Aboufoul 1

Mohamad Aboufoul
Professor Blandford
UWRT 1103
7 October 2015
Writing to Understand Others Proposal
When identifying myself, I think of my race, religion, social class, culture, and what
clique I fit into among other aspects. But what I feel is a huge part of my identity is my
personality type.
I consider myself to have a Type A personality because of how I stress over everything,
how everything has to be structured a certain way, how I have many aspirations, and how all my
work has to be perfect. For me, good was never (and still isnt) good enough, which would often
times lead to issues when I had to work with others. Countless times over the years, Ive had to
work with others who had Type B personalities. These collaborations were some of the most
difficult challenges for me not because of the work itself, but because of how different I was
from my Type B colleagues. Some of them were fairly lazy and didnt mind barely passing by.
Others wanted to do well but were okay if the results werent phenomenal. Being a Type A, I
would get frustrated with these individuals. I simply couldnt tolerate being average or
performing adequately; I had to be the best (perhaps because I hated the feeling of being second
to anyone). Furthermore, I didnt understand how fairly many Type B people were okay with
doing well or how they were so stress free, even if the assignment counted for something
significant. In my mind I thought, Dont they have any aspirations? How do they expect to
succeed? How can they tolerate being average? Regardless of how much I tried to relax and
see things from their point of view, I could not change my personality. I was a Type A and still

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am one to this day. Yet after all my encounters with Type B individuals, I continue to struggle in
understanding how they can take things so easy and live such stress-free lives.
When I studied AP Psychology in high school, my teacher covered the differences
between Type A and Type B individuals and how each personality tied in to stress and potential
for future success. I understood that those with Type B personalities were generally more
easygoing and didnt have a need to be perfect but that they also varied widely across a spectrum
of traits. Because of this ambiguity and because of my lack of understanding of Type B
personalities after so many years, I would like to center my research on them.
Understanding how vague researching an entire group can be, Ive narrowed my inquiry
to a few, more direct, questions.
1. What may classify one as having a Type B personality and how were such
classifications developed?
2. Are there any differences in the health patterns between Type A and Type B
individuals due to stress patterns? If so, what do studies reveal about them?
3. Do Type B individuals have many aspirations? How do they approach tasks and how
do they respond to stressors in reality as opposed to the generalizations in the
description of the personality type?
4. For those who identify as one personality type or the other, what caused them to
develop such personalities? Was it genetic, environmental, or both? If they have
personality types different from their families, what may have lead them to be
different?
It should be noted that for the third and fourth sets of questions, there have been little to
no case studies or surveys performed to assess them, so op-ed pieces, popular literature,
and individuals for interviewing will likely be the most candid sources. To obtain more
detailed, personable information, interviewing one to three people who identify as Type B

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and asking for their opinions regarding the third and fourth sets of questions should be
more insightful than surveying numerous individuals and asking what type they are and
whether they think it was developed genetically or environmentally.
Aside from the more individualistic and opinion based sources, the answers to the other
sets of questions should be found in scholarly research (regarding the studies of any differences
in health patterns between the two personality types), articles, and fairly reliable websites. By
making the distinction in how each set of questions will be answered (i.e. what types of sources
will best suit each set), the final product should have a balance between factual research as well
as research subjective to varying opinions and views (where factual/data-based information is
unavailable and/or inapplicable), making it a fairly accurate assessment.