To What Extent Have the Effects of Stressors Been Shown to Be Affected by Personality? (12)

494 Words2 Pages
The typical Type A’s has got a severe sense of time urgency. They are always running and can hardly relax. If they sat without doing something useful they may end up feeling guilty. Type A’s are over achievers, they usually get themselves involved in many different unrelated activities and perform well in them all. Type A's biggest problem is stress, they are usually overwhelmed by the amount of tasks they have to do. These tasks are usually a huge list that they planned for themselves. Type A is usually competitive and has a high challenging spirit. Researchers have suggested that this sort of person would be likely to show more risky behaviour such as smoking, poor diet and so on. 257 men in their study died from heart attacks - 70% of those who died had been judged as having 'type A' personalities. Critics have argued that it is very difficult to decide if someone has a 'type A' personality or not. They also say that the connection between personality and heart disease is weak, maintaining that negative emotions such as anger and frustration are more linked to stress-related illness than 'workaholic' lifestyles. These emotions may not be fixed aspects of someone's personality. In the late 1970's, Kobasa came up with a theory of why some people suffer stress more easily than others, suggesting that some people are 'hardy personality types'. These people have a sense of personal control over their lives, a sense of purpose and they view life events as challenges rather than stresses. Such people report less stress-related illness. Stress-hardy individuals have a sense of control over events in their lives, a strong commitment to something outside of themselves and an ability to view stress and change as challenges and opportunities, instead of threats. In contrast, people who don’t handle stress well feel more powerless, threatened and debilitated by change
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