"fake a type-A personality"

[Stefan Ram]

I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
World Wide Web.

I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?

The next sentence of the source offers something that gives
an idea what the author of the text might think that a
»type-A personality« is. I could give this later, but I do
want to give this source now, as I just would like to know
how/whether the expression is understood /without any context/.

I also did a web search for this topic and found one other
source with a similar expression, where a blogger writes
»I can happily report that I have gotten better at (...) faking
an alpha type personality«. And a comment on some web pages
has »I can fake a pretty convincing A type personality«.

(Other sources indicated that »A type personality« and
»Alpha type personality« often are assumed to be the same
notion.)

[Cheryl]

Post by Stefan Ram
I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
World Wide Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?
The next sentence of the source offers something that gives
an idea what the author of the text might think that a
»type-A personality« is. I could give this later, but I do
want to give this source now, as I just would like to know
how/whether the expression is understood /without any context/.
I also did a web search for this topic and found one other
source with a similar expression, where a blogger writes
»I can happily report that I have gotten better at (...) faking
an alpha type personality«. And a comment on some web pages
has »I can fake a pretty convincing A type personality«.
(Other sources indicated that »A type personality« and
»Alpha type personality« often are assumed to be the same
notion.)

A Type A personality is one which is very driven, dominating and
aggressive. I believe the term came into use ...decades ago! I must be
getting old; I was going to write 'a few years ago', but it's much
longer than that. Some psychiatrist or psychologist wrote a book about
personality types and heart disease, and concluded that although Type As
were often very successful in life, their attraction towards an
immersion in a high-stress lifestyle made them susceptible to heart
attacks, so they should learn to slow down and take life easy.

An alpha personality is probably one similar to that of the alpha animal
in a pack, eg the alpha wolf in a wolf pack. As with the Type A, there's
the assumption that the personality is one with traits such as dominance
and aggression.

Both tend to be associated more with males than females, although the
terms can be applied to females.

[Evan Kirshenbaum]

Post by Cheryl
A Type A personality is one which is very driven, dominating and
aggressive. I believe the term came into use ...decades ago! I must
be getting old; I was going to write 'a few years ago', but it's
much longer than that. Some psychiatrist or psychologist wrote a
book about personality types and heart disease,

Cardiologists. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman wrote _Type A Behavior
and Your Heart_ in 1974.

Post by Cheryl
and concluded that although Type As were often very successful in
life, their attraction towards an immersion in a high-stress
lifestyle made them susceptible to heart attacks, so they should
learn to slow down and take life easy.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |The General Theorem of Usenet
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |Information: If you really want to
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |know the definitive answer, post
|the wrong information, and wait for
***@hpl.hp.com |someone to come by and explain in
[phone] |excruciating detail precisely how
|wrong you are.
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ | Eric The Read

[Mark Brader]

Post by Evan Kirshenbaum

Post by Cheryl
A Type A personality is one which is very driven, dominating and
aggressive. I believe the term came into use ...decades ago! ...
Some psychiatrist or psychologist wrote a book about personality
types and heart disease,

Cardiologists. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman wrote _Type A Behavior
and Your Heart_ in 1974.

Ah, right. And with that factual correction, I agree with everything
Cheryl said.

[Don Phillipson]

Post by Stefan Ram
I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
World Wide Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?

The idea of personality types developed within the
speciality of "personality psychology" that emerged
in the 1930s or 1940s (viz. a branch of mental science different
from behaviorism, Freudianism etc.) The concept was
popularized in N. America by postwar books of social
psychology (e.g. The Organization Man 1956) and has
been taken up by scientific medicine (e.g. people of
Type A personality are deemed to be more vulnerable
to hypertension than others.) The idea is as well known
in N.America as any other from prewar psychological science.

[JimboCat]

Post by Don Phillipson

  I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
  World Wide Web.
  I wonder how many English language readers might be able
  to understand what this means without any further explanation?

The idea of personality types developed within the
speciality of "personality psychology" that emerged
in the 1930s or 1940s (viz. a branch of mental science different
from behaviorism, Freudianism etc.)   The concept was
popularized in N. America by postwar books of social
psychology  (e.g. The Organization Man 1956) and has
been taken up by scientific medicine (e.g. people of
Type A personality are deemed to be more vulnerable
to hypertension than others.)  The idea is as well known
in N.America as any other from prewar psychological science.

Aldous Huxley, then, was ahead of his time. He did not, to my
knowledge, use the term "Type A Personality", but I was just re-
reading his 1923 novel /Antic Hay/: his protagonist, Gumbril, dons a
fake beard and transforms himself from a weak-willed nebbish to "The
Complete Man", a powerful and assertive conqueror of all who oppose
his will. He even gets laid!

I wonder if this novel is the inspiration for the quote in which
(someone) said (something like) "If it's not about adultery in <insert
some London-ish location here> then it's not considered a novel any
more."?

Jim Deutch (JimboCat)
--
PS I'll defend that triple punctuation to the death!

[Don Phillipson]

. . . Aldous Huxley, then, was ahead of his time. He did not, to my
knowledge, use the term "Type A Personality", but I was just re-
reading his 1923 novel /Antic Hay/: his protagonist, Gumbril, dons a
fake beard and transforms himself from a weak-willed nebbish to "The
Complete Man", a powerful and assertive conqueror of all who oppose
his will. He even gets laid!

Huxley seems not specially ahead of the professional
psychologists. The "Bildungsroman" was well-established
in English fiction by 1923, most obviously in H.G. Wells's
books (The Card, Kipps, etc.) but Huxley is funnier. (For
more on personality types, see Ernst Kretschmer in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Kretschmer, variously
(1) ectomorph/endomorph
(2) asthenic/athletic/pyknik
(3) schizothymic/cyclothymic.
Some of the technical terms from each of his (different)
typologies seem to be still used. (I did not know, either,
that being an unreconstructed Nazi seems not to have
harmed his academic career.))

[Default User]

Post by Don Phillipson

I read the advice to ;fake a type-A personality+ in the
World Wide Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?

The idea of personality types developed within the
speciality of "personality psychology" that emerged
in the 1930s or 1940s (viz. a branch of mental science different
from behaviorism, Freudianism etc.) The concept was
popularized in N. America by postwar books of social
psychology (e.g. The Organization Man 1956) and has
been taken up by scientific medicine (e.g. people of
Type A personality are deemed to be more vulnerable
to hypertension than others.) The idea is as well known
in N.America as any other from prewar psychological science.

I'd say that "Type A" is well-known, but not the general type system.
Without looking it up, I couldn't tell you how many types there were,
and what a "Type B" or any other type would represent.




Brian

[s***@yahoo.com]

Post by Default User

Post by Don Phillipson

  I read the advice to ;fake a type-A personality+ in the
  World Wide Web.
  I wonder how many English language readers might be able
  to understand what this means without any further explanation?

The idea of personality types developed within the
speciality of "personality psychology" that emerged
in the 1930s or 1940s (viz. a branch of mental science different
from behaviorism, Freudianism etc.)   The concept was
popularized in N. America by postwar books of social
psychology  (e.g. The Organization Man 1956) and has
been taken up by scientific medicine (e.g. people of
Type A personality are deemed to be more vulnerable
to hypertension than others.)  The idea is as well known
in N.America as any other from prewar psychological science.

I'd say that "Type A" is well-known, but not the general type system.
Without looking it up, I couldn't tell you how many types there were,
and what a "Type B" or any other type would represent.

It's just the two, really. People who aren't either are called
"crossover" "type AB".

Type B is basically the notional complement of type A--laid back,
easygoing, relaxed, patient, mellow, lazy, indifferent, and apathetic
could all be associated with type B personalities.

[Default User]

Post by s***@yahoo.com

Post by Default User
I'd say that "Type A" is well-known, but not the general type
system. Without looking it up, I couldn't tell you how many types
there were, and what a "Type B" or any other type would represent.

It's just the two, really. People who aren't either are called
"crossover" "type AB".
Type B is basically the notional complement of type A--laid back,
easygoing, relaxed, patient, mellow, lazy, indifferent, and apathetic
could all be associated with type B personalities.

A lot of the people I know at work are what I consider the equivalent
of the line soldier in the army. They're in the trenches, working hard
and doing a good job, but aren't particularly ambitious. They don't
want to be managers, or do big high-profile talks and presentations.
They like more money, and don't mind promotions in a technical track. I
call them (and by and large I include myself) "grunt engineers".

I don't know how you'd classify them.



Brian

[Stan Brown]

Post by Stefan Ram
I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
World Wide Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?

"Type A personality" is less common than it used to be, but it was
part of popular culture for a while. But in popular culture it had a
slightly pejorative tone, similar to but not as intense as "anal-
retentive". When I see "fake a Type A personality", I wonder why on
earth anyone would want to or would advise someone else to.

[R H Draney]

Post by Stan Brown

Post by Stefan Ram
I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
World Wide Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able
to understand what this means without any further explanation?

"Type A personality" is less common than it used to be, but it was
part of popular culture for a while. But in popular culture it had a
slightly pejorative tone, similar to but not as intense as "anal-
retentive". When I see "fake a Type A personality", I wonder why on
earth anyone would want to or would advise someone else to.

The very phrase "type A personality" may mean different things in different
cultures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_types_in_Japanese_culture

....r

[s***@yahoo.com]

Post by Stan Brown

  I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the
  World Wide Web.
  I wonder how many English language readers might be able
  to understand what this means without any further explanation?

"Type A personality" is less common than it used to be, but it was
part of popular culture for a while.  But in popular culture it had a
slightly pejorative tone, similar to but not as intense as "anal-
retentive".  When I see "fake a Type A personality", I wonder why on
earth anyone would want to or would advise someone else to.

Type A and type B are just different, neither one carried a
necessarily pejorative connotation to me. There are both positive and
negative traits associated with both.

A type A person could be motivated, outgoing, and energetic, or could
be overbearing, aggressive, and high strung.
A type B person could be relaxed, patient, and laid-back, or could be
lazy, apathetic, and indifferent.

[Roland Hutchinson]

I read the advice to »fake a type-A personality« in the World Wide
Web.
I wonder how many English language readers might be able to
understand what this means without any further explanation?

"Type A personality" is less common than it used to be, but it was part
of popular culture for a while. But in popular culture it had a
slightly pejorative tone, similar to but not as intense as "anal-
retentive". When I see "fake a Type A personality", I wonder why on
earth anyone would want to or would advise someone else to.

Likely because they want to be seen as a go-getter, an aggressive and
driven business person--highly effective though likely to work themselves
into a heart attack. Perhaps they are applying for a job in sales.

[Stefan Ram]

Post by Stefan Ram
The next sentence of the source offers something that gives
an idea what the author of the text might think that a
»type-A personality« is. I could give this later, but I do
want to give this source now, as I just would like to know
how/whether the expression is understood /without any context/.

Thanks for the replies so far!

Now, the source I referred to:

It gives a suggestion how to behave when a superior makes
sexual comments, which you do not enjoy to hear:

»One non-litigious method of keeping superiors from
making crass comments in your presence is to fake a
type-A personality. If you come across as all business
all the time, offending colleagues will think of you as
a nerd not worth including in their banter - no great
loss in this case.«

http://nymag.com/guides/2007/officelife/30012/index2.html

The authors seem to believe that »type-A personality« is
being an »all-business« nerd, I think of Spock or Data in
»Star Trek«. But this does not seems to be what other
sources call a »type-A personality«.

[Stan Brown]

Post by Stefan Ram
»One non-litigious method of keeping superiors from
making crass comments in your presence is to fake a
type-A personality. If you come across as all business
all the time, offending colleagues will think of you as
a nerd not worth including in their banter - no great
loss in this case.«
http://nymag.com/guides/2007/officelife/30012/index2.html
But this does not seems to be what other
sources call a »type-A personality«.

I think, as you do, that the authors have misused "Type A
personality". A Type A person would be driven to win in every
contest. To me, "faking a Type A personality", in that context,
would mean pretending to be ready and eager to litigate over any
perceived offense, however slight, and would be nearly opposite to
the behavior that the authors recommend.

[Jerry Friedman]

Post by Stan Brown

      »One non-litigious method of keeping superiors from
      making crass comments in your presence is to fake a
      type-A personality. If you come across as all business
      all the time, offending colleagues will think of you as
      a nerd not worth including in their banter - no great
      loss in this case.«
http://nymag.com/guides/2007/officelife/30012/index2.html
  But this does not seems to be what other
  sources call a »type-A personality«.

I think, as you do, that the authors have misused "Type A
personality".  A Type A person would be driven to win in every
contest.  To me, "faking a Type A personality", in that context,
would mean pretending to be ready and eager to litigate over any
perceived offense, however slight, and would be nearly opposite to
the behavior that the authors recommend.

I think the idea is that a Type A person, being driven to succeed,
thinks about nothing but work while at work, and thus won't
participate in idle conversations that some coworkers like to turn to
sexual topics.

It wouldn't hurt if one suggests at the same time that one is also
driven to win when involved in litigation.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Cheryl]

Post by Jerry Friedman

Post by Stan Brown

Post by Stefan Ram
»One non-litigious method of keeping superiors from
making crass comments in your presence is to fake a
type-A personality. If you come across as all business
all the time, offending colleagues will think of you as
a nerd not worth including in their banter - no great
loss in this case.«
http://nymag.com/guides/2007/officelife/30012/index2.html
But this does not seems to be what other
sources call a »type-A personality«.

I think, as you do, that the authors have misused "Type A
personality". A Type A person would be driven to win in every
contest. To me, "faking a Type A personality", in that context,
would mean pretending to be ready and eager to litigate over any
perceived offense, however slight, and would be nearly opposite to
the behavior that the authors recommend.

I think the idea is that a Type A person, being driven to succeed,
thinks about nothing but work while at work, and thus won't
participate in idle conversations that some coworkers like to turn to
sexual topics.
It wouldn't hurt if one suggests at the same time that one is also
driven to win when involved in litigation.
--
Jerry Friedman

But I would never think that a nerd had a Type A personality, as the
original passage suggests!