Are you ambitious, driven, impatient, or more relaxed about life? Your disposition and personality traits can reveal whether you have a Type A or Type B personality, a theory discovered in the 1950s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman.
They believed that having a Type A personality put individuals at a greater risk of developing coronary heart disease, and while many scientists disagree with this correlation, the discovery played a significant role in the health psychology field later on.
Research on the personality types remains ongoing. But the implications of having a Type A or Type B personality are distinct. This article should help you figure out which personality type you have. Read on to learn more about each one.
Are you a Type A or Type B personality?
Type A
As you might have guessed from the earlier association of the Type A personality with the risk of heart disease, people with this personality have a great competitive drive and don’t take well to losing. They play to win, and when they don’t achieve the desired results, they usually beat themselves up mentally for it.
Type A’s have a detailed schedule planned out for each day, and when something happens unexpectedly, they tend to freak out about it. Extremely organized and conscientious, they enjoy routine and structure and get anxious when their day doesn’t go as planned. Type A’s also have a tendency to develop anxiety disorders due to their rigid mindset and high expectations of themselves and others.
Type A people have a serious disposition, and because of this, they make great leaders and politicians. They have no problem telling others what to do and will go to almost any lengths to achieve their goals. Type A personalities spend most of their time at work because setting and meeting goals make them the happiest. Their self-worth comes largely from their achievements, so they immerse themselves in anything dealing with winning.
Type A’s usually take on more work than they can reasonably manage. But that makes them prone to a slew of illnesses related to stress and exhaustion. Type A’s also tend to let their anger get the best of them. If you couple extreme impatience and addiction to achievement, this can spell out disaster for people with this personality.
If you believe you have a Type A personality, try to take some time for yourself each day. Please remember that your worth doesn’t come from just your achievements, status, or the money in your bank. Allow yourself to have fun and enjoy life at the moment sometimes because at the end of the day, you will hang on to the memories you make, not the awards you win or goals you achieve.
Type B
As you can imagine, people with a Type B personality fall on the totally opposite end of the spectrum. They have a more relaxed, carefree disposition, and could care less if they win or lose. They live life at the moment and don’t always need to reach a milestone to feel satisfied with their life.
Because they aren’t goal-oriented and achievement-driven, people with a Type B personality enjoy careers that require creativity and can be performed at a slower pace. Many people with a Type B personality choose a career as a writer, artist, musician, therapist, or actor.
They tend to reflect inwardly more than people with a Type A personality and have an abstract mind. They don’t see things in black and white. Instead, they notice all the aspects of life that fall into the grey areas. Because of their ability to slow down and notice the details, they usually shy away from anything that involves a significant amount of stress or pressure.
They prefer to just go with the flow and see where life takes them without getting caught up in knowing all the answers.
Most people fall somewhere in between a Type A and Type B personality; most people do enjoy reaching goals and achieving something in life. But not everyone lets their aspirations and accomplishments totally consume them. If you’d like to know which personality you have, you can take a quiz here to find out.
