Type A Behavior and Local Government Elites

After briefly reviewing the literature on the political personality, we examine the conceptualization of the Type A personality, a concept that has grown out of the area of behavioral medicine dealing with the coronary-prone individual. We describe methodologies utilized to assess the Type A personality, and we look at the behavior of Type As in social situations. The three subscales that comprise the Type A behavior pattern, hard driving/competitive, speed/impatience, and job involvement, are then used to assess the personality characteristics of the members of 24 city councils. Fourteen hypotheses are tested. The Type A behavior pattern is found to relate to several personality characteristics of the political elites on these councils.