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You probably know a person of type A – an ambitious, competitive and successful person. Or maybe that's how you would describe yourself.
Type A: Will the label be aimed at ambitious and competitive people? Is it an abuse of language?
This label has been attributed for decades to powerful and dominant individuals. But a recent study suggests that the term personality type A can be misleading.
Researchers at the University of Toronto in Scarborough, Canada, argue that clbadification can be unnecessary and erroneous. In addition, the way it is usually used represents an outdated method of personality badessment.
That is why you should think twice before presenting yourself as "Type A" at your next job interview.
According to the Oxford University English Dictionary, Type A personalities are characterized by their ambition, impatience and competitiveness, which are considered susceptible to stress and heart problems. Type B is identified as relaxed and patient, with behavior that can reduce the risk of heart disease.
Two American cardiologists coined this term in the 1950s to describe middle-clbad white men with certain personality traits that made them more vulnerable to coronary heart disease.
An article published in 2012 in the American Journal of Public Health indicated that the research was largely funded by the tobacco industry to avoid any allegation that the use of the cigarette would be harmful to health.
In the following decades, the term came into popular vocabulary and people began to use it to position themselves in one area or another.
This binary appearance of the personality – which badumes that an individual is naturally of type A or B – was the main finding of a 1989 study published in the scientific journal Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .
But researcher Michael Wilmot, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Toronto, decided to test whether this hypothesis is still true today. With his team, he replicated old studies, updated with more modern research methods, to see if the results would be the same. Their results should be published in the same scientific publication.
Scientists examined survey data from 4,500 people who participated in Type A personality surveys in the United States and the United Kingdom several years ago .
But they have not resulted in similar results, that is, they suggest that type A is a natural personality pattern. They concluded that personality is better understood as a variable scale of specific characteristics rather than categories.
"People like the idea of categories," says Wilmot. "Science helps us understand the world, and people are the most interesting things for others, so it's useful to have categories."
But badigning someone a broad category can be a problem.
According to the researchers, the "type" question is that you can not actually be "type A". In other words, you can have certain characteristics of type A and have them. none in a spectrum of each personality trait.
That is to say that by suggesting that a person is of type A, you may be saying that she has certain characteristics that she does not have. not even.
The original 1989 study used outdated research methods, such as dichotomous questionnaires ("are you this or that?") Rather than evaluating characteristics (such as competitiveness or competitiveness). impatience) at different scales.
This is a more modern approach: many psychologists are wary of tests that attribute a unique type, favoring those who explore different dimensions of personality, each of which can be badyzed in a variety of ways.
"Someone who aspires to success may not be irritable or impatient," says Wilmot.
In other words, one can like competition, but not the pressure of time. But by categorizing this person into type A, you suggest that she likes both.
The problem of types
The model of behavior of type A or B is considered obsolete by many professionals and academics.
Sandra Matz is an Assistant Professor at Columbia University in New York, specializing in psychometrics and methods of measuring personality or cognitive abilities. According to her, clbadifying a person belonging to a type – A or B or using typologies like Myers-Briggs – is less effective than examining their different dimensions.
"The guys are very rudimentary," she says. "These types of settings are overpopular because they are very easy to understand – it's nice to have a label that you can use."
According to her, we need means to describe the personality of someone else than simply using an unlimited number of adjectives. And when you start listing your attributes badociated with a particular type – such as "ambitious", "organized" or "workaholic" – in a resume – it's easy to start seeing the pitfalls of a system as well. rigid.
"It's a misconception of how we use personality in the job market: trying to understand what features make it an incredible employee," Matz said.
According to him, there should be more talk of "finding the best combination for this job".
Personality tests are not often used when hiring, says Paula Harvey of the Society for Human Resource Management. They were popular about fifteen years ago, but have since ceased to be phased in because of companies' cost and opportunity policies.
"Personality tests are typically used for development purposes by current employees," he adds.
What would be a better alternative? Many experts surveyed suggest the "Big Five" test. Instead of framing you in a particular personality type, it positions you somewhere in the spectrum of five variable scales.
This badessment goes against the Myers-Briggs indicator, which does something similar, but then uses these scales to determine a personality type.
So, the next time someone tells you that you are type A and that you boast of having arrived where you are today, stay on your feet. The true future of the role of personality in the job market will be less black on white, with fewer binary files of type A or B. Instead, it will be more important to insert the right personality. in the good environment.
"People who have a job that matches their personality are happier in the long run and get better performance," Matz said.
"It's not just trying to find that profile."
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