Differential reactions of type A and type B males to negative feedback about performance

Psychological and physiological reactions to a failure experience were studied in type A males and type B males both during task and no-task periods. Before failure was induced, no difference in sympathetic reactivity was found, neither during task nor during no-task periods. After an experience of failure type A subjects showed higher sympathetic activation and effort to perform well, compared to type B subjects. The higher activation in type A subjects was even more prominent during no-task periods. The results are related to differences in coping strategy between type A and type B individuals, and the situational dependency of increased activation in type A subjects is discussed.