AQA Syllabus focus:
'Individual differences in stress: personality types A, B and C and associated behaviours.'
Personality may influence how people react to pressure, interpret demands, and behave when stressed. This topic examines three classic personality patterns and the behaviors linked to each one.
Personality and stress
Psychologists have suggested that some people are more vulnerable to stress because of stable patterns of behavior, thinking, and emotional response. The labels Type A, Type B, and Type C describe broad personality styles rather than exact categories. A person may show traits from more than one type, but the classification is useful because it highlights how behavior can affect exposure to stressors, the appraisal of pressure, and the body’s reaction to challenging situations.
Type A personality
Type A personality was originally described by Friedman and Rosenman as a pattern linked to high stress reactivity and greater risk of stress-related illness.
Type A personality: A behavior pattern characterized by competitiveness, impatience, time urgency, and hostility.
People with a Type A pattern often appear driven, achievement-oriented, and highly sensitive to delays or obstacles. Their associated behaviors commonly include:
trying to do several things at once
becoming frustrated by waiting
speaking or moving quickly
competing strongly with others
showing irritability or hostility when blocked
These behaviors can increase stress because ordinary demands are more likely to be seen as urgent or threatening. Type A individuals may also create extra pressure for themselves by setting very high standards. In stress research, hostility is often seen as the most damaging feature because it keeps physiological arousal high and may intensify conflict with other people.
Diagram of a transactional cycle in which hostile thoughts and feelings promote antagonistic behaviour, which then elicits defensive or avoidant reactions from others that reinforce the person’s hostility. It clarifies why ‘hostility’ can be more health-relevant than the broader Type A label: it helps sustain repeated, stress-provoking social exchanges over time. Source
Type B personality
Type B personality is usually presented as the contrast to Type A.
Side-by-side photographs illustrating the classic contrast between Type A (tense, time-pressured, driven) and Type B (laid-back, relaxed) behavioural styles. Use it as a quick memory cue for how these patterns look in everyday behaviour, linking to different stress reactivity profiles. Source
Type B personality: A behavior pattern characterized by being relaxed, patient, less competitive, and less easily angered by pressure.
Type B individuals are more likely to work steadily without constant urgency. Their associated behaviors include tolerating delays, taking a longer-term view of success, and responding more calmly to frustration. This does not mean they lack motivation. Instead, they are generally less time-pressured and less likely to interpret every challenge as a crisis. Because they are calmer and less hostile, Type B people are usually considered less vulnerable to the negative effects of chronic stress than Type A people.
Type C personality
Type C personality was later proposed as another pattern relevant to stress and illness.
Type C personality: A behavior pattern associated with cooperation, emotional suppression, and a tendency to avoid conflict, especially by holding in negative feelings such as anger.
People described as Type C are often seen as compliant, appeasing, and eager to maintain harmony. Their associated behaviors may include putting other people’s needs first, failing to express anger openly, and accepting difficult situations without complaint. Some psychologists have linked this style to feelings of helplessness or hopelessness when under prolonged stress. The key idea is that stress may remain internalized rather than expressed, which could make coping less effective if the person does not seek help or release emotion constructively.
A conceptual diagram explaining response modulation in emotion regulation—i.e., strategies (including expressive suppression) applied after an emotion has been generated to alter its outward expression. This supports the Type C discussion by showing how ‘holding in’ emotion targets expression rather than removing the underlying physiological/emotional activation. Source
How these types differ in stress
The main difference between the three types is the way each style responds to pressure. Type A reacts with urgency and conflict, Type B with relative calm, and Type C with suppression and avoidance. These patterns matter because stress is not caused only by outside events; it is also shaped by the person’s characteristic way of interpreting and managing them. For example, a heavy workload may trigger anger and impatience in a Type A person, little emotional escalation in a Type B person, and silent worry in a Type C person. The same stressor can therefore lead to very different emotional and behavioral responses.
Research evidence and evaluation
Support for personality types
Classic evidence for Type A came from Friedman and Rosenman’s longitudinal study, which found that men showing Type A behavior were more likely to develop coronary heart disease than Type B men. This research helped make personality a major issue in stress psychology. However, later studies suggested that the overall Type A pattern may be too broad. Researchers increasingly argued that hostility and anger are better predictors of health risk than the full Type A label. This weakens the idea that every Type A characteristic contributes equally to stress-related illness.
Problems and limitations
There are also concerns about measurement. Personality types are often assessed using interviews or self-report methods, and people may not fit neatly into a single category. Many individuals show a mixture of Type A, B, and C traits depending on the situation. This means the categories can oversimplify personality.
Evidence for Type C is especially controversial. Some studies have linked emotional suppression to poorer health outcomes, but findings are inconsistent and it is difficult to establish cause and effect. Illness itself may change mood or behavior, so the personality pattern seen after diagnosis may not be the original cause. As a result, Type C should be treated cautiously. It remains a useful idea for thinking about emotion and coping, but it has weaker support than the more established Type A/Type B distinction.
Practice Questions
Identify two behaviors associated with a Type A personality. (2 marks)
1 mark for each valid behavior, up to 2 marks.
Accept answers such as competitiveness, impatience, time urgency, hostility, irritability, multitasking, or frustration with delays.
Outline and evaluate personality types A, B, and C as individual differences in stress. (6 marks)
AO1 up to 4 marks for accurate knowledge of the personality types:
Type A: competitive, time-urgent, hostile, more stress-prone
Type B: relaxed, patient, less competitive, less stress-prone
Type C: cooperative, suppresses emotion, avoids conflict, internalizes stress
clear reference to associated behaviors
AO3 up to 2 marks for evaluation:
research support for Type A and illness links
hostility may be more important than the full Type A pattern
categories may be too simplistic because people show mixed traits
evidence for Type C is inconsistent or causality is unclear
FAQ
Not necessarily. Personality shows some stability, but behavior can change with age, experience, and context.
For example:
a student may act Type A during exams
the same person may seem much more Type B during vacations
stressful jobs can strengthen time urgency or irritability
This is one reason psychologists often treat these types as broad tendencies rather than permanent labels.
Doctors Friedman and Rosenman noticed that some patients seemed especially hurried, tense, and impatient even in waiting rooms. This led them to suspect that a behavior pattern, not just biological risk, might be linked to illness.
Their work was important because it encouraged psychologists to study everyday behavior as a possible health factor, rather than looking only at medical symptoms.
Yes. Real people are rarely pure examples of one type.
Someone might:
be highly competitive at work, which looks Type A
avoid expressing anger in relationships, which looks Type C
stay calm in low-pressure situations, which looks Type B
This overlap is one reason modern psychology often prefers trait-based approaches over simple type categories.
Researchers have used several methods:
structured interviews that look for rapid speech, hostility, and impatience
questionnaires about competitiveness and time urgency
behavioral observation in challenging or frustrating situations
Interviews were once considered especially useful because they could capture style of speaking and emotional tone, not just self-reported answers.
One problem is that emotional suppression can be hard to measure accurately. People may not realize they are holding feelings in, or they may answer in socially desirable ways.
Another problem is overlap with other ideas, such as:
low assertiveness
depression
helplessness
high agreeableness
Because of this, it can be difficult to decide whether Type C is a separate personality type or a mix of other psychological characteristics.
