Personality and Stress

5.1 Type A and Type B Personality

First described by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman (1959) who noticed that their heart patients displayed distinct behavioral patterns:

Dimension	Type A	Type B
Pace	Time-urgent, always rushing	Relaxed, comfortable with time
Competition	Highly competitive, needs to win	Less competitive, cooperative
Hostility	Easily irritated, hostile	Patient, rarely hostile
Multitasking	Polyphasic - does many things at once	Focuses on one task at a time
Health Risk	High - cardiovascular disease risk is about 2x higher	Lower cardiovascular risk

Note: Research has refined the Type A concept - it is primarily the hostility component (not time urgency alone) that most strongly predicts cardiovascular disease.

Type C personality (Temoshok): Cancer-prone personality; passive, suppresses emotions, people-pleasing. Under high stress, internalises rather than externalises.
Type D personality (Denollet): "Distressed" type - negative affectivity + social inhibition; associated with poor cardiac outcomes and increased burnout.

5.2 The Big Five (OCEAN) and Stress

Trait	High	Low	Stress Relevance
Openness	Creative, curious, flexible	Conventional	High openness helps appraise stressors as challenges
Conscientiousness	Organized, disciplined	Impulsive	High C = protective: planned coping, goal-directed
Extraversion	Sociable, assertive	Introverted	Extraverts seek social support more readily
Agreeableness	Cooperative, trusting	Antagonistic	Low A linked to workplace conflict
Neuroticism	Emotionally unstable, anxious	Stable	Highest predictor of stress susceptibility and burnout

High Neuroticism is the strongest single Big Five predictor of burnout and psychological distress. High Conscientiousness is the strongest protective factor.

5.3 Hardiness (Kobasa, 1979)

Suzanne Kobasa studied Illinois Bell Telephone executives during a period of massive organizational upheaval (1970s) and found that some remained healthy under extreme stress while others developed illness. The healthy group showed a personality pattern she called Hardiness, comprising three Cs:

Component	Meaning	Example
Commitment	Engaging fully with life and work; sense of meaning and purpose	"My work matters to society"
Control	Belief that one can influence outcomes; internal locus of control	"I can take steps to change this situation"
Challenge	Viewing change and stressors as opportunities for growth	"This difficulty will make me stronger"

Hardy individuals show stress inoculation - they reframe stressors as less threatening and use them for growth, resulting in lower cortisol response and lower burnout risk.

Locus of Control (Rotter, 1954):

• Internal: Believe outcomes depend on their own actions -> less perceived stress, more problem-focused coping
• External: Believe outcomes are controlled by luck, fate, others -> more perceived stress, passive coping

5.4 Resilience

Psychological resilience is the capacity to recover from adversity, trauma, or significant stress. Resilient individuals show:

• Strong social connections
• Positive self-appraisal (self-efficacy)
• Flexible, adaptive coping repertoire
• Ability to find meaning in adversity

Resilience is not a fixed trait but can be developed through training and experience.