Microsoft Word Chapter 1 done doc

 
ii. 
Type A Behaviour Pattern : The Term type A was 
introduced by Friedman and Rosenman to describe an individual’s 
set of personality characteristics. The Type A behaviour pattern is a 
pattern of behaviour consisting primarily of high levels of 
competitiveness, time urgency and hostility. The Type A 
personalities are highly competitive, achievement oriented and 
always worried about time. They take too many activities at hand 
and always work against the pressure of time. Type A individuals 
are prone to aggressive and hostile behaviours. Type A individuals 
are hostile because aggressing against others is a useful means for 
reaching one's goals, such as furthering one’s career or winning in 
athletic competitions (This is called as instrumental aggression).
Type A individuals also engage in hostile aggression i.e., 
aggression whose prime purpose is that of inflicting pain and 
suffering on the victims. It has been found that Type A’s are more 
likely than Type B’s to engage in such actions as child abuse or 
spouse abuse (Strube et al, 1984). 
 
iii. 
Narcissism and Ego Threat : The term Narcissism is 
derived from the story of a character from Greek mythology. 

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Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in the water and 
drowned trying to reach it. His name has now become a synonym 
for excessive self-love. Narcissistic individuals are highly self-
centered and hold an over-inflated view of one’s own virtues or 
accomplishments. It has been found that high levels of Narcissism 
are associated with aggressive behavior. Bushman and Baumeister 
(1998) found that individuals who have high levels of Narcissism 
often react with exceptionally high levels of aggression to slights 
from others, i.e., feedback that threatens their inflated self-image. 
They also react in an aggressive manner to mild provocations 
because they believe that they are much better than other people 
and as a result, perceive mild critical comments form others as 
strong slurs on their inflated self-image. Due to their inflated self-
image narcissistic individuals perceive themselves to be victims of 
transgressions (wrong doings).