Where the Type A/B idea comes from
Cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman described the "Type A behavior pattern" in the 1950s — time-urgency, competitiveness, and a tendency toward impatience — contrasted with the calmer "Type B". The original claim that Type A predicts heart disease has not held up well; later reviews found the effect far weaker than first reported. What survives is a useful, everyday vocabulary for pace and pressure.
What your result means — and doesn't
This is a behavior pattern, not a diagnosis. Most people land somewhere between the poles and shift with context — calmer on holiday, more driven at a deadline. The point is recognition: knowing your default pace, and the pace of the people around you, makes friction easier to read.
Type C, Type D, and the wider family
Two later additions round out the picture. Type C describes an emotionally restrained, conscientious, conflict-avoidant style. Type D — "distressed" — combines negative affect with social inhibition and is the one construct in this family with solid validation (Johan Denollet's work). The result page shows where you sit on A↔B and explains how C and D relate.
Carrying it into your relationships
A pace mismatch is one of the quietest sources of friction between people. When you keep a private note on how the people in your life move through the world — who needs space, who needs momentum — your next conversation starts from understanding rather than guesswork. That is exactly what Endearist is for.