MARRIAGE AND TYPE A PERSONALITIES: HOW TO TELL WHO IS TYPE A
There are no absolute personality types. Every individual is unique, and all of us are simply doing the best we can to cope, on the basis of what we have learned from our past experiences. Bearing this in mind, it is most helpful to think of Type A-ness as a set of habitual responses that result from an interaction between personal and environmental factors. As was already stated, this style of coping is typically most blatant when Type A individuals are actively responding to things that are important to them, or when they are challenged or frustrated in their efforts. At such times, Type A behavior follows fairly predictable paths related to a variety of factors.
In determining the extent of your Type A reactivity, it is helpful to note the severity of your responses in different situations. Do you react alike to both minor and major stressors? Are you able to calm your reactions quickly, or do you end up feeling out of control of your reactions? Extreme Type A's are like furnaces with faulty thermostats; they do the job of altering the environment, but they never pause or regulate their effort. They seem to be stuck on a high setting of reactivity. The result is a constant expenditure of energy, premature aging of the "machine" (the body), and notable discomfort for everyone in the affected environment.
A number of contemporary researchers have emphasized that not all aspects of the Type A style of reacting are equally toxic with regard to causing heart disease. Convincingly summarizing his own and others' research, Redford Williams of Duke University Medical Center emphasized the toxicity of three components of Type A reactivity: cynical mistrust of others, which leads to frequently experiencing anger, which in turn results in frequent, overt expression of hostility to others.
Individuals caught in this cycle of habitual hostile response to the world are thought to be at highest risk of developing coronary artery disease. It also seems quite likely to me that family members who are the targets of a Type A caught in this cynicism-anger-hostility triad are also at significant risk—of being miserable.
A logical question at this juncture might be, "Why in the world would anyone want to be and behave this way?" (If you are truly Type A, an equally normal question for you to ask right now might be, "Why doesn't this 'expert' just get on with it? I don't have time to waste reading all this descriptive garbage. These psychology types explain everything until they bore you to death.")
In getting answers to either of these questions, it is helpful to understand the physical and psychological factors that are thought to contribute to the Type A behavior pattern.
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