{"id":12067,"date":"2014-10-15T10:10:19","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T14:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=12067"},"modified":"2014-10-15T10:14:39","modified_gmt":"2014-10-15T14:14:39","slug":"a-personalities-a-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/a-personalities-a-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"“A” Personalities: A Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"Goodreads\"<\/a>When someone tells me he is an “A-type” personality<\/strong>, I cannot help but think of the title of Aaron James’<\/a> bestselling book: Assholes *A Theory<\/em> (Anchor Books, New York, 2014). After all, what else would the “A” stand for when someone boasts to the audience he is an alpha male as if the rest of the room was full of less-worthy betas?<\/p>\n

Self aggrandizement is not limited, of course, to assholes, but they certainly occupy centre stage (at least in their own mind). Not always the best place to be, considering that, medically speaking, A-types are more prone to heart disease than B-types.<\/p>\n

As Wikipedia<\/a> tells us, Type A personalities are,<\/p>\n

“…ambitious, rigidly organized, highly status-conscious, sensitive, impatient, take on more than they can handle, want other people to get to the point, anxious, proactive, and concerned with time management… often high-achieving “workaholics” who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.
\n…Type A behavior is expressed in three major symptoms: (1) free-floating hostility, which can be triggered by even minor incidents; (2) time urgency and impatience, which causes irritation and exasperation usually described as being “short-fused”; and (3) a competitive drive, which causes stress and an achievement-driven mentality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not entirely flattering a description, is it? Rigid, status-conscious, ambivalent, impatient, short-fused, irritable, hostile, competitive… not the sort of person you want at a council table where cooperation, consensus and respect make for good governance. A-types at the table generally are seen by others as assholes. Hence the mnemonic association with the book. One wonders why anyone would boast of this.<\/p>\n

Aaron James writes of a\u00a0dichotomy between cooperative people and these A-types:<\/p>\n

Even the “bright-line” rules of cooperation will have exceptions and cooperative people often put a certain amount of work into discerning both the spirit of the law and what is finally acceptable in a particular case. They thus seek clarification, check assumptions, ask permission or at least take a measure of care in good faith. The asshole, by contrast sees little need for the work of mutual restraint aimed at benefit for all involved. According to his generalized sense of entitlement, it is only natural that the various advantages of social life should flow his way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(For the sake of politeness and civility, I am inclined to find another name for assholes. I cannot merely call them jerks, because James differentiates between assholes and mere jerks. Twits, idiots, dweebs, boors, shmucks, cads, jackanapes… these names fail to capture the essence of those truly despicable people whom James describes. I think I will have to simply refer to them as “a*holes” so as not to entirely dilute the impact.)<\/p>\n

A-type, A*holes, pretty much the same thing, at least as far\u00a0as I can fathom. Of course, I’m not a psychologist and I’m sure there are subtle shades of difference I fail to\u00a0discern.<\/p>\n

B-type personalities, on the other hand, Wikipedia<\/a> says, work well together:<\/p>\n

…generally live at a lower stress level and typically work steadily, enjoying achievement but not becoming stressed when they do not achieve. They may be creative and enjoy exploring ideas and concepts. They are often reflective…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like someone much easier to get along with in a group dynamic like the council table: unstressed, creative, exploratory, reflective. People who will contribute rather than control, will think rather than merely act. People you can work with and respect. people who use “we” \u00a0when describing accomplishments and work as a team. People unlikely to be described in James’ book.<\/p>\n

A-types, however, will find themselves in it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A review of the book<\/a> in Macleans’ Magazine, notes:<\/p>\n

… the author spends 214 quite convincing pages arguing that \u201cassholeness\u201d is less inattention than a permanent state of mind, and that assholes are more than numerous enough to be called out in book form… The true asshole, James writes, \u201cis immunized by his sense of entitlement against the complaints of other people.\u201d He is narcissistic, self-absorbed, impolite, and permanently thoughtless to those around him\u2014and it is almost always a him\u2014nearly to the point of sociopathy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think James is hedging his bets with that last “nearly.” But as Zach Dorfman writes in his review in the Los Angeles Review of Books<\/a>, that distinction\u00a0is crucial to our understanding of a*holes:<\/p>\n

Comparatively speaking, then, assholes are an altogether different breed, and are generally far less destructive to the social order. For assholes, while they might consider themselves \u201cspecial,\u201d understand the strictures of morality, and often employ moral reasoning to explain their own mistreatment. And, to risk stating the obvious, your run-of-the-mill asshole would never condone (even if he committed it) serious moral violations, such as rape or murder. Assholish behavior is therefore almost always a venial sin, and not a cardinal one. Our reactions to assholes differ accordingly: while sociopaths induce our horror, given their manifest inhumanity, assholes tend to irritate and anger us in more pedestrian ways. But while we feel ourselves to be at a cognitive remove from true sociopaths, assholes \u2014 since, as James argues, they are essentially rational beings, capable of moral reasoning and affected by it \u2014 are part of our general social order. They are our moral intimates, and so their casual disregard for our status as equals, worthy of the same treatment and respect they would accord themselves, makes the wound more visceral, if ultimately less destructive. Sociopaths cause singular flesh wounds to our psyches; assholes, a million little paper cuts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

James gives additional insight into the a*hole personality, listing three basic personality traits that define them for his theory. An a*hole, says James:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Allows himself to enjoy special advantages and does so systematically;<\/li>\n
  2. Does this out of an entrenched sense of entitlement; and<\/li>\n
  3. Is immunized by his sense o entitlement against the complaints of other people.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In his examples, James uses these traits to identify as a*hole a person who:<\/p>\n