Abstract

The present study was to clarify a relationship of personality, the cardiovascular reactivity to white noise and Type A Behavior Pattern. Personality factors studied were neuroticism(N), extraversion(E), psychoticism(P) and impulsivity(Imp.), while Type A Behavior Pattern(TABP) was regard as a behavior(response) style not as a personality factor in this study. Subjects were 311 male and female undergraduates. Eysenck Personality Questionaire, Barrette Impulsivity Scale and Framingham Type A Behavior Scale were administered to all subjects. Measures of the cardiovascular responses (diastolic pressure, systolic pressure and heart rate) of all subjects under the physical stress of 100db white noise were compared to resting condition(baseline) in connection to their personality factors and behavioral styles. Data were analysed by means of the statistical methods such as t-test, multiple regression and covariance structure analysis. The results were as follow: a) Significantly higher N and HR were observed in females as compard with males. Males revealed higher SBP and TABP than females. b) Personality factors associating with both the measures of the cardiovascular reactivity and TABP were N, nonplanning Imp, and cognitive Imp. All the measures of DBP, SBP, and HR, however, were unrelated to TABP. c) The result of covariance structure analysis suggested that the structures of personality including factors such as N, nonplanning Imp, and cognitive Imp, the cardiovascular reactivity including the variabality on DBP, SBP, HR measures, and TABP were interrelated. In conclusion, the results suggest that a model integrating the three structures will enable to explain a bio-psychological process of individual behavior.