Definition: A type B personality is a personality classification first established for medical purposes that is described as a passive individual with less inclinations to stressful behaviors. It is a categorization identified according to someone’s behavior that helps detect proclivity to experience heart diseases.
What Does Type B Personality Mean?
In 1950, the cardiologists Meyer Friedman and R.H. Rosenham, described two types of personalities known as Type A and Type B to classify individuals according to their stress and anxiety levels. The original purpose of the categories was to identify behavior patterns that might increase the risk of heart diseases but it actually served as a founding study for many other psychological studies that dig deeper into each of these characters.
Type B personalities are defined as relaxed individuals that keep their distant from stressful situations. They are also described as insightful people that enjoy achieving new goals but are not desperate to. They also prefer creative activities rather than task execution and they are less competitive than their Type A counterpart. In business environments, type B personalities relate very well to other people, although they might be less competitive and less goal-oriented than type A. That doesn’t mean they are unproductive, but they do have a different work dynamic than their opposite.
Example
Luke is a financial analyst working for a broker-dealer firm called Newman and Sons Co. His job is to analyze many different companies to provide stock recommendations. The work environment at Newman is often stressful due to tight deadlines and highly demanding clientele.
Nevertheless, Luke seems to deal with stress in a passive way. He is actually very good at his job and delivers everything in time but he doesn’t get too affected by the pressure around him. He has been characterized as a Type B person and even though his bosses are normally Type A that doesn’t create conflict among them. In fact, they always tend to bring Luke as a companion since he transmits certain calm to the atmosphere and that helps meetings and debates flow more comfortably.
