Thanks, JayEll, for the definitions. I haven't heard these terms here for years and I don't think I ever knew anything beyond the outline.

I don't think they are helpful, actually. From what I can remember of labelling theory, if you label someone as xxx then they behave as a xxx and don't feel free enough to escape that. It cuts down on flexibility.

Interesting your comment about the Type B 'slacker' definition. I think that's quite a good example of the US/UK cultural and possibly labour market difference.

Andrea, I didn't mean to take this thread away from your situation. Fwiw, I believe people can change and that their personalities evolve. Good luck with the next phase of exploration.

A busy day here. I managed well until tea-time when a number of misunderstandings led to a bit of unplanned eating whilst making food. In fact, on reflection, it was the old trouble when I have to make food for others when I don't want to eat and/or have more interesting things to do. But it wasn't cake, flapjack or trifle.

And not too much internal monologue today. Interesting you should bring it up, Becky. I've had more these past weeks than for a long time.

Becky and JayEll, I need to learn from both of you. I come from a long line of Type A personalities that are the subject of half-joking half-serious commentary from my entire extended family. And, Jessica, by definition, if you're an overachiever you are taking on more than you can handle. Just sayin'.

As a comment on the earlier discussion about nature-vs.-nurture in the whole stress-management department. Dagmar - Prader-Willi and other genetically-mediated diseases that you're learning about are the result of genetic mutations - an actual damaged region of DNA. Most heritable traits and tendencies though, have to do with genetic polymorphisms - the inheritance of one or another NORMAL allele that exerts a subtle difference in one's biological makeup. So, e.g., while diabetes is very heritable, it isn't due to a mutation but rather to the actions of multiple normally-occurring alleles in different genes all coding for various aspects of bodily function that TOGETHER produce a relatively greater or lesser likelihood of getting the disease under the "wrong" environmental conditions.

Since we're over 500 posts, may I suggest "Maintainers Getting Back to Goal" or the snappy "Losing Streak" (courtesy of SilverBirch) as the next thread in the perennial weight loss theme for our group?

Andrea, that's an interesting take on overachiever. I always thought it was defined not as taking on more than you can handle, but as achieving more than you were expected to. Here's google's definition:

The danger comes when "overachiever" becomes "the norm"--either in job expectations or in one's own internalized expectations.

"If I can't do more than other people, then I'm not doing enough." This may be a subconscious belief.

Someone in this trap may find they cannot do enough. Ever.

I've always defined overachiever the way Andrea did, but maybe I never bothered to look to see what it actually meant. I do see it most often used to describe one who takes on too much and over does, in cultural use.

I think of myself as an overachiever (doing well through dint of diligent effort) and DH as an underachiever. He got several Incompletes in college because he didn't bother to finish those courses; he picked his major based on the fact that it didn't require a thesis; he still (30 years later) has the job he got as an undergrad bc he is happy enough where he is.

I am an introspective Type A -- though I think that any method of describing personalities that drops them into just two really broad categories (hey, that's fewer even than **blood typing**) has to be too simplistic to be workable. Reminds me of a mandated class on my job last year, when we had to classify ourselves & our direct reports in one of four categories: Analytical, Expressive, Driver, Amiable. That was a little better, but still struck me as something a data-head would come up with, rather than anyone who's a real student of human nature.

As for me, I decided that my overachiever side was simply doing a weird kind of mathematics in life: I feel less than, so that in order to be equal to, I need to always be greater than.

The Type B in me likes being laid back when I get to think instead of jumping to pressure.

The Type A in me thinks we need a new thread before a mod closes this one since the 500 count is passed. We've had one name suggestion from Andrea:Is one of those good enough or are there others?

I like Losing Streak, but all I need to know is where to find the new thread since I seem to be a permanent resident here. :p

saef, just for interest--I took that same program, and I came out as an Analytical Driver.

I think if I had the same evaluation now, it would be very different. But I could be fooling myself.

New thread: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/livi...ummertime.html