The type A behavior pattern, hostility, and interpersonal skill.

Sievert et al. (1988) watched adults act out short social scenes in a lab. They sorted each person as Type A or Type B, then split them again by high or low hostility.

Trained observers scored how well each adult showed anger and general people skills during the role-plays.

Type A adults were better at overall social skills but worse at showing anger in a useful way. High-hostile adults, whether Type A or B, had the lowest social-skill scores.

Hostility level predicted anger problems better than Type A label alone.

Malagodi et al. (1989) later taught adolescents in a group home to control anger. Their six-week package cut aggression for most kids, showing anger skills can be trained.

Annable et al. (1979) ran lab role-plays too. They warned that small demand cues can shift scores, so keep tasks simple and consistent.

Elsmore et al. (1994) trained graduate students to show warm, affective adult-child skills. Their BST results line up with L et al.—skill deficits show up in lab tasks and can be fixed with practice.

If you assess adults for anger or social-skill problems, score hostility first. Type A drive alone is not enough to flag risk. Use short role-play clips, keep demand cues low, and target hostility-linked anger expression in your treatment plan. Add drills like thought-stopping and brief relaxation to give clients a clear replacement for explosive anger.