The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality

by Edited by Philip J. Corr

• ISBN13: 9780521851794
• ISBN10: 0521851793
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

One of the major neuropsychological models of personality, developed by world-renowned psychologist Professor Jeffrey Gray, is based upon individual differences in reactions to punishing and rewarding stimuli. This biological theory of personality - now widely known as 'Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory' (RST) - has had a major influence on motivation, emotion and psychopathology research. In 2000, RST was substantially revised by Jeffrey Gray, together with Neil McNaughton, and this revised theory proposed three principal motivation/emotion systems: the 'Fight-Flight-Freeze System' (FFFS), the 'Behavioural Approach System' (BAS) and the 'Behavioural Inhibition System' (BIS). This is the first book to summarise the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of personality and bring together leading researchers in the field. It summarizes all of the pre-2000 RST research findings, explains and elaborates the implications of the 2000 theory for personality psychology and lays out the future research agenda for RST.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations	p. vii
List of figures	p. ix
List of tables	p. xiii
List of contributors	p. xv
Preface	p. xvii
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST): introduction	p. 1
The neuropsychology of fear and anxiety: a foundation for Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory	p. 44
Animal cognition and human personality	p. 95
The behavioural activation system: challenges and opportunities	p. 120
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and personality	p. 155
Reinforcement sensitivity scales	p. 188
Performance and conditioning studies	p. 228
Psychophysiological studies	p. 261
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and mood induction studies	p. 291
Neuro-imaging and genetics	p. 317
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and psychosomatic medicine	p. 345
RST and clinical disorders: anxiety and depression	p. 360
RST and psychopathy: associations between psychopathy and the behavioral activation and inhibition systems	p. 398
Behavioural activation and inhibition in social adjustment	p. 415
Reinforcement sensitivity in the workplace: BIS/BAS in business	p. 431
Formal and computational models of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory	p. 453
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory: a critique from cognitive science	p. 482
The contribution of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory to personality theory	p. 508
General Index	p. 528
Index of names	p. 534
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