Utility of the uncontrollability construct in relation to the Type A behaviour pattern: A multidimensional investigation.

Abstract
The present study involved concomitant assessment of behaviour, cardiovascular response, and expectational processes in Type A and Type B individuals under conditions where potential for control over stressor occurrence was systematically varied. It was expected that Type A''s would show biphasic behavioural response to uncontrollable stress across experimental trials and that the obtained response pattern would also be reflected at the psychophysiological and expectational levels. University undergraduates (40 A''s; 40 B''s) received 48 reaction time trials. Those in the Control condition were able to regulate stressor occurrence; those in the No Control condition were not. There was little support for the presence of an uncontrollability-specific biphasic response pattern unique to Type A''s. Expectational factors did not appear to mediate Type A behaviour. However, there was some evidence that while A''s tried harder to achieve control under uncontrollable conditions than did B''s, differences in hyper-hyporesponsive pattern occurred among A''s irrespective of experimentally manipulated controllability. In addition, Type A''s showed greater pulse transit time decreases under uncontrollable versus controllable stress.