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.     

Type A behaviour and psychophysiological arousal

The "coronary prone" or Type A behaviour pattern, characterized by e.g., hard-driving competitiveness, impatience and aggressiveness, is associated with elevated systolic blood pressure and catecholamine secretion during challenge. In experiments at our laboratory, elevated psychophysiological arousal was found in Type A subjects during understimulation, but not during active performance on a self-paced reaction time task. Results suggest that differences in cardiovascular and behavioural reactivity between Type A and B persons tend to be related to the pace of the environment to which they are exposed. Studies of antecedents of Type A behaviour in children show that "Type A children" respond to challenge with a greater increase in sympathetic arousal than "non-Type As". This suggests the possibility that genetic dispositions and/or conditioned sympathetic reactivity play an important role in the development of the Type A behaviour pattern.     

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.     

Type a behavior,irritability, and cardiovascular response

Previous research suggests that high levels of hostility may augment the cardiovascular reactivity and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) associated with Type A behavior. In contrast, other research indicates that the tendency to deny or suppress anger is associated with enhanced cardiovascular reactivity and risk of CHD. To delineate further the combined role of anger processes and Type A behavior in CHD risk, this study examined the interactive effects of Type A behavior and self-reported irritability on cardiovascular response to a challenging mental task. Type A and Type B college students were further classified as either high or low in self-reported irritability. Type A subjects who were low in self-reported irritability evidenced greater cardiovascular reactivity (i.e., systolic blood pressure and pulse rate) than did Type B subjects low in irritability. However, Type A subjects who were high in irritability tended to demonstrate less cardiovascular response than Type B subjects high in irritability. Further, Type A's low in self-reported irritability evidenced greater cardiovascular response than high-irritability Type A's. It is suggested that reduced reporting of irritability by Type A's may reflect suppression or denial, and further that this reduced reporting is associated with enhanced cardiovascular responsivity.     

Effect of Level of Challenge on Pressor and Heart Rate Responses in Type A and B Subjects1

The present study examined the relationship between the Type A coronaryprone behavior pattern and the magnitude of cardiovascular response induced by varying levels of environmental challenge. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, Type A and B (noncoronary-prone) subjects (n= 80) were randomly assigned to either high or low challenge instructional conditions for both the cold pressor (CP) and a choice reaction time task (RT). Overall, across both tasks, Type A subjects responded with greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) elevation than Type B subjects. While these differences between the Types tended to be larger in the high challenge condition, some differences were also observed under low challenge. Component analyses of the Pattern revealed that high hostile/competitive Type A's responded to both low and high challenge instructions in the CP and RT tasks with physiologic elevations comparable to that displayed by globally defined Type A's receiving high challenge instructions. The present findings tentatively suggest that (a) high hostile/competitive Type A's respond to even mild challenge with enhanced physiologic response; (b) globally defined A's tend to evidence the physiologic elevations when specifically challenged; and (c) Type B's show much smaller physiologic reactions to such challenges. Consistent with previous research, comparison of Type A assessment techniques revealed that the Rosenman diagnostic interview was a better predictor of physiologic response than other questionnaire methods. Two hypotheses are advanced and future research recommended regarding possible relationships between environment, behavior, physiology, and disease.     

Task difficulty, cardiovascular response, and the magnitude of goal valence

Sixty-four young women expected to perform an easy, moderately difficult, or extremely difficult memory task with the opportunity to earn a small incentive for good performance. Cardiovascular (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) and subjective measures were taken immediately prior to task performance. Both systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses and ratings of goal attractiveness were nonmonotonically related to expected task difficulty, with the most pronounced SBP elevations and highest goal attractiveness in the moderately difficult task condition. Product-moment correlations among cardiovascular response measures revealed a strong positive association between systolic and diastolic pressure (but not heart rate) change in the easy condition, positive relationships among all measures in the moderately difficult condition, and no significant correlations in the extremely difficult condition. Subjective measures of arousal were not affected by the task difficulty manipulation. Principal findings are discussed in terms of a theoretical model proposed by Brehm (1979) that states that motivation varies as a nonmonotonic function of the difficulty of goal attainment. Intercorrelations among cardiovascular response variables are considered in terms of their possible indication of the mechanisms underlying blood pressure changes associated with variations in motivation.     

Acute effects of alcohol on cardiovascular reactivity to stress in college-age Type A (coronary prone) individuals

Healthy college-age males and females classified as Type A or Type B were randomly assigned to an alcohol (N=24) or a no-alcohol condition (N=24). Subjects were exposed to a verbal stress quiz while blood pressure, heart rate, peripheral vascular response (PVR), and self-reported anxiety indices were monitored. Results indicated that alcohol effected a reduction in resting levels of systolic blood pressure and a tonic reduction in the peripheral vascular response. Alcohol attenuated the systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and PVR to stress and efffected a decrease in anxiety following the Stressor. When analyzed relative to the participants' drinking experience, data indicated that the strongest stress-modulating effect of alcohol was evidenced by Type A subjects who have been identified as long-term drinkers. During recovery from stress Type A subjects identified as short-term drinkers maintained high levels of PVR. Types A and B subjects who did not ingest alcohol evidenced high PVR levels during stress. The findings are discussed in terms of the protective action of moderate chronic alcohol use on cardiovascular disease risk reduction in persons evidencing the coronary-prone behavior pattern.     

The type A behavior pattern, physical fitness, and psychophysiological reactivity

Joint effects of the Type A behavior pattern and aerobic fitness were examined with regard to heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) changes elicited by laboratory challenges. Sixty-one college students were classified as Type A or B using the Structured Interview (SI), and as physically fit or sedentary using self-reports of activity level and estimated VO2max values obtained on a step test. Subjects were challenged with the SI, presentation of a snake, mental arithmetic, a cold pressor task, and two competitive card games. Significant A-B differences were found only on the SI and the card games. During the SI: As displayed significantly greater BP increases than Bs; sedentary subjects showed greater BP increases than fit subjects; and sedentary As revealed greater BP increases than either fit As, fit Bs, or sedentary Bs. In contrast, during the competitive games, physically fit As showed reliably greater BP increases than either sedentary As, sedentary Bs, or fit Bs. Since the physically fit subjects were almost exclusively varsity athletes and the sedentary subjects were college students who reported following a sedentary lifestyle, the differences between sedentary and fit groups may have been due to differences in aerobic fitness or to the improved ability of competitive athletes or those engaged in fitness training to match arousal level to task requirements.     

Heart rate perception in the type A personality

Heart rate (HR) estimation and actual HRs were obtained from 28 Type A and 28 Type B males before and after receiving feedback about their actual HR levels, and during performance of a moderately stressful task, digit recall. Self-reports of affective arousal during digit recall were also obtained from the Anxiety scale of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) and a self-report questionnaire measuring affective reactions. Type As showed significantly higher HR increases during the digit recall than did Type Bs. Type As also reported significantly more affective reactions than Type Bs on the self-report questionnaire, but not on the MAACL Anxiety scale. Type As significantly overestimated their HRs relative to Type B at rest before receiving feedback, and during the digit-recall task. These results contradict the usual assumption that Type As underestimate their arousal levels.     

Type A behavior, personality hardiness, and cardiovascular responses to stress

Type A behavior and hardiness were examined as predictors of cardiovascular responses to stress in 68 male undergraduates. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and heart rate were monitored while subjects performed a difficult mirror-tracing task. Type A assessments based on the Structured Interview, but not those based on the Jenkins Activity Survey, were associated with significantly enhanced SBP and DBP elevations. Hardiness was associated with significantly reduced DBP responsiveness. In addition, a significant interaction indicated that the Type B-high hardiness group showed the least DBP reactivity. A near-significant interaction (p = .06) suggested that Type B-high hardiness subjects also reported the least anger. Further exploration of the data indicated that the challenge component of hardiness accounted for its relationship to DBP reactivity. These results have implications both for the psychophysiologic study of Type A behavior and for understanding the health-promoting effects of hardiness.     

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.     

Type a behavior as a generally available strategy: Varying activation by tasks and instructions

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that the proportion of subjects resorting to Type A behavior (increased effort powered by arousal in response to a challenge) would be governed by the appropriateness of effort/arousal to the task. Sixty-nine male and female subjects classified as Type A or not-A responders by Structured Interview performed physical exercise, a vigilance task and a videogame with or without challenging instructions. For the (effort-salient) exercise, instructions produced a mean increase in arousal regardless of behavior pattern, while in the vigilance (low salience) task they produced no effect. Only in the videogame task did behavior pattern classification predict arousal in interaction with instructions. Effort, as measured by performance, showed a trend to increase with challenging instructions. Ratings by subjects of physical feelings paralleled these results, but positive, negative and emotional feelings did not show behavior pattern or instruction effects. The results support a view of Type A as a generally available response to which individuals show a differential activation rather than a character trait.     

Allocation of attention and physiological responsivity in the type A coronary-prone individual

Recent studies have suggested that persons exhibiting the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern allocate their attention to the environment differently than those not exhibiting the pattern. The present study was done to relate such differences in cognitive responding to cardiovascular changes during a dual-focus task. Heart rate and blood pressure were monitored in Types A and B male college students while they performed a color/word conflict primary task and a reaction-time secondary task. There were no differences in the behavioral performance of the Types A and B individuals. However, Types A and B subjects differed in mean heart rate, heart-rate variability, and phasic heart-rate pattern to the reaction-time stimuli. The reaction-time paradigm appears a fruitful base from which to explore cognitive/physiological response relations for Type A and Type B individuals.     

Stress effects on affiliation preferences among subjects possessing the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern

An experiment tested the hypothesis that when subjects who display the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern are placed under stress, they prefer to wait for the stressful event with others, but desire to work under stress alone. One half of 25 Type A and 25 Type B (non-coronary-prone) subjects were told that they would receive painful electric shock while working on a mental task, while the other one half were told that they would receive subliminal stimulation. Both groups were then given the choice of waiting for the event with others or alone and the choice of working on the task alone, in the company of others, or in a leader-directed group. The results showed that Type As relative to Type Bs tended to wait in the company of others regardless of threat level, but displayed a marked preference to work alone under high threat. This decision to work alone was not influenced by waiting preference. Subsequent correlational studies showed that coronary patients (n = 40) reported a greater preference for working alone when under pressure than matched controls (n = 40), as did Type A college students (77% vs. 14% for Type Bs) when asked their preference within the context of the structured interview that is used to assess the Type A pattern. The significance of the findings for increasing the understanding of affiliative preferences and coronary-prone behavior are discussed.     

Effects of negative ions on interpersonal attraction: evidence for intensification

In Study 1, female subjects received information suggesting either that a stranger (a female accomplice) shared their attitudes and evaluated them positively or that a stranger did not share their attitudes and evaluated them negatively. These procedures took place in the presence of a low (ambient) or high level of negative ions. On the basis of previous research, it was predicted that a high level of negative ions would intensify subjects' reactions to the stranger, thus enhancing their evaluations of her when she seemed to share their attitudes and to like them, but reducing these evaluations when she did not share their attitudes and disliked them. Results offered support for these predictions. In Study 2, female subjects performed two tasks (letter and digit copying) in the presence of a low or high concentration of negative ions. Their blood pressure and pulse were measured at several points during the experiment. Results indicated that on various trials both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were higher in the high-ions than in the low-ions condition. In addition, subjects reported higher levels of subjective arousal and made significantly more errors on the letter-copying task in the presence of a high concentration of negative ions. Together, the results of these studies were interpreted as offering support for the view that high concentrations of negative ions can increase both physiological and psychological (subjective) arousal.     

The influence of gender, hypertension risk, and aerobic fitness on cardiovascular responses to laboratory-induced stress

The study sought to evaluate the influence of gender, hypertension risk, and aerobic fitness on cardiovascular responses to laboratory-induced stress. Sixty nonsymptomatic subjects (30 males, 30 females) participated in the experiment. Half of the subjects had at least one biological parent with hypertension, while half had no parental history of hypertension and served as comparison subjects. Subjects completed a laboratory procedure measuring cardiovascular responses (i.e., pulse rate and blood pressure) while performing stressful laboratory tasks (i.e., the Stroop Color Naming Test and a sham IQ test). Aerobic fitness (i.e., VO_2max using the Bruce protocol) was also determined using a submaximal treadmill test in the laboratory. Results suggest that males with a family history of hypertension were more stress responsive based on systolic blood pressure, while females were more stress-responsive according to pulse rate activity. Fitness levels were significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure throughout the stress and recovery periods but were unrelated to pulse rate and systolic blood pressure.     

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.     

Influence of personal and universal failure on the subsequent performance of persons with type A and type B behavior patterns

We conducted this experiment to compare the task performance of Type A and Type B persons following failure on a task in which no one succeeded (universal failure) versus failure on a task in which others had succeeded (personal failure). Postfailure performance was measured in terms of speed of completion of anagrams. Initial analyses indicated that the failure manipulation was effective in influencing the subjects' perceived cause of their failures, and that subjects were more anxious and depressed following personal failure than universal failure. More important, we found that Type A subjects performed better following personal rather than universal failure, whereas type of failure had no effect on the performance of Type B subjects. The results suggest that contrary to what is usually thought, Type A persons do not struggle for success indiscriminately. The results are discussed in terms of need for control and self-esteem.     

The Novacco Anger Scale and Jenkins Activity Survey as predictors of cardiovascular reactivity

This study investigated the relationship among anger, the Type A construct, and cardiovascular reactivity. The Novacco Anger Scale and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) were used to measure anger proneness and Type A characteristics, respectively. Twenty-four college males were selected from the upper and lower quintiles of the JAS distribution. During the study, the subjects were exposed to varying levels of experimentally induced challenge, while measurements were taken of heart-rate and blood-pressure changes. The results showed a modest but significant correlation between scores on the Novacco Anger Scale and the JAS. More importantly, scores on the Novacco Anger Scale correlated significantly with heart rate and systolic blood pressure under all challenge conditions, while those on the JAS were unrelated to cardiovascular excitability. These results raise questions about the usefulness of the JAS as a predictor of CHD risk. They are also consistent with the beliefs of other investigators that anger and hostility are the most important Type A behaviors in predisposing patients to coronary heart disease. Additional implications of the study are discussed.     

The hardy personality: cognitive and physiological responses to evaluative threat

Hardy persons are hypothesized to be resistant to stress-induced illness, because of their adaptive cognitive style and a subsequently reduced level of physiological arousal. We assessed the cognitive and physiological responses of high and low hardy male undergraduates to a challenging task under high and low evaluative threat. As predicted, hardy subjects endorsed more positive self-statements than did low hardy subjects in the high threat condition. High hardy subjects also reported fewer negative self-statements overall, but this was attributable to the overlap of measures of hardiness and neuroticism. Hardy subjects displayed marginally lower arousal while waiting for the task to begin, but this finding did not approach significance when neuroticism was controlled. Hardy subjects also had higher levels of systolic blood pressure, perhaps because of their active coping efforts. Results support the hypothesized hardy cognitive style but raise questions about the type and timing of organismic strain linking hardiness and health.