The coronary-prone behavior pattern and the suppression of fatigue on a treadmill test.

Abstract

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that Type A (coronary-prone) individuals would show greater suppression of subjective fatigue than Type B (non-coronary-prone) individuals in order to persist at a tiring but challenging task. Type A and Type B college students completed a Balke treadmill test (at a walking pace) while rating their fatigue at 2-minute intervals. Each subject also completed another treadmill test (at a running pace) that was designed to assess maximum aerobic capacity. Subjects' aerobic capacities and their aerobic performance levels attained on the Balke test were determined by analysis of expired air. Each subject's walking performance was scored as a proportion of his maximum aerobic capacity. Analysis of the resulting percentage values indicated greater effort among A's than B's. Moreover, the subjective fatigue ratings of A's were lower than those of B's. The results were discussed in terms of fatigue suppression as an instrumental response for attaining mastery over the environment. consideration was also given to the role of fatigue in the onset of coronary heart disease.

Type A Behaviour, Attention, and the Report of Subjective Arousal

“…This finding was consistent with those of previous research [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], This increased level of physiological arousal in type As relative to type Bs was at variance with the data pertaining to selfreported physical symptoms and state anxi ety. Viewed in the context of their greater HR and SBP change, the lower anxiety and physical symptom report, and particularly the lower heart-racing report by type As, sup ports previous findings of their tendency to underreport physical and emotional symp toms [6][7][8][11][12][13]. However, unlike in Weidner and Matthews' [13] study, under report of symptoms in the present study was not limited to those type As stopped unex pectedly in the middle of a task (i.e.…”

“…On the one hand, type As have been shown to direct their attention maximally to predesignated tasks of importance, to the detriment of sec ondary tasks given less importance by exper imental instructions [ 14], On the other hand, however, type A individuals have been shown to underreport symptoms of physio logical activation during situations of chal-lengc [e.g. [11][12][13]. The contention arises when the former is used as a direct analogy of the latter [14].…”

“…The risk for CHD implied by such physiological responses has been argued to be exacerbated by type As' tendency to fail to recognize or at least re port these symptoms of physical distress [ 12,13], thus making As less likely to seek medi cal attention or to take other forms of reme dial action.…”

Personality, Effort Perception and Cardiovascular Reactivity

“…Rate-perceived exertion originated as a construct to describe levels of an individual's perception of physical exertion during exercise. The literature shows that ratings of perceived exertion highly correlate (r = 0.85) with lev els of heart rate during exercise tasks [Skinner et al 1973], Carver et al [1976] have shown that type A males indi cate lower levels of perceived exertion than type B males while working at equivalent levels. However, no studies were found investigating the individual's perception of physical exertion with a concomitant measurement of plasma catecholamines.…”

Health-damaging personality traits and verbal–autonomic dissociation: The role of self-control and environmental control.

“…Environmental control refers to the tendency of Type A individuals to exhibit aggressiveness and pressured drive in striving to preempt or overcome potentially uncontrollable situations (Krantz, Glass, & Snyder, 1974). Self-control refers to a tendency for Type A individuals to suppress or ignore internal states such as fatigue and emotional distress that signal potential loss of control and may interfere with efforts to master environmental demands (Carver, Coleman, & Glass, 1976).…”