Behavioural activation and inhibition in social adjustment

Abstract

Gray's theory, now known as Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST), describes three major neuropsychological systems, the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), the Behavioural Activation System (BAS) and the Fight-Flight System (FFS). In psychometric and experimental studies, only two of these have received confirmation. In particular, psychometric evidence does not support the existence of FFS as a unified dimension orthogonal to BIS and BAS (Wilson, Gray and Barrett 1990; Wilson, Barrett and Iwawaki 1995; Slobodskaya et al . 2001; Knyazev, Slobodskaya and Wilson 2004). This chapter will therefore concentrate upon the BIS and BAS dimensions. First, we comment on the position of BIS and BAS within the hierarchy of personality and temperament traits. Then we consider certain difficulties linked with research on the social implications of RST and summarize empirical evidence linking BIS and BAS with social adjustment. Finally, we offer an interpretation of this data and review scarce evidence regarding the moderating role of environmental factors and cognitive abilities on the relationship between BAS, BIS and social outcomes. BAS, BIS and hierarchical models of personality and temperament To a large extent, BAS and BIS could be viewed as the two highest-order dimensions of personality. Following the ‘Big Five’ and Eysenck's ‘Giant Three’, we might perhaps dub these the ‘Gargantuan Two’. CFA studies of the Eysenck Personality Profiler usually find negative correlations between the Extraversion and Neuroticism factors (Eysenck, Wilson and Jackson 2000; Moosbrugger and Fischbach 2002; Knyazev, Belopolsky, Bodunov and Wilson 2004).