The Integral Relationship Between Stress And Personality The Differences Between Type A Personalities And Type B Personalities How Type A Personalit

This essay sheds light on the the integral relationship between stress and personality and elucidates the differences between individuals with Type A personalities and Type B personalities. Additionally, how Type A personalities and type B personalities manage stressors and how an individual can embrace a Type B personality are delineated in this essay. "Research has shown that Type A personalities suffer significantly more coronary heart disease than Type B personalities. The Type A personality has what Friedman and Rosenman called 'hurry sickness'. A typical Type A personality always seems busy and runs his or her life by the clock, speaks quickly and loudly, walks quickly, eats rapidly, is impatient and irritable, tries to do more than one thing at a time, feels guilty when relaxing, is competitive and plays to win, schedules too many activities into a day, and is intolerant of failure. Not surprisingly, Type B individuals are the polar opposite. A typical Type B, can stay patient and calm, has no inner anger nor hostility, cooperates with others, can relax without feeling guilty, plays for fun, not to win, is flexible and easy going, and works without agitation. In general, Type A men have higher blood fat levels than Type B and are six times more likely to have a heart attack. Similar health traits are found in Type A women. Type A business or professional women are around seven times more likely to suffer from coronary heart problems than Type B women who do not work" (Needham). After meticulously analyzing this research, one can conclude that an unmistakably clear connection between stress and personality unequivocally exists. Two individuals with different personality types may be able to perform the same exact job, but will succumb to disparate corollary effects. For instance, one person with Type B personality can sustain performing the same job more productively in the long term with far less ensuing health problems even from incessantly experiencing stressors than someone with a Type A personality (Needham). Individuals can begin to take the fundamental steps towards transitioning themselves to fully develop a Type B personality. These actions necessary towards transitioning into developing a Type B personality encompass finding a job that you thoroughly enjoy doing, trying not to always be competitive, trying not to overload the daily schedule with unrealistic plans that are achievable to accomplish in one day, trying not be a perfectionist, working towards developing patience, trying to be less controlling over others and the external environment, and setting aside more time for relaxation purposes. Manifesting a Type B personality will not only render an individual a more productive employee in the long term and allow them to reap the ample health benefits of having higher stress tolerance, but may also allow them to live a more fulfilling life. This is because, stressors can pervade into all facets of life and actualize negative emotions and insalubrious feelings such as fear, anxiety, depression, glumness, and pessimism. Embracing a positive outlook on life that is not degraded by stressors can be a salubrious stepping stone towards optimizing your health, productivity, happiness, and longevity. Ultimately, organizations that need employees with a high tolerance for stress due to the nature of the positions should opt to hire individuals that embrace the characteristics of a Type B personality over the Type A personality since the outcome will likely be far more fruitful and culminate in lower employee turnover rates.