"Personality has power to uplift, power to depress, power to curse, and power to bless." - Paul P. Harris
Every person is unique. All of us have different personalities. Laymen explain personalities in various ways; for example, some shy people are called 'introverts', and people who like to party are called 'extroverts'.
But what exactly is personality? Personality refers to our qualities and characteristic ways of behaving and how we respond to the environment and stimuli that are unique to every individual and remain relatively stable.
There are various approaches to understanding personality. Some examples of this can be found in Allport’s trait theory, the Five-Factor Model of personality, Eysenck’s personality theory, etc.
One such approach to understanding the personality of humans was given by Friedman and Rosenman in the 1950s. They accidentally discovered these personality types while identifying psychosocial risk factors. They only gave the concept of Type A and Type B personalities.
Morris introduced the concept of Type C personality in response to this approach by Friedman and Rosenman. Later, researchers also suggested a Type D personality.
Understanding Type A
Type A personalities are characterised by having self-control, high motivation to achieve results, competitiveness, multi-tasking skills, impatience, aggression and hostility. They feel that they are always in a hurry and always burdened with work.
It is believed that individuals with a Type A personality are more susceptible to developing problems like coronary heart disease (CHD) and hypertension. Researchers discovered that those with a Type A personality got CHD more than twice as often as people with a Type B personality in a study of men. By the end of the research, it was discovered that 70 percent of males with CHD had Type A personalities. But this research was subject to criticism, and later studies do not show a lot of difference.
Some of the physical features of this type of personality might be that they speak rapidly, eat and walk very quickly, tap their foot or drum their fingers when waiting, click their tongue, grind their teeth, and often heave sighs or exhalations of annoyance.
Understanding Type B
It is considered the counterpart and opposite of the Type A personality type. People with Type B personalities are known for being laid-back, calm, and adaptable.
One misconception about the Type B personality is that people are lazy, but that is not true. Type B personalities are talkative, active, and fast-paced individuals who enjoy being among others and being the centre of attention in general.
One of the primary differences between Type B and Type A personalities is that Type B personalities thrive on interpersonal interactions and seek reinforcement from their relationships rather than their jobs. Type B personalities place a higher emphasis on compliments, appreciating their accomplishments, and even public recognition than other personalities.
Understanding Type C
The C in Type C stands for a lot of characteristics the individuals can have, like being consistent, controlled, calm, cooperative, creative, and conflict-resistant.
People with this personality have perfectionist tendencies, difficulty adjusting to unwanted change, an interest in small details, sensitivity toward the needs of others, outward passiveness, pessimism, a tendency to deny or avoid extreme emotions, and an internal sense of helplessness or hopelessness.
They demonstrate obedience to authorities and also suppress negative emotions. It is said that they are more prone to cancer.
Understanding Type D
According to a 2005 study, the Type D personality displays a predisposition for strong, negative responses as well as social restraint. To put it another way, people with a type D personality endure a lot of emotional distress while also burying their emotions.
According to a 2010 study, those with a Type D personality had a higher likelihood of experiencing general psychological distress, which has been linked to both mental and physical health problems.
This personality type is more prone to depression and anxiety. It is also found that chronic heart failure can also be experienced by them. They are generally exhausted and burn out easily. D in type D stands for distressed.
As mentioned before, each individual is different and beautiful in their own way. These personality types and their descriptions are not everything; a person may fit into more than one personality type simultaneously and also feel that no personality type suits them. Human behaviour is not so easy to understand and is very complicated. These categories are very narrow in that sense. Yet this approach to understanding personality is very popular.
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