3A. Personality & Physical Health

Describe the study on medicare & survival rates?

participants aged 65-100 took part in personality assessment at start, proportion surviving decreased over time, proportion of surviving was higher for those with higher conscientiousness

What wee the 4 pathways proposed by Matthews et al. (2009)?

direct causation, correlational, causal chain. somatogenic

What is the direct causation pathway?

personality trait > health

What is the correlational pathway?

factor X (e.g genes) > personality trait & health

What is the causal chain pathway?

personality trait > behaviour > health

What is the somatogenic pathway?

health > personality trait

What are the two personality factors that predict cardiovascular disease?

Type A and Type B

What is Type A personality trait?

competitive, ambitious, driven, impatient, aggressive, anger, hostility

What is Type B personality trait?

takes life as it comes, uninterested in power & achievement, relaxed

How is a type A personality measured?

original ' challenging' interview-based measure mainly captured anger & hostility components or self report 'Jenkins Activity Survey' which covers a range of broad components

What are example components of 'Jenkins Activity Survey'?

do you have trouble finding time to get hair cut or styles? how often do you actually 'put words in person's mouth' to speed things up? ordinarily how rapidly do you eat? how is your temper nowadays?

Describe the study on type A personality and CVD risk (Maltby, Day & Macaskill, 2017)?

large longitudinal epidemiological studies showed inconsistent findings, meta analyses showed a significant but modest effect of type A on CVD, differences in results related to the inconsistencies in personality assessments used

What are the three separable components of type A personality (Glass, 1977)?

(1) competitively striving for achievement (2) sense of urgency (3) hostility (toxic component)

Describe the meta-analysis on type A personality & CVD (Chida & Steptoe, 2009)?

anger and hostility are significantly associated with heart disease incidence and prognosis (hostility > reactivity to stress)

What is type C personality?

cancer-prone: high E and low N, suppresses and represses emotions

What is a problem with Type C personality?

little convincing evidence from prospective studies (e.g Hansen et al (2005) no link between E and N in cohort of 30,000 over 25 years)

What is type D personality?

depressed & socially inhibited

What did Denollet (2000) find on type D personality?

poorer recovery from heart attack and increased risk of future heart problems

What is the effect of conscientiousness on health?

clear link between conscientiousness and longevity

What is the causal behavioural chain mechanism for conscientiousness and health?

conscientiousness (competence, order, self-discipline) > regular exercise, healthy diet, low levels of smoking and alcohol abuse > increase longevity

What is the potential causal biological chain mechanism for conscientiousness?

Conscientiousness > Better coping mechanisms > Lower interleukin-6 > Increased longevity

What is higher conscientiousness associated with according to O'Connor et al. (2009)?

fewer daily stressors and better coping

What did Lahey (2009) argue about neuroticism?

to be of general public health significance

What is the chain mechanism for neuroticism on health?

neuroticism (anxiety, vulnerability, angry, hostility) > exercise, diet, smoking > reduced longevity

What are some confounding variables with neuroticism?

socioeconomic status (SES)

What did Friedman (2000) find regarding healthy vs unhealthy neuroticism?

healthy neuroticism (high anxiety but low depression and vulnerability) > engagement in preventative behaviours > increase in longevity

What is extraversion?

warmth, assertiveness, activity, positive emotions, excitement seeking

What did Chapman, Roberts & Duberstein (2011) find regarding extraversion and health?

mixed results for extraversion - positive associations between E and mortality partly explained by smoking, excitement seeking/impulsivity facets associated with destructive addictive behaviours

What did Ploubidis & Grundy (2009) find on the effects of extraversion on health?

9003 people completed EPI, 5755 followed up 20 years later, higher E associated with increased mortality

What did Weiss et al (2013) find on the other effects of extraversion?

more social ties/support & active and engaged life > increased longevity AND extraversion > increased immune functioning

What were the methods of the extraverted gorillas study (Weiss et al., 2012)?

personality rating of 283 captive western mountain gorillas rated on the gorilla behaviour index which involves extraversion (active, playful, sociable), dominance, fearful, understanding. mean age 16.5 years, 119 died by follow up, examined personality predictors of survival and controlled for age, sex, captivity vs wild born

What were the findings of the extraverted gorillas study (Weiss et al., 2012)?

found extraversion may represent: immune functioning, stronger social ties, lower cardiovascular disease

What is the effect of openness to experience on health?

positive association with longevity

What is the mechanism for openness to experience?

mechanism unclear - openness > cognitive and educational activities > cognitive reserve > health decision making > increased longevity

What is cognitive reserve?

resilience to effects of neural disease or injury

What did Waxman et al. (2013) find on the effects of health on personality?

very/extremely low birth weight associated with adult personality: low E and O, higher N, A, C, higher cautiousness

What were the potential mechanisms according to Waxman et al. (2013)'s study on birth weight and personality?

extra-uterine brain development, subsequent illness, higher parental monitoring and behavioural restrictions

What was Jokela at al. (2014) study on impact of chronic diseases on big 5 traits?

looked at impact of heart disease, cancer, diabetes etc in meta analysis of 4 longitudinal studies and found: dose-dependent decreases in E, ES(N), C & O, disease specific effects, greatest change for stroke and least change for cancer, those who experiences three or more health conditions were significantly lower scores then reference group. overall, apart from agreeableness, experiencing health conditions lowers traits

What were the potential mechanisms of Jokela at al. (2014) study on impact of chronic diseases on big 5 traits?

neural functioning, coping with distress and challenges of disease (N), fatigue (E), lowered ability to organise life (C)

What are practical applications (the 5 T's)?

(1) targeting campaigns to personality traits (2) tailoring interventions to profiles (3) personality training (4) treatment of personality, (5) (recording) transformation