Preference for control and the coronary-prone behavior pattern: "I'd rather do it myself".

Abstract

We explored differential preference for control among Type A and Type B individuals. Forty-six subjects were threatened with an aversive event (loud noise) and were allowed to choose whether to turn off the noise themselves or to yield control to another (more competent) individual. The results showed that Type B subjects (regardless of sex) tended to relinquish control to their more competent confederates and thus reduce the aversive stimulus, whereas the choice behavior of Type As was less clear. In addition, although female subjects tended to yield control, male subjects were more inclined to retain it. Because the willingness to yield control in general appears to be stronger in women than in men, the behavior observed in Type As may be partly moderated by the subject's sex. Although there were suggestive trends in the data, the central psychological features of the Type A pattern remain ambiguous and await studies in which researchers explore these effects, using a variety of situations and larger sample sizes.