Stress and Personality

We all have certain features to our personality that make us unique as people; however there are many aspects of our personality that are similar to other people. These similar personality factors are called Personality Traits. Research has indicated that certain personality traits can make us more vulnerable to stress. People with such traits are known as Type A personalities. Type A's tend to be more competitive, more impatient, have time urgency when compared to the more relaxed and laid back Type B personalities. It's important to realise that we are all a mixture of type A and B personality traits but if we are excessively type A this can make us more vulnerable to stress. We have included a Stress and Personality Self Test at the end of session one in the course materials for you to fill in. We can reduce our Type A personality traits through the techniques taught on this course. Here are some Type A and some Type B Personality Traits:

Type A Personality Traits	*Type B Personality Traits*
· Must get things finished	· Do not mind leaving things unfinished for a while
· Never late for appointments	· Calm and unhurried about appointments
· Excessively competitive	· Not excessively competitive
· Can't listen to conversations, interrupt, finish others sentences	· Can listen and let the other person finish speaking
· Always in a hurry	· Never in a hurry even when busy
· Do not like to wait	· Can wait calmly
· Very busy at full speed	· Easy going
· Trying to do more than one thing at a time	· Can take one thing at a time
· Want everything to be perfect	· Do not mind things not quite perfect
· Pressurised speech	· Slow and deliberate speech
· Do everything fast	· Do things slowly
· Hold feelings in	· Can express feelings
· Not satisfied with work/life	· Quite satisfied with work/life
· Few social activities/interests	· Many social activities/interests
· If in employment, will often take work home	· If in employment, will limit working to work hours