Type A and Type B process time differently.

The argument

This position holds that a person's personality can cause their lateness, and it uses the familiar Type A and Type B distinction to explain how. The Type A personality type is someone who is competitive, whereas Type B tends to be easygoing. Proponents argue that this difference in temperament produces a difference in how time is experienced, not merely in how it is managed: because Type B personalities are generally more relaxed, they underestimate how quickly time actually passes. The chain from that perception to a missed appointment is short. If time is felt to go by more slowly, then the amount of it remaining before an obligation feels larger than it is, and a person acts on the felt figure rather than the real one. Type B personalities therefore think that they have more time than they actually do. Proponents identify this as the planning fallacy error, "which is the failure to accurately assess how long it will take to get from point A to point B" — the misjudgement lies not in the intention to arrive on time but in the estimate that intention is built on. The contrast case fits the same pattern in reverse: Type A personality types tend to be more punctual by nature of being more high-strung, since a temperament that registers time as pressing produces margins rather than deficits. Proponents argue there must be a psychological reason for habitual lateness, given that it persists in the same people across circumstances that otherwise vary. So far, the best explanation we have is the Type A versus Type B explanation, which they say holds up under an empirical psychological experiment — a method they describe as accurate and unbiased in its collection of evidence in support of a position. On that basis, personality type can reasonably be a reason for people's lateness.

Context

The cause of lateness needs to be determined because it results in a less efficient society and general annoyance by those kept waiting. The research underlying this argument was completed in 2001, and nothing has yet disproved it, but there are other, dissenting opinions on what the psychological cause of lateness is.

Premises

Counter-arguments

There are two ways cultures perceive time - monochronic and polychronic. The former is faster, and more efficient, whereas the latter moves slower and at a more relaxed pace of life. (Think of New York versus the Caribbean.) Which time scheme you’re operating under is what actually determines punctuality. Since these time schemes manifest similarly to Type A and B, people mistakenly attribute lateness to a particular personality, when it is really a difference in time perception. Alternatively, the Big Five personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, and neuroticism may determine whether you’re on time or not. It’s high levels of conscientiousness and agreeableness that determine whether a person is punctual or not. For this reason, a collection of different personality traits actually causes lateness, not a simple distinction between two different personality types.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The Type A / Type B division comes from mid-century cardiology rather than from personality research and is not a framework contemporary psychology uses to describe traits. The premise builds on a categorisation that measures such as the five-factor model have largely superseded. [Rejecting P2] The planning fallacy is a general finding: people underestimate how long their own tasks will take irrespective of temperament. Because it applies to everyone, it cannot explain why some people in particular are habitually late. [Rejecting P3] The claim of empirical support is asserted without a study behind it, and the argument's framing — that there must be a psychological reason and this is the best one available — is an appeal to the absence of alternatives at a point where cultural time-orientation and conscientiousness accounts are both on the table.

Framing

Psychological differences, not behavioral habits, are what determine punctuality.