A B AB O
What are blood types? It is a way of classifying blood based on inherited antigenic substances on red blood cells. Now, in East Asian culture, your blood type doesn’t only decide which type of blood you will receive in case of an accident. Popular belief is that a person’s blood type is predictive of their personality or how they might react in certain situations. The question “What’s your blood type?” is frequently asked in various situations, such as on first dates and even during job interviews.
As a quick summary, people with type A blood are generally considered to be sensitive, patient, and perfectionists; type B are thought of as optimistic, creative, and self-centered; type AB are thought to be rational, critical, and a bit aloof; and type O are considered as ambitious, sociable, and arrogant individuals.
To test this hypothesis, a Japanese TV show did a small experiment on a group of kindergarteners. The little ones were separated into 4 classrooms according to blood type. In each classroom, the teacher shows the children a piece of pottery, warning them that it is the principle’s vase and therefore must not be broken. After she leaves, an impostor (acting friendly) comes in and ‘accidentally’ breaks the pot, and the children’s responses were recorded.
Children with type A blood become uncomfortable when the impostor picks up the vase, and try to stop him. When he drops it, they go into a state of shock and some run out the door to tell the teacher. Children with type B blood aren’t bothered by the fact that the vase is broken and burst out laughing and singing. Children with type O blood starts preaching “I told you so” to the impostor, and children with type AB seem distant and aloof, not very interested in the situation at all.
Although far from being scientific, this cute little experiment demonstrates the stereotypes East Asian cultures associate with each blood type. But does this have any reliable evidence? A recent study published in The Japanese Journal of Psychology conducted by Nawata (2014) looked at a sample of over 10,000 people in both Japan and the US. The results yielded non-significant differences between blood types with effect sizes less than .003, meaning that blood type explained less than 0.3% of the total variance in personality (Nawata, 2014). Although evidence is leaning towards no relationship, there have been studies that have obtained significant results, and most have attributed the differences to the self-fulfilling prophecy (Sakamoto, 2002).
As with most of the findings, I don’t believe that blood types define a person’s personality. I personally don’t think that 7 billion people can be categorized into 4 simple personality types. However, I do find it amusing and think that the self-fulling prophecy does play a role (whether significant, I’m not sure) in shaping a person’s character in relation to their blood type among East Asians just because the stereotypes are so prominent in the culture.
So, what’s your blood type?
260307848
