Personality types and stress | AQA A-Level Psychology Revision

For 7182 specification, first teach in September 2025

AQA A-Level Psychology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 65 minutes

These personality types and stress A-Level Psychology revision notes explain why people may respond differently to the same stressor. You will examine the behaviours associated with personality Types A, B and C and their proposed relationships with stress-related illness. Personality explanations complement external occupational demands [Workplace stress] by focusing on characteristics within the individual. They also prepare you to study commitment, challenge and control [Hardiness] as another explanation of individual differences in stress.

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Define personality type and individual differences in stress.

• Describe the behaviours associated with Type A personality.

• Describe the behaviours associated with Types B and C.

• Explain why each personality type may be associated with different stress responses.

• Apply personality types to unfamiliar scenarios.

• Evaluate personality explanations using evidence, causality, classification and alternative explanations.

Revision Notes 📚

What does the AQA specification require?

Within the Stress option, AQA requires students to study:

• Individual differences in stress.

• Personality Types A, B and C.

• The behaviours associated with each personality type.

• Hardiness, including commitment, challenge and control.

The specification names Types A, B and C. Other proposed personality types are not required for this lesson.

You should be prepared to:

1. Recognise each personality type from a behavioural description.

2. Explain why the type may influence exposure or responses to stress.

3. Link Type A with cardiovascular risk.

4. Explain the proposed Type C relationship with stress and illness cautiously.

5. Evaluate whether broad personality categories can reliably predict stress.

Individual Differences in Stress

What are individual differences?

Individual differences are ways in which people vary in their characteristics, experiences and responses.

People exposed to the same stressor may differ in:

• How threatening they believe it is.

• How physiologically aroused they become.

• How they behave.

• How quickly they recover.

• Whether they experience stress-related health problems.

For example, two workers may face the same deadline:

• One may become impatient, competitive and hostile.

• The other may remain relatively calm.

• A third may appear calm but suppress feelings of anger or worry.

Personality explanations propose that relatively consistent behavioural tendencies help explain these differences.

What is a personality type?

A personality type is a category containing a pattern of characteristic behaviours and responses.

The type approach assumes that people with similar characteristics may:

• Interpret stressors in similar ways.

• Behave similarly under pressure.

• Experience similar levels of physiological activation.

• Show similar vulnerability to stress-related illness.

The explanation is dispositional because it focuses on characteristics within the person.

This contrasts with explanations based mainly on external circumstances, such as workload and occupational control [Workplace stress].

Personality type is not the same as mood

A personality type is intended to describe a relatively consistent pattern.

It is not the same as:

• Feeling impatient on one occasion.

• Becoming angry during one argument.

• Feeling relaxed during a holiday.

• Hiding one unpleasant emotion.

A person should not be classified from one isolated action. The classification concerns a broader pattern shown across situations and over time.

Type A Personality

The Type A behaviour pattern

The Type A behaviour pattern was developed through research by Friedman and Rosenman.

Type A personality is associated with:

• Time urgency

• Competitiveness

• Hostility

• Aggression

AQA’s 2025 mark scheme identifies these as the central Type A traits and links the pattern with increased risk of coronary heart disease.

Time urgency

Time urgency is a persistent concern with completing tasks rapidly and avoiding delay.

A Type A person may:

• Feel that there is never enough time.

• Rush activities.

• Become irritated by waiting.

• Attempt several tasks at once.

• Set very demanding schedules.

• View delays as intolerable.

• Struggle to relax when work remains unfinished.

For example:

A worker becomes angry when a meeting starts five minutes late because they believe every delay threatens their schedule.

The delay is the external event. Time urgency explains why the person may experience it as particularly stressful.

Competitiveness

Competitiveness is a strong desire to outperform other people or demonstrate achievement.

A Type A person may:

• Compare their performance with others.

• Treat ordinary tasks as competitions.

• Set demanding goals.

• Find losing difficult to accept.

• Continue working when rest is needed.

• Judge success through rank, speed or achievement.

Competition may increase stress because the person repeatedly places themselves in situations involving:

• Evaluation.

• Deadlines.

• Conflict.

• High expectations.

• Fear of failure.

A competitive person may therefore experience more stress not only because of their response to events but also because of the situations they choose.

Hostility

Hostility is a tendency to respond with mistrust, resentment, anger or irritation.

Hostile behaviour may include:

• Becoming angry quickly.

• Interpreting other people’s behaviour negatively.

• Responding impatiently to mistakes.

• Showing resentment when obstructed.

• Reacting aggressively to frustration.

Hostility is particularly important when evaluating Type A personality because evidence suggests that it may be more strongly related to coronary heart disease than the general Type A category.

Aggression

Aggression involves behaviour intended to confront, threaten or harm.

Within the Type A pattern, aggression may be expressed through:

• Confrontational communication.

• Verbal anger.

• Irritable responses.

• Attempts to dominate competitive situations.

• Intense reactions when goals are blocked.

Aggression should not be treated as inevitable. The theory suggests an increased tendency within the broader behaviour pattern.

Type A behaviour under pressure

Consider the following situation:

A train is delayed by ten minutes.

A person showing a strong Type A pattern might:

• Repeatedly check the time.

• Worry about lost productivity.

• Become angry with staff.

• Attempt to work while waiting.

• Complain that the delay is unacceptable.

• Remain physiologically aroused after the journey resumes.

The same objective delay may produce less stress in someone with a different personality pattern.

How Type A behaviour may increase stress

Type A personality may increase stress through several routes.

Greater exposure to stressors

Competitive and achievement-focused individuals may:

• Accept more work.

• Set demanding goals.

• Work longer hours.

• Enter more competitive situations.

• Allow insufficient time for recovery.

Personality may therefore affect the number and intensity of stressors encountered.

Stronger reaction to blocked goals

Time-urgent people may react strongly when:

• Progress is delayed.

• Other people work slowly.

• A target is missed.

• Plans change unexpectedly.

Events that another person views as inconvenient may be experienced as serious threats to achievement.

Continuing physiological arousal

Hostility, impatience and anger may repeatedly activate physiological stress systems.

This may involve:

• Increased heart rate.

• Raised blood pressure.

• Sympathetic nervous system activation.

• Reduced opportunities for recovery.

Repeated cardiovascular arousal provides a possible connection with stress and cardiovascular disorders [Stress and illness].

Type A personality and coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease, abbreviated to CHD, is a cardiovascular disorder affecting the heart’s blood supply.

Friedman and Rosenman argued that the Type A behaviour pattern was associated with negative consequences of stress, especially CHD.

The proposed sequence is:

Time urgency, competitiveness and hostility → frequent stressful situations or stronger reactions → repeated physiological arousal → increased cardiovascular risk

Personality is not claimed to be the only cause of CHD.

Other relevant factors may include:

• Smoking.

• Diet.

• Existing biological vulnerability.

• Workplace conditions.

• Other health behaviours.

Applying Type A personality

Consider this example:

Zain always turns ordinary tasks into competitions. He becomes furious when colleagues work slowly and continues working through his breaks because he hates falling behind.

This suggests Type A behaviour because:

• Turning tasks into competitions shows competitiveness.

• Becoming furious suggests hostility or aggression.

• Hating delay indicates time urgency.

• Working through breaks may reduce recovery and expose him to greater stress.

A developed application links each detail to a specific trait rather than simply writing, “Zain is Type A.”

Type B Personality

The Type B behaviour pattern

Type B personality is generally contrasted with Type A.

AQA’s mark scheme describes Type B individuals as less likely to suffer from stress.

The associated behavioural pattern includes:

• Lower time urgency.

• Less competitiveness.

• Less hostility.

• Greater patience.

• A more relaxed approach to demands.

Type B does not mean that a person:

• Never experiences stress.

• Lacks ambition.

• Avoids all deadlines.

• Is always calm.

• Cannot develop stress-related illness.

It describes a lower concentration of the traits characteristic of Type A.

Lower time urgency

A Type B individual is less likely to treat every delay as an emergency.

They may:

• Work at a steadier pace.

• Tolerate waiting more easily.

• Avoid rushing unnecessarily.

• Take breaks when appropriate.

• Accept that some tasks cannot be completed immediately.

This may reduce repeated physiological activation.

Lower competitiveness

A Type B individual may be motivated without viewing every activity as a competition.

They may:

• Focus on completing the task rather than defeating others.

• Accept differences in performance.

• Cooperate more easily.

• Set goals without constant comparison.

• Recover more quickly after setbacks.

This could reduce exposure to unnecessary competitive stressors.

Lower hostility

Type B individuals are less likely to respond to frustration with intense anger or resentment.

They may:

• Remain patient when obstructed.

• Interpret mistakes less negatively.

• Respond calmly to disagreement.

• Recover more easily after irritation.

Lower hostility may be important because hostility appears to be one of the most harmful elements within the broader Type A pattern.

Type B responses to pressure

Consider the delayed train example again.

A Type B individual might:

• Accept that the delay cannot be controlled.

• Use the waiting time without becoming intensely frustrated.

• Adjust their plans.

• Avoid confrontation.

• Return to their usual level of arousal relatively quickly.

The external stressor is the same, but the behavioural response differs.

Why Type B may be less stress-prone

Type B individuals may experience less stress because they:

• Create fewer unnecessary competitive demands.

• Respond less aggressively to frustration.

• Feel less pressure to complete everything immediately.

• Allow more time for recovery.

• Experience lower or less frequent physiological activation.

However, severe external stressors can still affect a Type B individual.

Personality may influence vulnerability without providing complete protection.

Type C Personality

The Type C behaviour pattern

Type C personality is associated with:

• Suppression of negative emotions.

• Avoidance of open conflict.

• Compliance or cooperation.

• A tendency to appear calm even when distressed.

• Difficulty expressing anger.

• Increased vulnerability to stress.

AQA’s 2025 mark scheme describes Type C individuals as easily stressed and historically labels the pattern as “cancer-prone”.

⚠️ Important: “Cancer-prone personality” is a historical research label. It does not mean that personality causes cancer or that a person is responsible for developing the illness.

Emotional suppression

Emotional suppression means preventing or concealing the outward expression of feelings.

A Type C individual may:

• Feel angry but avoid expressing it.

• Hide distress to avoid upsetting other people.

• Appear agreeable despite disagreement.

• Keep worries private.

• Avoid asking for help.

• Minimise their own emotional needs.

Suppression is different from not having the emotion. The person may experience anger or anxiety internally while showing little outward reaction.

Conflict avoidance

A Type C person may try to avoid interpersonal conflict.

They may:

• Agree rather than challenge.

• Avoid confrontation.

• Place other people’s needs first.

• Remain silent when treated unfairly.

• Attempt to maintain harmony.

This may reduce open arguments, but it can prevent the person from addressing the source of stress.

For example:

An employee feels overwhelmed by their workload but tells their manager that everything is fine because they wish to avoid disagreement.

The workplace stressor remains, while the employee continues suppressing their feelings.

Compliance and cooperation

Type C behaviour may involve being highly cooperative and accommodating.

Cooperation is not itself unhealthy. The proposed difficulty occurs when the person:

• Consistently ignores their own needs.

• Cannot assert boundaries.

• Suppresses distress.

• Avoids seeking support.

• Remains in stressful situations without challenging them.

Type C and internalised stress

A Type C person may not show obvious hostility, but this does not mean that they are unstressed.

The proposed sequence is:

1. A stressor occurs.

2. The person experiences negative emotion.

3. The emotion is suppressed rather than expressed.

4. The source of stress may remain unresolved.

5. Physiological activation may continue.

6. Long-term vulnerability may increase.

This differs from the Type A pattern:

• Type A stress may be expressed through impatience and hostility.

• Type C stress may be internalised or concealed.

Type C and illness

Research has examined possible associations between Type C characteristics and cancer.

AQA mark schemes identify research by Dattore and Temoshok as relevant evidence when evaluating Type C personality.

The proposed explanation has included the possibility that chronic emotional suppression is associated with physiological processes relevant to illness.

However, the evidence does not justify saying:

• Type C personality causes cancer.

• Suppressing anger guarantees illness.

• People with cancer are responsible for their condition.

• Changing personality would necessarily prevent disease.

The relationship is complex and correlational.

Applying Type C personality

Consider this example:

Mei feels angry about an unfair decision at work but tells everyone that she does not mind. She avoids speaking to her manager because she dislikes confrontation and continues worrying privately.

This may indicate Type C behaviour because:

• Concealing anger shows emotional suppression.

• Saying she does not mind despite distress shows compliance.

• Avoiding the manager shows conflict avoidance.

• Private worry suggests that appearing calm does not mean the stress has disappeared.

Comparing Types A, B and C

Feature	Type A	Type B	Type C
Pace	Time-urgent and impatient	More relaxed and patient	May appear calm
Competition	Highly competitive	Less competitive	More cooperative or compliant
Expression of anger	Hostility or aggression may be expressed openly	Lower hostility	Negative emotions may be suppressed
Response to delay	Likely to become frustrated	More likely to tolerate delay	May conceal frustration
Conflict	May confront or challenge	May respond calmly	Likely to avoid conflict
Stress vulnerability	More likely to show stress-related responses	Generally less stress-prone	Described as easily stressed
Proposed health association	Coronary heart disease	Lower stress vulnerability	Historical association with cancer

Type A and Type C compared

Type A and Type C individuals may both experience significant stress, but their behaviour differs.

A Type A individual may:

• Express anger.

• Become confrontational.

• Rush.

• Compete.

• Show visible hostility.

A Type C individual may:

• Suppress anger.

• Avoid conflict.

• Remain outwardly agreeable.

• Conceal distress.

• Internalise stress.

A strong comparison explains both the similarity and the difference:

Both types may be vulnerable to stress, but Type A behaviour often involves openly expressed hostility, whereas Type C behaviour involves suppressing negative emotion and avoiding conflict.

Type A and Type B compared

Type B is commonly treated as a contrast to Type A.

Type A individuals show greater time urgency, competitiveness and hostility, whereas Type B individuals are generally more patient, less competitive and less hostile.

Avoid saying that Type B people have no stress response. The difference is one of relative vulnerability and characteristic behaviour.

Applying All Three Types

Consider this scenario:

Three managers are told that an important project will be delayed. Arlo immediately becomes angry, criticises the team and insists that everyone work through the night. Bea calmly reorganises the timetable and accepts that some tasks must wait. Cora is upset by the delay but tells the team that everything is fine and avoids discussing her concerns.

Arlo

Arlo shows Type A characteristics:

• Anger and criticism indicate hostility.

• Insisting on immediate action shows time urgency.

• Treating delay as intolerable suggests a strong achievement focus.

• Working through the night may increase exposure to stress.

Bea

Bea shows Type B characteristics:

• She responds calmly.

• She tolerates the delay.

• She reorganises rather than becoming hostile.

• She accepts that not every task can be completed immediately.

Cora

Cora shows Type C characteristics:

• She is upset but conceals the emotion.

• Saying everything is fine indicates emotional suppression.

• Avoiding discussion suggests conflict avoidance.

• Her outward calm may hide continuing internal stress.

How Personality May Affect Stress Responses

Appraisal of the situation

Personality may affect how a person interprets a demand.

A Type A individual may interpret:

• Delay as failure.

• Competition as essential.

• Criticism as a challenge to status.

• Another person’s mistake as unacceptable.

A Type B individual may view the same event as manageable.

A Type C individual may recognise the threat but avoid expressing their response.

Exposure to stressors

Personality can affect the environments people enter.

A highly competitive person may:

• Choose demanding work.

• Take on additional responsibility.

• Create tighter deadlines.

• Enter conflict more frequently.

This means that personality may influence both:

• Exposure to stress.

• Reaction to stress.

Coping behaviour

Personality may influence what a person does after encountering a stressor.

Type A behaviour may involve:

• Increased effort.

• Confrontation.

• Attempts to control the situation immediately.

Type B behaviour may involve:

• Calm planning.

• Patience.

• Steadier adjustment.

Type C behaviour may involve:

• Avoidance of confrontation.

• Emotional suppression.

• Continuing without addressing personal distress.

Physiological response

Different behaviour patterns may be associated with different levels or durations of physiological arousal.

Repeated hostility and urgency may activate:

• The sympathetic nervous system.

• Increased heart rate.

• Increased blood pressure.

Continuing unresolved stress may also maintain the response over time.

These mechanisms can be examined through objective measures of bodily arousal [Physiological measures of stress].

Evaluating Personality Explanations of Stress

Supporting evidence for Type A

Friedman and Rosenman’s West Coast research found a relationship between Type A behaviour and coronary heart disease.

This supports the proposal that personality may predict vulnerability to stress-related illness.

The longitudinal nature of the research is useful because personality was assessed before later health outcomes were recorded.

However, the relationship does not establish that the complete Type A pattern caused CHD.

Other factors may have contributed.

Hostility may be the critical component

A major limitation is that Type A contains several different characteristics:

• Time urgency.

• Competitiveness.

• Hostility.

• Aggression.

These traits may not be equally harmful.

Research identified in AQA mark schemes suggests that hostility is more predictive of CHD than the general Type A category.

This means that classifying someone as broadly Type A may be too imprecise.

For example:

• One person may be competitive but not hostile.

• Another may be hostile but not highly time-urgent.

• Both could receive the same overall classification despite different health risks.

This weakens the validity of the broad personality type.

Personality categories may oversimplify people

People do not always fit neatly into one category.

A person might be:

• Competitive at work.

• Relaxed at home.

• Patient with friends.

• Hostile when driving.

• Emotionally suppressive during family conflict.

AQA’s 2025 mark scheme recognises that most people show traits from several personality types, making classification difficult.

The type approach may therefore replace a complex combination of traits with an overly simple label.

Traits may exist on continua

Rather than treating people as entirely Type A, B or C, it may be more accurate to consider separate dimensions.

For example, a person may show:

• High competitiveness.

• Moderate time urgency.

• Low hostility.

• High emotional suppression.

A dimensional approach can describe this pattern more precisely than assigning one category.

Evidence for Type C

Research identified by AQA has reported relationships between Type C characteristics and cancer outcomes.

Examples include research by:

• Dattore.

• Temoshok.

This provides some support for the claim that emotional style may relate to health vulnerability.

However, evidence of an association does not show that personality caused the illness.

Cause and effect

Much personality and illness research is correlational.

This creates several possible interpretations:

1. Personality traits influence stress and illness.

2. Illness changes a person’s behaviour or emotional expression.

3. A third variable affects personality scores and health.

4. Personality affects exposure to stressors, which then affect health.

5. Health behaviour mediates the relationship.

For example, Type A individuals may encounter more stress because they choose highly competitive situations.

The personality pattern may therefore influence illness indirectly rather than acting as a direct cause.

AQA’s 2021 mark scheme identifies this cause-and-effect problem explicitly.

Mediating variables

A mediating variable helps explain the relationship between personality and stress-related illness.

Possible mediators include:

• Smoking.

• Diet.

• Exercise.

• Workplace demands.

• Social support.

• Exposure to stressful situations.

• Hardiness.

For example:

If Type A individuals are more likely to smoke or work excessive hours, these behaviours may contribute to CHD risk.

AQA’s 2025 mark scheme identifies smoking as a possible third variable in the relationship between personality and coronary heart disease.

Interaction with external stressors

Personality does not operate in isolation.

A Type A person in a highly competitive, low-control workplace may experience considerable stress.

The same person in a supportive and flexible environment may experience less.

Similarly, a Type B person may still experience serious stress when exposed to:

• Bereavement.

• Severe illness.

• Prolonged financial difficulty.

• Unmanageable workload.

An interactionist explanation is therefore more convincing:

Stress responses result from an interaction between personality, physiological vulnerability and external demands.

This connects with the relative roles of internal and environmental influences [The nature-nurture debate].

Interaction with hardiness

A person may show some Type A characteristics while also showing high control or commitment.

AQA’s 2025 mark scheme notes that overlap between personality type and hardiness may help explain inconsistent findings. Some Type A individuals may also exercise a high degree of control in their lives.

This suggests that personality is more complex than one label.

The next lesson examines commitment, challenge and control [Hardiness].

Measurement problems

Personality types are usually identified through interviews, questionnaires or rating systems.

These measures may be affected by:

• Social desirability.

• Self-presentation.

• Different interpretations of questions.

• Interviewer judgement.

• Changes in behaviour across situations.

A person may underreport hostility because they want to appear calm and reasonable.

If the personality classification is inaccurate, any relationship with stress or illness becomes harder to interpret.

Personality may change across situations

The type approach assumes some consistency, but behaviour can be affected by context.

For example:

• A person may be competitive at work but not with family.

• A normally patient person may become hostile during a crisis.

• Someone may suppress emotions with a manager but express them with friends.

This questions whether one category can predict behaviour across every stressful situation.

Practical applications

Personality explanations may help identify behaviours associated with stress vulnerability.

Interventions could focus on:

• Reducing hostility.

• Challenging excessive time urgency.

• Developing relaxation skills.

• Improving assertive communication.

• Encouraging emotional expression.

• Changing avoidable patterns of overwork.

However, the AQA mark scheme notes that personality may be difficult to change if it is deeply established.

It may be easier to change specific behaviours than to attempt to replace an entire personality.

Ethical concerns and blame

Personality explanations can produce harmful interpretations if they are presented carelessly.

For example, the Type C explanation could be misused to suggest that a person caused their own cancer by suppressing emotions.

This would be inappropriate because:

• The evidence is correlational.

• Illness has multiple causes.

• Personality is only one possible factor.

• People do not choose serious illnesses.

• Stress and health involve biological and environmental influences.

Use cautious language such as:

• “Associated with.”

• “May increase vulnerability.”

• “Proposed relationship.”

• “One possible risk factor.”

Dispositional reductionism

The explanation may be described as dispositionally reductionist because it explains stress through a small set of personal traits.

This is useful because it:

• Creates clear predictions.

• Allows personality to be measured.

• Explains individual differences.

However, it may neglect:

• Life changes.

• Daily hassles.

• Workload.

• Control.

• Social support.

• Biological vulnerability.

A broader explanation should include both the person and their situation.

This can be developed through levels of explanation [Holism and reductionism].

Determinism

A strongly deterministic interpretation would suggest that a person’s personality fixes their stress response and health outcome.

This would be too extreme.

Personality may influence vulnerability, but:

• Situations can change.

• Coping skills can be learned.

• Social support may be protective.

• Specific behaviours may be modified.

• Type A does not guarantee CHD.

• Type C does not cause cancer.

This can be evaluated through choice and determining influences [Free will and determinism].

Overall evaluation

Personality types offer a useful explanation of why people exposed to similar demands may respond differently. Type A identifies time urgency, competitiveness and hostility, Type B describes a less stress-prone contrast, and Type C focuses on emotional suppression and conflict avoidance.

Research supports associations between some personality characteristics and illness, but the broad categories may be too simplistic. Hostility may be more predictive than the complete Type A pattern, most people show traits from several types and correlational evidence cannot establish causality. Personality is therefore best treated as one factor interacting with external stressors, health behaviours and physiological vulnerability.

Planning an extended response

For a question on personality types and stress, organise your answer around knowledge, application and evaluation.

Knowledge and understanding

Explain:

• Personality as an individual difference.

• Type A characteristics.

• Type B characteristics.

• Type C characteristics.

• How behaviour affects exposure and response to stress.

• Proposed relationships with CHD and cancer.

Application

For every scenario detail:

1. Identify the behaviour.

2. Name the relevant personality trait.

3. Identify the likely personality type.

4. Explain how the behaviour may affect stress.

For example:

Repeatedly checking the clock indicates time urgency, a Type A characteristic. This may make delays feel more threatening and increase physiological arousal.

Evaluation

Develop points such as:

• Friedman and Rosenman’s evidence.

• Evidence concerning Type C.

• Hostility as the important Type A component.

• Broad categories versus separate traits.

• Correlation and causation.

• Mediating variables.

• Interaction with external stressors.

• Measurement problems.

• Practical applications.

• Ethical concerns about blame.

• Reductionism and determinism.

Key Words 🔑

Key word	Student-friendly definition	How it may be used in an exam
Individual difference	A characteristic that varies between people and may affect their response	Explain why the same stressor affects people differently
Personality type	A category representing a characteristic pattern of behaviour	Identify Types A, B and C
Dispositional explanation	An explanation based on characteristics within the person	Contrast personality with environmental stressors
Type A personality	A pattern involving time urgency, competitiveness, hostility and aggression	Apply it to rushing, competition and angry responses
Time urgency	A persistent concern with speed, deadlines and avoiding delay	Identify clock-watching, rushing or impatience
Competitiveness	A strong desire to outperform others	Apply it when a person turns tasks into contests
Hostility	A tendency towards resentment, mistrust, anger or irritation	Explain the Type A characteristic most strongly associated with CHD
Aggression	Confrontational or harmful behaviour	Apply it to openly expressed anger within Type A
Type B personality	A comparatively relaxed, patient and less hostile behaviour pattern	Contrast it with Type A
Type C personality	A pattern involving emotional suppression, compliance and conflict avoidance	Apply it when distress is concealed
Emotional suppression	Preventing or hiding the outward expression of feelings	Explain how a Type C person may internalise stress
Conflict avoidance	Attempting to prevent disagreement or confrontation	Identify a Type C behavioural tendency
Coronary heart disease	A cardiovascular disorder affecting the heart’s blood supply	Explain the proposed health association with Type A
CHD	The abbreviation for coronary heart disease	Use after stating the full term
Cancer-prone personality	A historical label used in research into Type C and illness	Evaluate cautiously without implying causation
Correlation	A measured association between variables	Explain why personality research cannot establish causality
Mediating variable	A factor helping to explain the relationship between two variables	Apply smoking, workload or exposure to stressors
Third variable	Another factor that may influence both measured variables	Challenge a direct personality-to-illness conclusion
Interactionist explanation	An account in which several factors work together	Combine personality, environment and physiology
Hardiness	A personality pattern involving commitment, challenge and control	Compare with personality Types A, B and C

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

Examiner hint: Make explicit links to stress. The 2025 examiner report found that strong answers did not simply describe Types A, B and C. They repeatedly explained how each pattern affected stress responses.

Examiner hint: Keep research evidence accurate. The same report noted that students often included relevant evidence but sometimes muddled the details of individual studies.

Examiner hint: Learn the central Type A traits precisely: time urgency, competitiveness, aggression and hostility.

Examiner hint: Do not describe Type B merely as “the opposite of Type A”. State the relevant behaviours, such as lower time urgency, lower hostility and a more patient response.

Examiner hint: Treat the Type C health association cautiously. Use “associated with” rather than claiming that emotional suppression causes cancer.

Examiner hint: For evaluate, description alone does not answer the question. The 2021 stress question awarded marks entirely for evaluating personality type, and its mark scheme emphasised evidence, causality and the possibility that hostility is more important than the general Type A pattern.

Examiner hint: Do not mix evidence from unrelated stress topics. A study of immune functioning does not automatically provide evidence for personality Types A, B or C.

Examiner hint: In an application question, attach one precise trait to each detail rather than assigning a label with no explanation.

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Defining Type A only as “a stressed person”.

Why this is incorrect:Type A is a specific behaviour pattern involving time urgency, competitiveness, hostility and aggression.

How to improve:Name and explain the relevant traits.

Mistake: Treating competitiveness as automatically harmful.

Why this is incorrect:The evidence suggests that some Type A components, particularly hostility, may be more relevant than others.

How to improve:Evaluate the separate traits rather than assuming the whole pattern has one effect.

Mistake: Saying every ambitious person is Type A.

Why this is incorrect:Ambition alone does not demonstrate the full behaviour pattern.

How to improve:Look for time urgency, competition, hostility or aggression across situations.

Mistake: Saying Type B individuals never experience stress.

Why this is incorrect:Type B is associated with lower vulnerability, not complete protection.

How to improve:Describe Type B as comparatively less stress-prone.

Mistake: Saying Type B means lazy or unmotivated.

Why this is incorrect:A person may be motivated without showing excessive urgency, competition or hostility.

How to improve:Focus on the way demands are approached rather than the absence of achievement.

Mistake: Assuming a calm appearance proves Type B personality.

Why this is incorrect:A Type C person may appear calm while suppressing considerable distress.

How to improve:Look for emotional expression, compliance and conflict avoidance.

Mistake: Saying Type C individuals do not experience anger.

Why this is incorrect:The pattern involves suppressing or concealing negative emotions, not necessarily their absence.

How to improve:Distinguish experiencing an emotion from expressing it.

Mistake: Saying Type C personality causes cancer.

Why this is incorrect:The evidence is correlational, and illness has multiple causes.

How to improve:Use cautious language and discuss alternative variables.

Mistake: Classifying a person from one isolated action.

Why this is incorrect:Personality type refers to a relatively consistent behavioural pattern.

How to improve:Use several details and explain the pattern across situations.

Mistake: Treating Types A, B and C as fixed biological categories.

Why this is incorrect:They are classifications of behavioural tendencies, and many people show traits from more than one type.

How to improve:Discuss overlap and dimensional approaches.

Mistake: Claiming that correlation proves personality caused illness.

Why this is incorrect:Health behaviour, external stressors or biological vulnerability may explain the relationship.

How to improve:Discuss cause and effect, mediators and third variables.

Mistake: Evaluating personality by describing another stress explanation.

Why this is incorrect:A description of the HPA system or workplace stress is not automatically an evaluation.

How to improve:Use the alternative explanation to show what the personality account overlooks.

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Question 1

Which of the following is most characteristic of Type A personality?

A. Low time urgency and patienceB. Emotional suppression and conflict avoidanceC. Competitiveness, hostility and time urgencyD. Low motivation and lack of concern

[1 mark]

Question 2

Define personality type in the context of stress.

[2 marks]

Question 3

Outline three behaviours associated with Type A personality.

[3 marks]

Question 4

Explain two differences between Type A and Type B personality.

[4 marks]

Question 5

Explain how Type C behaviour may affect a person’s response to stress.

[4 marks]

Question 6

Three employees respond differently when a deadline is moved forward.

• Amir becomes angry, repeatedly checks the clock and says that he must finish before everyone else.

• Bella calmly reorganises her tasks and accepts that some work must wait.

• Chloe feels worried but tells her manager that everything is fine because she wants to avoid disagreement.

Use your knowledge of personality types to explain the three employees’ behaviour.

[6 marks]

Question 7

Explain one reason why hostility may be more useful than the general Type A category when predicting stress-related illness.

[4 marks]

Question 8

Evaluate personality type as an explanation for stress.

[6 marks]

Question 9

A researcher classifies employees as Type A, B or C and records their mean reported stress scores.

Personality classification	Mean stress score
Type A	34
Type B	19
Type C	30

Explain what the results suggest and identify one conclusion that cannot be drawn.

[4 marks]

Question 10

Lena is highly competitive, becomes angry when delayed and regularly works through her breaks. Her colleague Marcus works steadily and rarely becomes hostile when plans change. Their manager, Priya, dislikes conflict and hides her worries even when she feels overwhelmed.

Discuss personality types as an explanation for individual differences in stress. Refer to Lena, Marcus and Priya in your answer.

[16 marks]

Answers and Mark Scheme

Question 1

Answer: C

Type A personality is associated with competitiveness, hostility, aggression and time urgency.

[1 mark]

Question 2

Award up to two marks:

• A personality type is a category representing a pattern of characteristic behaviours or traits.

• The pattern may influence how a person interprets and responds to stressors.

[2 marks]

Question 3

Award one mark for each relevant behaviour, up to three marks:

• Time urgency or impatience.

• Competitiveness.

• Hostility.

• Aggression.

• Rushing or attempting several tasks at once.

[3 marks]

Question 4

Award up to two marks for each developed comparison:

• Type A individuals show greater time urgency, whereas Type B individuals tend to be more patient or relaxed.

• Type A individuals are highly competitive, whereas Type B individuals are less likely to treat situations as competitions.

• Type A individuals show greater hostility, whereas Type B individuals tend to respond less aggressively to frustration.

• Type A individuals are considered more vulnerable to stress, whereas Type B individuals are generally less stress-prone.

Maximum [4 marks].

Question 5

Award up to four marks:

• Type C individuals may suppress negative emotions.

• They may avoid conflict or remain compliant.

• The source of stress may therefore remain unresolved.

• The person may appear calm while continuing to experience internal stress or physiological activation.

Do not credit claims that Type C behaviour inevitably causes cancer.

[4 marks]

Question 6

Award up to two marks for each employee:

• Amir shows Type A personality because anger indicates hostility, checking the clock indicates time urgency and wanting to finish first indicates competitiveness.

• Bella shows Type B personality because she responds calmly, reorganises her work and tolerates the delay without hostility.

• Chloe shows Type C personality because she suppresses worry and avoids disagreement despite feeling overwhelmed.

Maximum [6 marks].

Question 7

Award up to four marks:

• Type A is made up of several traits.

• These traits may not be equally related to illness.

• Evidence suggests hostility is more predictive of coronary heart disease than the complete Type A pattern.

• Measuring hostility separately may therefore provide a more precise and valid prediction than placing everyone in one broad category.

[4 marks]

Question 8

Indicative content may include:

• Friedman and Rosenman found an association between Type A behaviour and stress-related illness.

• Research into Type C has reported associations with cancer outcomes.

• Hostility may be more important than the whole Type A pattern.

• Type categories contain several traits and may lack precision.

• Most people show characteristics from more than one type.

• Findings are largely correlational and cannot establish causality.

• Personality may affect exposure to stressful situations rather than directly causing illness.

• Smoking, workload or biological vulnerability may mediate the relationship.

• Personality measurement may be affected by self-report or interviewer judgement.

• Personality explanations may neglect environmental stressors.

• Identifying specific harmful behaviours has practical value.

• Personality may be difficult to change.

For the highest marks, evaluation must be developed rather than presented as a list.

[6 marks]

Question 9

Award up to four marks:

• The Type A group has the highest mean stress score.

• The Type C group also has a relatively high mean score.

• The Type B group has the lowest mean stress score.

• The researcher cannot conclude that personality type caused the differences because the study may be correlational and other variables could affect stress.

Credit the point that group means do not show that every participant followed the same pattern.

[4 marks]

Question 10

Indicative content may include:

Knowledge and understanding

• Personality is an individual difference that may affect stress responses.

• Type A involves time urgency, competitiveness, hostility and aggression.

• Type B is comparatively relaxed, patient and less hostile.

• Type C involves emotional suppression, compliance and conflict avoidance.

• Type A has been associated with CHD.

• Type C has historically been associated with cancer vulnerability.

• Personality may affect exposure, interpretation, coping and physiological arousal.

Application to Lena

• Lena’s competitiveness indicates Type A personality.

• Anger when delayed shows hostility and time urgency.

• Working through breaks may increase exposure to stress and reduce recovery.

• Her behaviour may contribute to repeated physiological arousal.

Application to Marcus

• Marcus’s steady pace suggests lower time urgency.

• Remaining calm when plans change indicates lower hostility.

• These behaviours are consistent with Type B personality.

• He may therefore experience lower stress vulnerability, although he is not immune to stress.

Application to Priya

• Priya hides her worries, indicating emotional suppression.

• Avoiding conflict is characteristic of Type C.

• Her calm appearance may conceal continuing internal stress.

• Failure to express concerns may leave workplace stressors unresolved.

Evaluation

• Friedman and Rosenman’s research supports a relationship between Type A and CHD.

• Research into Type C provides some evidence of an association with illness.

• Hostility may predict CHD better than the broad Type A category.

• People often show traits from several types.

• Behaviour may vary across situations.

• Correlational evidence cannot demonstrate that personality caused illness.

• Stress or illness may affect behaviour and personality scores.

• Personality may increase exposure to stressful situations.

• Workload, smoking, social support or biological vulnerability may act as mediators.

• An interactionist explanation is more convincing than personality alone.

• Personality measurement may be affected by self-report and classification problems.

• The explanation has practical value if specific behaviours can be changed.

• Type C research must be discussed carefully to avoid blaming people for illness.

A high-level answer will describe all three personality types accurately, apply several separate details from the scenario and develop a balanced evaluation using relevant evidence.