Psychology: A Self-Teaching Guide

they developed a measuring device called the Social Readjustment Rating

Scale (SRRS).The scale, based on the perceptions of subjects, assigns weighted

values to life changes. The maximum value is 100, and this is assigned to the

death of a spouse. Getting married has a value of 50. Loss of a job has a value of

47. Being given a traffic ticket has a value of 11. There are a number of similar
    items on the scale. If a person collects 150 or more LCUs within a two-year
    period, there is a high likelihood that he or she will experience a distinct health
    problem.

(a) What is the name of the measuring device that employs life change units (LCUs)?

(b) Too many LCUs accumulated within a relatively brief time span is associated with what

kind of problem?

Answers: (a) The Social Readjustment Rating Scale; (b) A health problem.

The Type A behavior patternis characterized by hostility and impatience.

Research conducted by the cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray H. Rosenman

strongly supports the hypothesis that individuals who display this pattern are more

prone than people in general to heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.

The contrasting pattern is called the Type B behavior pattern,and it is

characterized by an absence of general hostility and a willingness to allow events

to take place at their own rate. As might be expected, individuals who manifest

the Type B pattern are less prone to heart disease than individuals who manifest

the Type A pattern.

The existence of the Type A pattern suggests that behavior can itself be a source

of stress. Human beings are capable ofself-induced stress,wear and tear on the

body generated by their own thoughts, choices, attitudes, and actions. The Roman

philosopher Cicero, writing about two thousand years ago, foreshadowed modern

research on stress when he said, “To live long it is necessary to live slowly.”

(a) What behavior pattern is characterized by hostility and impatience?

(b) Human beings are capable of stress, wear and tear on the body generated

by their own thoughts, attitudes, and actions.

Answers: (a) The Type A behavior pattern; (b) self-induced.

Conflict: Making Difficult Choices

Conflict is an important source of stress. Psychological conflictexists when

we are forced to make difficult choices in life. According to the social psy-

chologist Kurt Lewin, there are four basic ways to categorize conflict situations:

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