Robert Sapolsky, writing in Discovery magazine, tells how “Type A” personalities caught the attention of doctors (thanks to Douwe Widders for bringing this to our attention.):
Friedman told me about the discovery of the type A link. It was the mid-1950s, and he and Rosenman were having an unexpected problem with their successful cardiology practice: they were spending a fortune reupholstering the chairs in their waiting rooms. There seemed to be no end of chairs that had to be fixed. One day a new upholsterer came in to see to the problem, took one look at the chairs, and discovered the type A-cardiovascular disease link. He announced it semicryptically, with the words: What the hell is wrong with your patients? People don’t wear out chairs this way. The front-most few inches of the seat cushions and the armrests–and only the front-most few inches– were torn to shreds, as if some very short beavers had spent the night in the office craning their necks to savage the chairs.