Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and personality

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511819384.006

5 - Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011

Philip J. Corr and

Neil McNaughton

Edited by

Philip J. Corr

Show author details

Philip J. Corr: Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Wales Swansea, United Kingdom
Neil McNaughton: Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Research Centre, University of Otago, New Zealand
Philip J. Corr: Affiliation:
University of Wales, Swansea

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) is composed of two main components: (a) a state description of neural systems and associated, relatively short-term, emotions and behaviours; and (b) a trait description of longer-term dispositions to such emotions and behaviours. McNaughton and Corr (chapter 2) outlined the state level of description; this chapter explores the trait level of description and takes a more general view of the problems posed by the revised Gray and McNaughton (2000) theory.

‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches to personality

The standard biological approach to personality adopts the well-established procedure from biology: first describe (taxonomy) and then explain (theorize about form of taxonomy; e.g., evolution). As noted by Gray (1972a, p. 372), ‘The study of personality is the attempt (a) to discover consistent patterns of individual differences and (b) to account for the form taken by these patterns.’ This ‘top-down’ approach has considerable merit and many empirical successes to its name. But it cannot be applied in a simple one-step fashion. Even within species and genera, taxonomy ((a) above) is not independent of causal theories ((b) above) – findings in molecular biology can alter taxonomy based on superficial description. With the study of personality it is a moot point whether the underlying variation in sensitivity of causal brain systems – which must control the psychological phenomena we classify under ‘personality’ – correspond in any obvious fashion to the manifest aspects of personality (i.e., factors, traits, facets, etc.).

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality , pp. 155 - 187

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819384.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abel, E. L., Altman, H. J. and Commissaris, R. L. (1992), Maudsley reactive and nonreactive rats in the forced swim test: comparison in fresh water and soiled water, Physiology and Behavior, 52, 1117–1119CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Aufdembrinke, B. (1998), Abecarnil, a new beta-carboline, in the treatment of anxiety disorders, British Journal of Psychiatry, 173, 55–63Google Scholar

Ball, S. A. and Zuckerman, M. (1991), Sensation seeking, Eysenck's personality dimensions and reinforcement sensitivity in concept formation, Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 343–353CrossRef Google Scholar

Barr, R. F. and McConaghy, N. (1974), Anxiety in relation to conditioning, Behaviour Theraphy, 5, 193–202CrossRef Google Scholar

Blizard, D. A. (1981), The Maudsley reactive and nonreactive strains: a North American perspective, Behavior Genetics, 11, 469–489CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Broadhurst, P. L. (1960), Applications of biometrical genetics to the inheritance of behaviour in Eysenck, H. J. (ed.), Experiments in Personality, vol. 1, Psychogenetics and Psychopharmacology (London: Routledge Kegan Paul), pp. 1–102Google Scholar

Broadhurst, P. L.(1975), The Maudsley reactive and nonreactive strains of rats: a survey, Behavior Genetics, 5, 299–319CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Candland, D. K. and Nagy, Z. M. (1969), The open field: some comparative data, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 159, 831–851CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Carver, C. S. (2004), Negative affects deriving from the Behavioral Approach System, Emotion, 41, 3–22CrossRef Google Scholar

Carver, C. S. and White, T. L. (1994), Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: the Behavioural Inhibition System/Behavioural Approach System scales, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 319–333CrossRef Google Scholar

Commissaris, R. L., Verbanac, J. S., Markovska, V. L., Altman, H. J. and Hill, T. J. (1996), Anxiety-like and depression-like behavior in Maudsley reactive (MR) and non-reactive (MNRA) rats, Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 20, 491–501CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Corr, P. J. (2001), Testing problems in J. A. Gray's personality theory: a commentary on Matthews and Gilliland (1999), Personal Individual Differences, 30, 333–352CrossRef Google Scholar

Corr, P. J.(2002a), J. A. Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory: tests of the joint subsystem hypothesis of anxiety and impulsivity, Personality and Individual Differences, 33, 511–532CrossRef Google Scholar

Corr, P. J.(2002b), J. A. Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory and frustrative nonreward: a theoretical note on expectancies in reactions to rewarding stimuli, Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 1247–1253CrossRef Google Scholar

Corr, P. J.(2004), Reinforcement sensitivity theory and personality, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 28, 317–332CrossRef Google Scholar

Corr, P. J. and McNaughton, N. (submitted), J. A. Gray's behavioural inhibition system and the anchoring problem in the neuroscience of personality

Corr, P. J. and Perkins, A. M. (2006), The role of theory in the psychophysiology of personality: from Ivan Pavlov to Jeffrey Gray, International Journal of Psychophysiology, 62, 367–376CrossRef Google Scholar

Deakin, J. F. W. and Graeff, F. G. (1991), 5-HT and mechanisms of defence, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 5, 305–315CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Eysenck, H. J. (1944), Types of personality: a factorial study of seven hundred neurotics, Journal of Mental Science, 90, 851–861CrossRef Google Scholar

Eysenck, H. J.(1947), Dimensions of Personality (London: Kegan Paul)Google Scholar

Eysenck, H. J.(1957), The Dynamics of Anxiety and Hysteria (New York: Preger)Google Scholar

Eysenck, H. J. (1967), The Biological Basis of Personality (IL: Thomas, Springfield)Google Scholar

Eysenck, H. J. and Eysenck, S. B. G. (1975), Manual of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Adults) (London: Hodder and Stoughton)Google Scholar

Flint, J. (2002), Animal models of personality in R. P. Ebstein, R. H. Belmaker and J. Benjamin, The Molecular Genetics of the Human Personality (Washington DC: APA), pp. 63–90Google Scholar

Flint, J.(2004), The genetics of neuroticism, Neurosciencce and Biobehavioral Reviews, 28, 307–316CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

George, M. S., Guidotti, A., Rubinow, D., Pan, B., Mikalauskas, K. and Post, R. M. (1994), CSF neuroactive steroids in affective disorders: pregnenolone, progesterone, and DBI, Biological Psychiatry, 35, 775–780CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Gray, J. A. (1970), The psychophysiological basis of introversion-extraversion, Behaiour Research and Therapy, 8, 249–266CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Gray, J. A.(1972a), Learning theory, the conceptual nervous system and personality in Nebylitsyn, V. D. and Gray, J. A. (eds), The Biological Bases of Individual Behaviour (New York: Academic Press), pp. 372–399Google Scholar

Gray, J. A.(1972b), The psychophysiological nature of introversion-extraversion: a modification of Eysenck's theory in Nebylitsyn, V. D. and Gray, J. A. (eds), The Biological Bases of Individual Behaviour (New York: Academic Press), pp. 182–205Google Scholar

Gray, J. A. (1981), A critique of Eysenck's theory of personality in Eysenck, H. J. (ed.), A Model for Personality (Berlin: Springer), pp. 246–276CrossRef Google Scholar

Gray, J. A.(1982), The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System (Oxford: Oxford University Press)Google Scholar

Gray, J. A.(1987), The Psychology of Fear and Stress (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar

Gray, J. A. and McNaughton, N. (2000), The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System (2nd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press)Google Scholar

Gray, J. A. and Smith, P. T. (1969), An arousal decision model for partial reinforcement and discrimination learning in Gilbert, R. M. and Sutherland, N. S. (eds), Animal Discrimination Learning (London: Academic Press), pp. 243–272Google Scholar

Graeff, F. G. (1994), Neuroanatomy and neurotransmitter regulation of defensive behaviors and related emotions in mammals, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research, 27, 811–829Google Scholar PubMed

Flint, J. (2002), Animal models of personality in Benjamin, J., Ebstein, R. P. and Belmaker, R. H. (eds), Molecular Genetics and the Human Personality (London: American Psychiatric Publishing), pp. 63–90Google Scholar

Flint, J.(2004), The genetics of neuroticism, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 28, 307–316CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Hall, C. S. (1951), The genetics of behavior in Stevens, S. S. (ed.), Handbook of Experimental Psychology (New York: Wiley), pp. 304–329Google Scholar

Hunt, H. F. and Otis, L. S. (1953), Conditioned and unconditioned emotional defecation in the rat, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 46, 378–382CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Lacey, J. I. (1967), Somatic response patterning and stress: some revisions of activation theory in Appley, M. H. and Trumbull, R. (eds), Psychological Stress (New York: Appleton Century Crofts), pp. 14–43Google Scholar

Lamacz, M., Tonon, M. C., Smih-Rouet, F., Patte, C., Gasque, P., Fontaine, M. and Vaudry, H. (1996), The endogenous benzodiazepine receptor ligand ODN increases cytosolic calcium in cultured rat astrocytes, Molecular Brain Research, 37, 290–296CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Lykken, D. T. (1971), Multiple factor analysis and personality research, Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 5, 161–170Google Scholar

McNaughton, N. and Corr, P. J. (2004), A two-dimensional neuropsychology of defense: fear/anxiety and defensive distance, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 28, 285–305CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

McNaughton, N. and Gray, J. A. (1983), Pavlovian counterconditioning is unchanged by chlordiazepoxide or by septal lesions, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 35, 221–233CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Miller, N. E. (1944), Experimental studies of conflict in Hunt, J. M. (ed.), Personality and the Behavioural Disorders (New York: Ronald), pp. 431–465Google Scholar

Monahan, A. M. (1989), The involvement of endogenous opiate systems in the anxiolytic actions of the benzodiazepines and melatonin (unpublished MSc thesis, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand)

Newman, J. P., Wallace, J. F., Schmitt, W. A. and Arnett, P. A. (1997), Behavioral inhibition system functioning in anxious, impulsive and psychopathic individuals, Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 583–592CrossRef Google Scholar

Okaichi, Y. and Okaichi, H. (1994), Effects of fimbria-fornix lesions on avoidance tasks with temporal elements in rats, Physiology and Behavior, 56, 759–765CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Ozawa, M., Nakada, Y., Sugimachi, K., Yabuuchi, F., Akai, T., Mizuta, E., Kuno, S. and Yamaguchi, M. (1994), Pharmacological characterization of the novel anxiolytic carboline abecarnil in rodents and primates, Japanese Journal of Pharmacology, 64, 179–187CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Patrick, C. J., Berthot, B. D. and Moore, J. D. (1996), Diazepam blocks fear-potentiated startle in humans, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 89–96CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Perkins, A. M., Revelle, W. and Corr, P. J. (Unpublished), A reanalysis of H. J. Eysenck's (1994) medical checklist data

Pickering, A. D., Corr, P. J., Powell, J. H., Kumari, V., Thornton, J. C. and Gray, J. A. (1997), Individual differences in reactions to reinforcing stimuli are neither black nor white: to what extent are they Gray? in Nyborg, H. (ed.), The Scientific Study of Human Nature: Tribute to Hans J. Eysenck at Eighty (London: Elsevier), pp. 36–67Google Scholar

Powell, J. H., Al-Adawi, S., Morgan, J. and Greenwood, R. J. (1996), Motivational deficits after brain injury: effects of bromocriptine in 11 patients, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 60, 416–421CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Smillie, L. D., Pickering, A. D. and Jackson, C. J. (2006), The new reinforcement sensitivity theory: implications for personality measurement, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 320–335CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Stouffer, S. A., Lumsdaine, A. A., Lumsdaine, M. H., Williams, R. M., Smith, M. B. and Janis, I. L. (1949), Studies in social psychology in world war II: vol 2. The american soldier: combat and its aftermath. Princeton, cited by Broadhurst (1960), p. 37

Sudakov, S. K., Medvedeva, O. F., Rusakova, I. V., Terebilina, N. N. and Goldberg, S. R. (2001), Differences in genetic predisposition to high anxiety in two inbred rat strains: role of substance P, diazepam binding inhibitor fragment and neuropeptide Y, Psychopharmacology, 154, 327–335CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Taylor, J. (1956), Drive theory and manifest anxiety, Psychological Bulletin, 53, 303–320CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Thornton, J. C. (1998), The Behavioural Inhibition System and Anxiety in Human Subjects (unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London)

Viglinskaya, I. V., Overstreet, D. H., Kashevskaya, O. P., Badishtov, B. A., Kampov-Polevoy, A. B., Seredenin, S. B.et al. (1995), To drink or not to drink: tests of anxiety and immobility in alcohol-preferring and alcohol-nonpreferring rat strains, Physiology and Behavior, 57, 987–991CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Wilson, G. D., Barrett, P. T. and Gray, J. A. (1989), Human reactions to reward and punishment: a questionnaire examination of Gray's personality theory, British Journal of Psychology, 80, 509–515CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.