Type A behavior is characterized by extremes of time-urgency, competitive achievement striving, impatience and hostility. Type A persons have distinct patterns of responding to opponents' strategies for lowering hostility. Since minimum retaliation allows the opponent control over one's behavior, the strategy should effectively lower Type A aggression. However, a passive person allows his opponent no control over his behavior. Therefore passivity will not effectively reduce Type A anger. Type B persons, who are not concerned with interpersonal control, should be responsive to both strategies. It was found that: (1) type A males escalated their noise settings more than did Type B's in a competitive task, (2) passivity was the more effective deescalation strategy for Type B's, and (3) type A's showed their greater need for environmental control by reducing more to minimum retaliation and being slower to deescalate and quicker to reescalate to their opponent's passivity. (Author/PJC)