Personality Dimensions and Arousal

17 Pages·2013·1.16 MB·English

Personality
Dimensions
and Arousal
PERSPECTIVES ON INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
CECIL R. REYNOLDS, Texas A&M University, College Station
ROBERT T. BROWN, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
DETERMINANTS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Biological, Psychological, and Environmental Factors
Edited by Mark Galizio and Stephen A. Maisto
HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Edited by John A. Glover and Royce R. Ronning
THE INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT AND SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY
Edited by Jaan Valsiner
THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
A Developmental Perspective
Edited by Lawrence C. Hartlage and Cathy F. Telzrow
PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
A Natural Science Approach
Hans J. Eysenck and Michael W. Eysenck
PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND AROUSAL
Edited by Jan Strelau and Hans J. Eysenck
PERSPECTIVES ON BIAS IN MENTAL TESTING
Edited by Cecil R. Reynolds and Robert T. Brown
THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY
Edited by Hans J. Eysenck and Irene M?rtin
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new
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tion please contact the publisher.
Personality
Dimensions
and Arousal
Edited by
JAN STRELAU
University of Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland
and
HANS J. EYSENCK
Institute of Psychialry
University of London
London, England
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Personality dimensions and arousal.
(Perspectives on individual differences)
Includes bibliographies and index.
1. Personality—Physiological aspects. 2. Arousal (Physiology) I. Strelau, Jan. II.
Eysenck, H. ]. (Hans Jürgen), 1916- . III. Series.
QP402.P47 1987 155.2'34 87-10808
ISBN 978-1-4899-2045-4 ISBN 978-1-4899-2043-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-2043-0
© 1987 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1987
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Contributors
Kristen Joan Anderson, Department of Psychology, Colgate University,
Hamilton, New York
John Brebner, Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Ade
laide, South Australia
Monte S. Buchsbaum, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior,
University of California, Irvine, California
Gordon Claridge, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of
Oxford, Oxford, England
Christopher Cooper, Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide,
Adelaide, South Australia
Andrzej Eliasz, Department of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Warsaw, Poland
Hans J. Eysenck, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, London,
England
Michael W. Eysenck, Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, Uni
versity of London, London, England
Jochen Fahrenberg, Institute of Psychology, University of Freiburg,
Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany
Anthony Gale, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton,
Southampton, England
Richard J. Haier, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Uni
versity of California, Irvine, California
v
vi CONTRIBUTORS
Michael S. Humphreys, Department of Psychology, University of
Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Mark Katz, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University
of California, Irvine, California
Tatiana Klonowicz, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, War
saw, Poland
Paul M. Kohn, Department of Psychology, York University, Downsview,
Ontario, Canada
Luciano Mecacci, Institute of Psychology, CNR, Roma, Italy
William Revelle, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University,
Evanston, Illinois
David L. Robinson, Department of Psychology, University of Sydney,
Sydney, Australia
Pavel V. Simonov, Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neu
rophysiology, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics
Ken Sokolski, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University
of California, Irvine, California
Jan Strelau, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw,
Poland
Peter F. Werre, Psychiatric Centre Rosenburg, The Hague, The Neth
erlands
Marvin Zuckerman, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware,
Newark, Delaware
Preface
At the beginning of this century, Pavlov developed a plan to explain
individual differences in temperament by means of some features of the
central nervous system (CNS). This attempt to seek explanations for
individual differences in personality in physiological, especially in neu
rological mechanisms, led later on to research on several person
ality/temperament dimensions, such as, extraversion, strength of the
nervous system, sensation seeking, and so on. Concepts like excitation,
inhibition (especially transmarginal or protective inhibition), and, after
Moruzzi and Magoun's discovery of the arousing role of the reticular
formation, the concept of arousal/activation gained great popularity
among biologically oriented personality researchers interested in the
biological basis of personality.
Facts collected during the last decades by neurophysiologists as
well as by other specialists made it clear that there exist many anatom
ical-physiological mechanisms responsible for the organism's level of
arousal/activation-the endocrine system, the autonomic nervous sys
tem, and the CNS with all of its levels and structures. It also became
evident that arousal refers to different phenomena at the introspective,
behavioral, psychophysiological, and electrophysiologicallevels.
The very fact that the theoretical construct of arousal does not refer
to a unidimensional phenomenon and that it is concerned with indi
vidual stimulus- and response-specific factors led personality re
searchers interested in the concept of arousal to refer, indeed, to differ
ent sets of phenomena. This state of affairs makes contacts more difficult
among scientists who apply "arousal" or the notions of excitation-inhi
bition as key concepts in their personality/temperament theories.
A deeper analYSis of the separate personality dimensions based on
the concept of arousal/activation shows that they often refer to the same
phenomena, such as, for example, speed of conditioning, sensory
threshold, amplitude of AEP, and so forth. The dimensions of extraver-
vii
viii PREFACE
sion, impulsivity, sensation seeking, or strength or the nervous system
may serve as examples here. The evidence that the different personality
concepts have often to do with the same variables or indicators pro
duced a growing tendency to find a common language or at least some
mutual understanding among biologically oriented personality
psychologists.
This tendency is expressed, among other things, in the fact that
since the 1960s several meetings have taken place where experts in
arousal-oriented personality dimensions had the opportunity to present
their theories and to discuss possible links between them. As an exam
ple, the symposia that took place during the International Congresses of
Psychology held in Moscow (1966), in Leipzig (1980), and in Acapulco
(1984) may be mentioned.
The trend to exchange ideas among experts in extraversion, neurot
icism, anxiety, psychoticism, impulsivity, strength of the nervous sys
tem, sensation seeking, reactivity, and augmenting-reducing (all of
these dimensions referring to the theoretical construct of arousal) is also
observable in publications, the number of which has increased in the last
decade. This is evident when one follows the tables of contents of the
international journal Personality and Individual Differences as well as of
several other published works. Let us mention as well a few books, such
as Biological Bases of Individual Behavior, edited by Nebylitsyn and Gray
(1972), Biological Bases of Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity, and Anxiety, edited
by Zuckerman (1983), or the two volume set of The Biological Bases of
Personality and Behavior, edited by Strelau, Farley, and Gale (1985, 1986).
One of the common denominators of almost all the publications just
mentioned is that authors representing different approaches to the
study of personality dimensions present their own concepts and theo
ries without paying much attention (although with some exceptions) to
the connections existing between the separate dimensions under discus
sion. Emphasis on similarities and differences among the biologically
oriented personality dimensions, with special attention to the theoretical
construct of arousal to which all of them refer, constitutes the specific
concern of this volume.
Personality Dimensions and Arousal, the authors of which are widely
recognized experts representing different approaches and interests in a
variety of biologically based personality dimensions, consists of four
parts preceded by an Introduction and completed by a Postscript.
In the Introduction, Hans J. Eysenck gives a general overview, in
cluding a historical account, of the interrelations between personality
and the theoretical construct of arousal. Many arguments for the
usefulness of the concept of arousal in studies on personality may be
found in this introductory chapter.
PREFACE ix
Part I (Different Perspectives in Research on Extraversion-Introver
sion) includes chapters that present research on extraversion-introver
sion conducted in different laboratories and pays attention to various
aspects of arousal. Revelle, Anderson, and Humphreys, referring to
their own data, argue, among other things, that it is impulsivity rather
than E-I regarded as a high order factor that is related to individual
differences in the level of arousal. The authors have shown that the
study of individual differences in impulsivity combined with studies of
human cognitive performance under different levels of arousal leads to
interesting results. Cooper and Brebner, taking as a point of departure
their stimulus-analysis and response-organization model of extraver
sion-introversion, postulate that the amalgamation of the constructs of
excitation-inhibition and arousal should be considered as an explanatory
concept of this personality dimension. In the last chapter of Part I,
Werre, using the contingent negative variation as an indicator of the
level of arousal, demonstrates the interrelations between level of arousal
in task performance situations described as stressful and the level of E-1.
In Part II (Studies of Emotionality and Psychoticism), the reader will
find a variety of views on the interrelations between the level of
arousal/activation and such dimensions as anxiety, neuroticism, emo
tionality (all three terms often are used interchangeably), and psychot
icism. Michael W. Eysenck advances strong arguments that support his
view that individual differences in trait anxiety (neuroticism) can be
reasonably explained only when both the biological mechanism (limbic
arousal) and human cognitive systems are taken into account. A detailed
analysis of the concept of arousal within the framework of research in
emotionality (neuroticism) is presented by Fahrenberg, who stresses the
methodological aspects of studies in arousal! activation. The only study
on animals presented in this book and conducted by Simonov supports
the hypothesis that the interaction of the frontal neocortex-hypo
thalamus and the hippocampus-amygdala systems are responsible for
the neuroticism (emotionality) dimension in dogs. Claridge's contribu
tion regarding the concept of arousal as related to the psychoticism
dimension closes Part II. One of the interesting conclusions by this
author states "that the inherent disregulation of the 'psychotic' nervous
system can potentially lead to extreme levels (in either direction) of
different components of 'arousal.'"
The concepts that refer directly to the Pavlovian properties of the
conceptual nervous system or for which the neo-Pavlovian typology was
a starting point are presented in Part III (Neo-Pavlovian Concepts of
Temperament). Robinson develops the idea that the diffuse thalamocor
tical system (DTS), which has specific psychological correlates, serves as
the mediator of Pavlovian excitation. Individual differences in
x PREFACE
arousability are considered as a result of the sensitivity of the DTS neu
rons. Mecacci, too, discusses the neo-Pavlovian features of the CNS
within the framework of modern neurophysiology. He pays attention to
the so-called general and partial CNS properties that, in his opinion,
underlie the different specific patterns of arousal discovered in contem
porary research. Both remaining chapters deal with the reactivity di
mension, a construct developed on the basis of the theory of strength of
the CNS and popular among Warsaw psychologists. The empirical evi
dence presented by Klonowicz relates to facets of the control of reac
tivity over various forms of arousal. Eliasz, considering the role of tem
perament in a system of stimulation control, points out that reactivity
has an impact on the formation of cognitive orientation toward various
aspects of reality.
Part IV (Attempts at Integration Based on the Arousability Concept)
includes chapters aimed directly at searching for interrelations among
the separate arousal-oriented personality/temperament dimensions. It
starts with Zuckerman's chapter in which he discusses the interrelations
between strength of excitation, extraversion, anxiety, impulsivity, and
sensation seeking, regarding arousal as a key concept of his considera
tions. The author also presents a multimodal and multiresponse psycho
physiological model of sensation seeking. On the basis of psychometric
evidence that reflects the link between such dimensions as extraversion,
reactivity, neuroticism, augmenting-reducing dimension, and strength
of excitation Kohn concludes in his chapter that highly arousable indi
viduals tend to avoid strong stimulation and the reverse. He also dis
cusses important issues regarding the inappropriateness of validating
psychometric tests against experimental indexes. The chapter written by
Haier, Sokolski, Katz, and Buchsbaum presents a new way of searching
for integration among biologically oriented personality dimensions. This
is the first time that the technology of Positron Emission Tomography
(PET) has been applied in an attempt to see whether the activity of
specific brain areas correlates with measures of personality. In the last
chapter, Strelau compares eight arousal-oriented personality/tempera
ment dimensions from the point of view of five indexes: inventory data,
sensory threshold, amplitude of AEP, efficiency of conditioning, and
general behavioral activity. The similarities and differences among the
personality dimensions under discussion are enumerated there.
The volume also contains a general overview written by Gale. His
chapter is presented as a postscript and has been prepared on the basis
of all the other papers included here. The main results of his analysis can
be found in Table 2 that deals with explanatory constructs, examples of
scales, manipulations, and independent and dependent variables pre
sented in the separate chapters. Short comments are included also. The