Sustained attention and the Type A behavior pattern: the effect of daydreaming on performance.

The present study examined the ability of Type A and Type B subjects to sustain attention during a 40-min visual vigilance task. It was predicted that Type A subjects would perform better than Type B subjects and that the performance of both groups would be related to the frequency of daydreams during the vigil. Type A subjects outperformed Type B subjects with regard to perceptual sensitivity (A') and number of signal detections. Although both groups reported an increase in the number of their daydreams as the vigil progressed, Type A subjects reported fewer daydreams during each period of watch than did Type B subjects. In addition, an inverse relationship was found between the number of signal detections and the frequency of daydreams.     

Sustained Attention and the Type a Behavior Pattern: The Effect of Daydreaming on Performance

The present study examined the ability of Type A and Type B subjects to sustain attention during a 40-min visual vigilance task. It was predicted that Type A subjects would perform better than Type B subjects and that the performance of both groups would be related to the frequency of daydreams during the vigil. Type A subjects outperformed Type B subjects with regard to perceptual sensitivity (A') and number of signal detections. Although both groups reported an increase in the number of their daydreams as the vigil progressed, Type A subjects reported fewer daydreams during each period of watch than did Type B subjects. In addition, an inverse relationship was found between the number of signal detections and the frequency of daydreams.     

Subtypes of drug-addicts in treatment: empirical support for a distinction between Type A and Type B

This study examines the possibility of replicating and generalizing a multidimensional typology of drug-addicts by means of the evaluation of 320 participants who were receiving outpatient treatment for their problem of addiction. A two-stage cluster analysis was performed, revealing the existence of two typologies of consumers, called type A and Type B. The participants classified as Type B showed various indicators of chronicity (higher mean age, higher unemployment rate), more severity of their problem of drug consumption and of medical aspects, employment support, legal, family/social and psychiatric problems in comparison with Type A. Participants from the latter group reported active employment as their main source of income and they had consumed drugs for fewer years. However, they presented more severity associated with alcohol consumption. In view of these data, Type A is called functional drug-addict and Type B chronic drug-addict. Once the groups of drug-addicts were delimited, a more specific characterization was made, taking seven problem areas into account: medical, employment support, alcohol, drugs, legal, family/social, and psychiatric areas. As a general conclusion, more psychosocial severity was observed in Type B as compared with Type A. Lastly, the implications and usefulness of grouping drug-addicts into typologies is discussed.     

Actual and Perceived Group Performance as a Function of Group Composition: The Moderating Role of the Type A and B Behavior Patterns1

This study examined the moderating influence of the Type A and B behavior patterns on group performance and group functioning. Type As and Bs were assigned to different roles in groups given the task of deciding what items to transfer from a sinking ship to a life raft. Results indicated that groups with Type A leaders in conflict with a Type A group member arrived at relatively poor decisions. Type A leaders, however, also were perceived by their groups to be more competent than were Type B leaders. These results suggested that the Type A behavior pattern can have the paradoxical effects of hindering group problem-solving and of leading others to view Type As as more competent than Type Bs because of their active dynamic style.     

Challenge seeking and the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern

The present investigation sought to further delineate the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern and to elucidate the psychophysiological process through which this behavioral disposition is translated into heart disease. Type A and Type B male subjects engaged in tasks that required varying degrees of activity before an assessment of challenge-seeking tendencies. Type A participants sought greater degrees of challenge than did their Type B counterparts. In addition, the more active the person with Pattern A had been immediately before the challenge-seeking opportunity, the greater the degree of challenge sought. Precedent activity level did not significantly influence challenge seeking in the Type B population. The Type A subjects also had significantly faster heart rates during performance of a challenging task. Pattern A behavior may be translated into heart disease through the cumulative deleterious effects of chronic and excessive challenge-induced cardiovascular excitation.     

Sex role correlates of stress-prone type a behavior in college students

This study considered the direct and interactive relationships between three sex role variables and Type A/Type B behavior in college students of both sexes. As predicted, Type A college women were more masculine than Type B controls; Type A females were not less feminine, however, as had been expected. No relationship was found between masculine or feminine sex role behavior and Type A status in college men, consistent with the results of an earlier study. Both male and female Type As revealed weaker gender schemas than Type B controls. Analysis of the conjoint variation of all three sex role components revealed no relationships for either Type A or Type B men. Type A women presented an unusual asynchrony between these components in light of the expected positive relation between stereotyped sex role identity (femininity) and sensitivity to stereotyped differences between women and men (strong gender-schematic processing). Nontraditional female Type As, who were more masculine than feminine, demonstrated strong gender schemas. Traditional female Type As, more feminine than masculine, displayed weak gender schemas. Type B women did not display these unusual sex role linkages.     

The framingham Type A Scale: Cardiovascular and cognitive-behavioral responses to interpersonal challenge

Most of the primary measures of Type A behavior have been found to be associated with physiological reactivity to stressors, as well as coronary heart disease (CHD). While it does predict CHD, the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS) has not been conclusively linked to physiological reactivity. Similarly, in contrast to other Type A measures, little is known concerning the cognitive behaviors associated with the FTAS in stressful situations. The present study was conducted to evaluate the cardiovascular and cognitive-behavioral responses to interpersonal challenge of Type A versus Type B subjects, as classified by the FTAS. Type A's evidenced increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity and a greater degree of negatively toned cognitive activity than did Type B's. The SBP findings are consistent with those obtained with other measures of Type A behavior, and with the hypothesis that neuroendocrine reactivity mediates the link between the behavior pattern and CHD. The somewhat unique cognitive-behavior findings, however, may reflect important psychological differences among the various Type A measures.Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Philadelphia, 1984.     

Overshadowing and associability change

Three appetitive Pavlovian conditioning experiments with rats examined the associability of stimuli A and B that had a history of compound conditioning (AB+), relative to stimuli X and Y that had a history of conditioning in isolation (X+, Y+). Following this training, Experiment 1 revealed that conditioned responding was higher to X and Y than to A and B (overshadowing). In a subsequent AY+, AX-, BY- test discrimination, the AY/BY discrimination was solved more readily than the AY/AX discrimination. In Experiment 2, following AB+, X+, Y+ training, A and Y were presented as a compound and signaled the availability of reinforcement upon the performance of an instrumental response. Test trials in which A and Y were presented alone, and in extinction, revealed that A acquired greater control of instrumental responding than Y. Experiment 3 revealed that following AB+, X+, Y+ training, A and B served as more effective discriminative stimuli for instrumental responding than X and Y. Overall, these results imply that the associability of stimuli conditioned in compound is higher than stimuli conditioned in isolation. These results are discussed in terms of attentional theories of associative learning.     

Conditions favoring superconditioning of irrelevant conditioned stimuli

Three appetitive conditioning experiments with rats found partial learning of complex XA+, XB+, XAB- (+ stands for reinforced; - stands for unreinforced) negative patterning discriminations with intermixed A+ and B+ trials (Experiment 1). AB+ trials (Experiment 2), and A+, B+, and AB+ trials (Experiment 3). In all experiments, differential responding emerged more slowly during the learning of the negative patterning discriminations than during learning of the XA+, XB+, XC- control discriminations. Additionally, the negative patterning groups responded more to X than to a separately reinforced Y on unreinforced test trials: thus, X derived superexcitatory properties. This pattern was reversed in the control groups. Results are consistent with theories that allow for different activation patterns when elements are combined.     

Type A behavior pattern and goal setting under different conditions of choice

This study examined the effects of the Type A behavior pattern on performance, goal acceptance, goal commitment, and expectancy of success under goal-setting conditions. Participants were assigned to one of four groups, assigned goal/assigned strategy, assigned goal/self-set strategy, self-set goal/assigned strategy, or self-set goal/self-set strategy. Results suggested that Type A persons were more likely to accept a difficult goal and remain committed to that goal, and that they had a higher expectancy of success than their Type B counterparts regardless of goal/strategy condition. With respect to performance, participants in the assigned goal/assigned strategy condition outperformed all other groups. A three-way interaction indicated that Type A persons performed better in the self-set goal/self-set strategy than Type B individuals. Implications of the findings regarding Type A and goal setting are discussed.     

Parental child-rearing attitudes associated with Type A behaviors in children

The relation of Type A behaviors to parental child-rearing attitudes was assessed for 177 mothers, 153 fathers, and their children in preschools. Type A behaviors of children were measured on the Japanese version of the Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH), and parental child-rearing attitudes were measured on the Parents' Attitudes Test (PAT). Children were classified as Type A and Type B on the basis of their MYTH scores, and parental child-rearing attitudes in the two types were compared in a combination of parental sex (mothers vs fathers) and child's sex (boys vs girls). Analysis showed that especially mothers and fathers of Type A boys had less concern for their children than their peers whose boys were classified as Type B. The notion that boys showing Type A behaviors might develop Type A behavior patterns by striving to obtain more expression of concern or affection from their parents was presented.     

Analysis of the unique cue in configural discriminations

Four experiments used an autoshaping procedure with pigeons to investigate the basis of configural discriminations. The elements of both a negative patterning (A+, B+, AB-) and a conditional discrimination (AC+, BD+, AD-, BC-) were paired, in a second-order procedure with two new key lights, X and Y. Responding was then tested to X and Y presented in compound with each other and with A and B. The pattern of responding to compounds containing X and Y was like the pattern of responding to compounds containing their associates, A and B. This suggests that A and B can be replaced by their associates without disrupting responding to their compounds. Because X and Y are physically different from A and B, this in turn suggests that any unique cue controlling responding to their compounds does not depend on the physical presence of the component stimuli. Instead the unique stimulus appears to arise from the joint activation of memory representations.     

The type A behavior pattern in children: relationships with performance on speed oriented tasks

The Matthews Youth Test for Health (MYTH) was completed by teachers to evaluate 85 fifth- and sixth-grade boys. Type A and B groups of 20 boys each were selected based on MYTH scores. Each boy performed a signalled reaction time task and a perceptual search task. No performance difference was found between the Type A and B boys on the reaction time task. On the perceptual search task, each boy had to scan a set of pictures and report the number of "Snoopy's" seen in each picture. A group difference in response time was found, with the Type A boys having a mean of 5.98 s versus 7.87 for the Type B boys.     

Modification of Type A behavior through aerobic exercise

This psychophysiological evaluation of an aerobic exercise program examined specifically whether aerobic training modified Pattern A for those individuals at behavioral risk for developing coronary heart disease, i.e., young Type A individuals. At pretest and posttest of this secondary prevention study, Type A and Type B subjects were assessed in three conditions: aerobic exercise program, nonaerobic activity (Aikido, a martial art) control, and notreatment control. After 10 weeks, Type A but not Type B subjects exhibited lower Pattern A behavior in the aerobic program than in control conditions. Average workout pulse rates and differentially reliable increases in aerobic capacity indicated that aerobic training was indeed aerobic, whereas aikido activity was not. Even though selected nonaerobic factors, such as locus of control and group participation, did not mediate the Pattern A decrease for Type A's when comparing aikido and aerobic conditions, changes in aerobic capacity may have been the mediator. Generalizability of the results and implications for theoretical development and clinical intervention are discussed.     

Type A behavior, age, and psychological well-being

We investigated psychological well-being among Type A and B individuals across the age span. We hypothesized that the hard-driving, achievement-oriented lifestyle exhibited by Type As would be adaptive in younger age groups, but would lead to lower well-being in later life because of increased limitations on the range and level of one's activities. By contrast, the more relaxed, easygoing style of the Type B matches better the slower pace of old age, but is not as conducive to success in younger age groups. Thus we expected older Type Bs more than younger Type Bs to exhibit greater well-being. Results confirmed these hypotheses, but indicated that psychological differences may be mediated in part by differences in physical well-being. Furthermore, experience with life events, and the structure and function of social networks, may contribute to the differences in well-being.     

Negative patterning is easier than a biconditional discrimination

Two groups of rats were trained for 50 days on different discriminations in a magazine approach paradigm. One group was trained with a negative patterning schedule and a positive patterning schedule concurrently: they received intermixed trials of A+, B+, AB-, C-, D-, CD+ (A, B, C, and D are four distinct stimuli; the plus sign denotes reinforcement with food, and the minus sign denotes nonreinforcement). The second group of rats was trained with the same four stimuli arranged as compounds and reinforced according to the biconditional schedule AB+, CD+, AC-, and BD-. The first group learned the positive patterning schedule much more quickly than the negative patterning schedule, but they learned the negative patterning schedule more effectively than the second group learned the biconditional schedule. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for models of stimulus representation.     

The type a behavior pattern,sex differences,and cardiovascular response to and recovery from stress

Sixty-one subjects performed a Stroop Color-Word Interference task, a mental arithmetic task (serial subtraction of 7s), and a shock avoidance task (repeating digits backward while expecting to be shocked for mistakes). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate were recorded while subjects anticipated, undertook, and recovered from the shock avoidance task, and undertook and recovered from the Stroop and mental arithmetic tasks. The results revealed that, compared to Type B subjects, Type A subjects manifested higher diastolic blood pressure during the Stroop and shock avoidance tasks and higher pulse rate following the mental arithmetic and shock avoidance tasks. No significant interactions were found between sex and A/B Type. The results are congruent with the notion that greater sympathetic nervous system activity among Type A individuals, both men and women, contributes to greater coronary atherosclerosis and heart disease in this group.     

Dominance: Another Facet of Type A1

Aggression, but not dominance, is typically used as a criterion for the assessment of Type A behavior. This study proposed and demonstrated that nonaggressive dominance, defined as interpersonal resistance or persistence in efforts to control a competitive situation, is associated with Type A behavior for both males and females. Forty males and 35 females typed with the Jenkins Activity Survey participated in a revised version of the classic Deutsch and Krauss (1960) competition paradigm. Both A males and females were more dominant than their respective Type B counterparts. Type A males were not different from Type A females in persistence, nor were Type B males different from Type B females. Female Type A's were more resistant to their competitor's efforts at controlling the situation than were their Type B counterparts. Male Type A's did not differ from their Type B counterparts in resistance. The implications of these results in further elucidating the mechanisms underlying the relationship between Type A and pathophysiologic health hazards are discussed.     

Visual dominance in inhibitory conditioning in the pigeon

In a conditioned inhibition paradigm (A+, B+, AX?_, pigeons received either of two keylight stimuli reliably followed by food (A+, B+). However, when one of these keylights was accompanied by another stimulus, food did not follow (AX?). For some groups, the putative inhibitor was a tone, whereas for others it was illumination of a red houselight. The birds pecked the A and B stimuli at a high rate. When X was red houselight, the birds pecked A at a much lower rate in the presence of X. When X was a tone, discrimination between A and AX was much poorer. Moreover, in a transfer test, red houselight inhibited responding to the other keylight, B, but tone did not. These results indicate that red houselight becomes a conditioned inhibitor more quickly than tone in appetitive situations, just as red houselight becomes a conditioned excitor more quickly in those situations. These results contradict the assertion that the latter outcome occurs because red houselight is a stronger appetitive excitor than tone at the start of the experiment (the “head start” hypothesis).     

Expression of interpersonal aggression by angered and nonangered persons with the type A and type B behavior patterns

Thirty-seven subjects with the Type A or the Type B behavior pattern were first either angered or not angered in a problem-solving task by a confederate who posed as another subject. In a subsequent bogus learning experiment, the Type A and Type B subjects had the opportunity to punish or reward the confederate. The effectiveness of the anger manipulation was attested to by the fact that angered subjects had reliably higher pulse rates, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure. In the learning experiment, Type A subjects who had not been angered gave the confederate reliably higher levels of punishment than did Type B subjects, but there was not a difference in the levels of punishment given by Type A and Type B subjects who had been angered. There was not a difference between Type A and Type B subjects in the levels of reward they gave the confederate. The results provided behavioral evidence for aggression in persons with the Type A behavior pattern. The fact that the difference in aggression was limited to nonangered subjects was interpreted in terms of differences in attributions of responsibility.