Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

512 CHAPTER 12 Stress, Health, and CopingCalvin and Hobbes by Bill WattersonCALVIN AND HOBBES © 1993 Watterson. Dist. byUNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprinted withpermission. All rights reserved.Chronic Negative EmotionsThe Hazards of Being GrouchySome people seem to have been born with a sunny, cheerful disposition. But otherpeople almost always seem to be unhappy campers—they frequently experience badmoods and negative emotions (Marshall & others, 1992). Are people who are proneto chronic negative emotions more likely to suffer health problems?Howard S. Friedman and Stephanie Booth-Kewley (1987, 2003) set out to answerthis question. After systematically analyzing more than 100 studies investigatingthe potential links between personality factors and disease, they concluded thatpeople who are habitually anxious, depressed, angry, or hostile are more likely todevelop a chronic disease such as arthritis or heart disease.How might chronic negative emotions predispose people to develop disease? Notsurprisingly, tense, angry, and unhappy people experience more stress than do happierpeople. They also report more frequent and more intense daily hassles thanpeople who are generally in a positive mood (Bolger & Schilling, 1991; Bolger &Zuckerman, 1995). And they react much more intensely, and with far greater distress,to stressful events (Marco & Suls, 1993).Of course, everyone occasionally experiences bad moods. Are transient negativemoods also associated with health risks? One series of studies investigated the relationshipbetween daily mood and immune system functioning (Stone & others,1987, 1994). For three months, participants recorded their moods every day. Onthe days on which they experienced negative events and moods, the effectivenessof their immune systems dipped. But their immune systems improved on the dayson which they experienced positive events and good moods. And in fact, otherstudies have found that higher levels of hope and other positive emotions are associatedwith a decreased likelihood of developing health problems (Richman &others, 2005).Type A behavior patternA behavioral and emotional style characterizedby a sense of time urgency, hostility,and competitiveness.Type A Behavior and HostilityThe concept of Type A behavior originated about 35 years ago, when two cardiologists,Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, noticed that many of their patientsshared certain traits. The original formulation of the Type A behavior pattern includeda cluster of three characteristics: (1) an exaggerated sense of time urgency,often trying to do more and more in less and less time; (2) a general sense of hostility,frequently displaying anger and irritation; and (3) intense ambition and competitiveness.In contrast, people who were more relaxed and laid back were classifiedas displaying the Type B behavior pattern (Hock, 2007; Janisse & Dyck, 1988;Rosenman & Chesney, 1982).Friedman and Rosenman (1974) interviewed and classified more than 3,000middle-aged, healthy men as either Type A or Type B. They tracked the health ofthese men for eight years and found that Type A men were twice as likely to developheart disease as Type B men. This held true even when the Type A men didnot display other known risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, high blood