Abstract
M.A.
Research on Type A behaviour has produced many contradictory results. Some studies, for
example, have found that Type A individuals experience less work satisfaction, and others
that they experience more work satisfaction. In the light of these contradictions, some
researchers are of the opinion that Type A behaviour has to be explored as a
multidimensional instead of a global construct. Some components of Type A behaviour
have been proved to have healthy consequences, while others have been proved to be
"toxic" and therefore have different correlations with personality factors.
This study explored the differential relationships of I wo components of Type A behaviour,
namely -achievement-striving and impatience-irritability, with academic achievement, self
concept and preference Ibr sensation, a Jungian personality factor.
Two groups of students, in Accounting and Psychology respectively, served as research
subjects. Data for 25 men and 24 women taking Accountancy 1, and 19 men and 68
women taking Psychology 1, was gathered with regard to achievement-striving, impatienceirritability,
academic aptitude, scholastic achievement, self-concept and preference for
sensation.
As predicted, achievement-striving correlated positively with academic achievement for -
most groups. Impatience-irritability correlated negatively with academic achievement for
some groups. Achievement-striving showed a positive relationship and impatienceirritatability
a negative relationship with self-concept, also as predicted. Achievementstriving
showed a positive relationship with preference for sensation and impatienceirritability
correlated negatively with preference for sensation. No prediction was made with
regard to the direction of the relationship for preference for sensation, yet the negative
correlation found between preference for sensation and impatience-irritability came as a
surprise. Attempts have been made to explain this finding. Subject groups were small and
the abovementioned relationships were not statistically significant for all groups