior. This was a time-consuming personality test and was taken over by a new assessment method put forward by Jenkins activity survey. This was a paper and pencil questionnaire and was published for the first time in 1979. This method is a highly debatable indicator of Type A personality, as many researchers question the validity as it does not assess the nonverbal behavior that is one of the major indicators of type A traits.

Description of Type A Personality

By now, you must have got an idea that the type A personality description has something to do with a competitive and work obsessed individual. The term type A is commonly used for people who are rude or impatient or those who are highly competitive. The following description of type A traits can be called the hallmark features of this personality behavior.

• Impatience and Time Urgency: These people tend to get frustrated with everything that makes them wait, even a bit longer than usual. They hate lines, getting stuck in traffic, will fight with the receptionist if the appointment does not begin at the scheduled time. They tend to walk at a rapid pace, always aware of time and feel they never have enough time to spare.
• Aggressiveness: These people are found to be rude, impatient and get easily upset over little things. They are very competitive and have a strong sense of achievement.

This description of type A personality shows that the extra stress that these individuals take upon themselves, makes them vulnerable to many diseases. According to Myer Friedman, these people are most susceptible to heart diseases. The other negative effect on their health due to their type A persona include:

• Hypertension: The most common disease in individuals that match the type A personality is hypertension. Almost 84% of these people are at risk in developing high blood pressure.
• Job Stress: These people are caught in jobs that are demanding and many times lead to the development of type A personality. The job stress leads to many health problems and metabolic disorders in such individuals.
• Social Isolation: These people spend too much time concentrating on work and this leads to less focus on inter-personal relationships. Their aggressive and impatient nature makes them sound rude, which also leads to social alienation.

This was a little insight about the description of type A traits. These people have a very flat personality, that is rather little too strict. They may be raised under conditional love that makes them live life according to a standard. This standard includes getting the work done right or achieving goals that will make them earn rewards and acceptance and failure to do so will earn them no rewards and acceptance. This psychological theory is commonly used to differentiate between calm and laid back people and restless and impatient individuals. I hope this short type A personality description proves to be useful to you in any little way possible.