Abstract
The evolution of the Type A hypothesis is well documented. The protective corresponding Type B construct has not evolved similarly. Using experiences from Friedman's Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project, on a speculative basis, four neglected protective processes are examined: uniqueness/self-esteem/autonomy, forgiveness, sociability, and “causal” wisdom attributions. A more integrative set of questions is proposed to expand our knowledge of adaptive fitness and success.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonvosky, A. (1979).Health, Stress, and Coping, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Bloom, A. (1987).The Closing of the American Mind, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Bowlby, J. (1974).Attachment and Loss, Hogarth Press, London.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979).The Ecology of Human Development, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Brown, R. (1987).Analyzing Love, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Buber, M. (1950).The Way of Man According to the Teachings of Hasidism, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Cannon, W. (1939).The Wisdom of the Body, Norton, New York.
Cantor, N., Norem, J. K., Niedenthal, P. M., and Langston, C. A. (1987). Life tasks, self concept ideals, and cognitive strategies in a life transition.J. Personal Soc. Psychol. 53: 1178–1191.
Cassel, J. (1976). The contribution of the social environment to host resistance.Am. J. Epidemiol. 104: 127–133.
Coehlo, G. V., Hamburg, D. A., and Adams, J. E. (eds.) (1974).Coping and Adaptation, Basic Books, New York.
Cohen, S., and Syme, L. (eds.) (1988).Social Support and Health, Academic Press, New York.
Dembroski, T. M., and Czajkowski, S. (1989). Historical and current developments in coronary prone behavior. In Siegman, A. W., and Dembroski, T. M. (eds.),In Search of Coronary Prone Behavior: Beyond Type A, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 21–40.
Dembroski, T. M., Weiss, S. W., Shields, J. L., Haynes, S. G., and Feinleib, M. (eds.) (1978).Coronary Prone Behavior, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 64–66.
Dressler, W. W. (1989). Type A behavior and the social production of cardiovascular disease.J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 177: 181–190.
Eisdorfer, C., and Elliot, G. R. (eds.) (1982).Stress and Human Health, National Academy of Science Press, Washington, D.C.
Elder, G. (1974).Children of the Depression, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Engels, G. (1974). The psychosomatic approach to individual susceptibility to disease,Gastroenterology 67: 1085–1093.
Fitzgibbons, R. P. (1986). The cognitive and emotive uses of forgiveness in the treatment of anger.Psychotherapy 23: 629–632.
Friedman, M., and Rosenman, R. H. (1974).Type A Behavior and Your Heart, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, p. 67.
Friedman, M., and Ulmer, D. (1984).Treating Type A Behavior and Your Heart, Fawcett, New York, p. 75.
Friedman, M., Thoresen, C., Gill, J., Ulmer, D., Powell, L. H.,et al. (1986). Alterations of Type A behavior and its effects on cardiac recurrence in post-myocardial infarction patients: Summary results of the coronary prevention recurrence project.Am. Heart J. 112: 653–665.
Hamburg, D., and Hamburg, B. (1981). Coping and adaptation. In Kaplan, B. H., and Ibrahim, M. A. (eds.),Family and Interventions, Institute for Research in Social Science, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Hamburg, D., Hamburg, B., and Barchas, J. (1975). Depression in Evolutionary Perspective. In Levi, L. (ed.),Parameters of Emotion, Raven Press, New York, pp. 235–278.
Harris, G. G. (1989). The concept of individual, self, and person in description and analysis,Am. Anthropol. 91: 599–612.
Haworth, L. (1986).Autonomy, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. (See the early work of Robert W. White.)
Henderson, A. S. (1988).An Introduction to Social Psychiatry, Oxford University Press, New York.
Hendrick, C. (ed.). (1989).Close Relationships.,Sage, London.
Hinkle, L. E., and Wolff, H. G. (1957). Health and social environment: Experimental investigations. In Leighton, A. H.,et al. (Eds.),Explorations in Social Psychiatry, Basic Books, New York.
Hope, D. (1987). The healing paradox of forgiveness.Psychotherapy 24: 240–244.
Hunter, S., and Sundel, M. (eds.) (1989).Midlife Myths, Sage, London.
James, W. (1902).The Variety of Religious Experience, Longmans, Green, London.
Jenkins, C. D. (1978). Behavioral risk factors in coronary disease.Annu. Rev. Med. 29: 543–562.
Jenkins, C. D., Zyzanski, S. J., and Rosenman, R. H. (1976). Risk of new myocardial infarction in middle aged men with coronary heart disease.Circulation 53: 342–347.
Kobassa, S. (1979). Stressful life events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness.J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 37: 1–11 (and related work).
Lazarus, R. S., and Folkman, S. (1984).Stress Appraisal and Coping, Springer, New York.
Leighton, A. H. (1959).My Name is Legion, Basic Books, New York.
Margolis, L. H., McLeroy, K. L., Runyan, C. W., and Kaplan, B. H. (1983). Type A behavior: An ecological approach.J. Behav. Med. 6: 245–257.
Maslow, A. H. (1987).Motivation and Personality (3rd ed.), Harper & Row, New York.
Matthews, K. A., and Haynes, S. G. (1986). Type A behavior pattern and coronary risk: Update and clinical evaluation.Am. J. Epidemiol. 6: 923–960.
Milton, J. (1957).Complete Poems and Major Prose, Merritt Y. Hughes, New York.
Moos, R. (ed.) (1986).Coping with Life Crises, Plenum, New York.
Ornish, D. (1990).Reversing Heart Disease, Random House, New York.
Osler, W. (1910). The Lumleian Lectures on angina pectoris.Lancet 1: 697, 839, 973.
Osterweis, M., Solomon, F., and Green, M. (eds.) (1984).Bereavement, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
Parks, M., and Hind, J. S. (1982).Place of Attachment in Human Behavior, Basic Books, New York.
Powell, L. H. (1987). Issues in the measurement of Type A behavior pattern. In Kasl, S. B. and Cooper, C. (eds.),Stress and Health Issues in Research Methodology, Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 231–282.
Ragland, D. R. (1989). Letter.N. Engl. J. Med. 319: 394. (Ragland's citation of Friedman's Recurrent Coronary Prevention Project work is confusing, Friedman did find that Type A intervention was protective. In any case, David Ragland provides a complete bibliography.)
Rosenman, R., Brand, R. J., Jenkins, C. D., Friedman, M., Strauss, R., and Worm, M. (1975). Coronary heart disease and the Western Collaborative Group Study: Final follow-up experience of 8 1/2 years.JAMA 23: 872.
Selye, H. (1956).The Stress of Life, McGraw-Hill, New York (2nd ed., 1976).
Siegman, A. W., and Dembroski, T. M. (eds.) (1989).In Search of Coronary Prone Behavior: Beyond Type A, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J. (This recent review does not deal with the evolution of Type B.)
Stark, W. (1976).The Social Bond, Fordham University Press, New York.
Storrs, A. (1988).Churchill's Black Dog and Kafka's Mice, Grove Press, New York (for a discussion of Jung's contribution to our understanding of individuality).
Sulls, G., and Sanders, G. S. (1989). Why do some behavioral styles place people at coronary risk? In Siegman, A. W., and Dembroski, T. M. (eds.),In Search of Coronary Prone Behavior: Beyond Type A, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 1–20. (See previous references to Dembroski, Williams, Powell, Matthews, and Haynes.)
Vaillant, G. (1977).Adaptation to Life, Little, Brown, Boston.
Warren, R. P. (1975).Democracy and Poetry, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
White, R. W. (1979). Competence as an aspect of personal growth. In Kent, M. W., and Rolf, J. E. (eds.),Social Competence in Children, University Press of New England, Hanover, N.H.
Williams R. (1989).The Trusting Heart, Times Books, New York.
Williams, R. B. (1989). Biological mechanisms mediating the relationship between behavior and coronary heart disease. In Siegman, A. W., and Dembroski, T. M. (eds.),In Search of Coronary Prone Behavior Beyond: Type A, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J., pp. 195–204.
Wilson, R. N. (1979).The Writer as Seer, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
Wilson, R. N. (1989). Ax for the frozen sea: Kafka's social psychology. Paper given at the Southern Sociological Society, April.
Wolinsky, F. D. (1988).The Sociology of Health, Wadsworth, Belmont, Calif.
Yalom, I. D. (1980).Existential Psychotherapy, Basic Books, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaplan, B.H. Social health and the forgiving heart: The Type B story. J Behav Med 15, 3–14 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00848374
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00848374