NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE NATURE OF EXTROVERSION: HOW TO BUILD AN INDIVIDUAL "HEDONISTIC PROFILE"

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of personality traits in the light of the achievements of modern neuroscience. We focus our attention on the extraversion, the key component of the "Big five" personality model. The data relating to psychogenetics, neurophysiology and neurochemistry of extraversion are summarized. Neuropsychological mechanisms of nature of extraversion are investigated in the context of psychological theories of personality. According to our results we state that building a "hedonictic profile" according to inherited and acquired specific characteristics of reward processing of an individual, can be valuable both in theoretical and clinical context. There is a connection between psychogenetic studies of extroversion, neuropsychological approach to the extraversion as a personality trait (as well as its aspects: assertiveness and enthusiasm) and the individual characteristics of the processing of pleasurable stimulus. The components of the "hedonistic profile" of the personality are defined in this study, which allow to assess individual differences in sensitivity to reward. The individual variability of extraversion is represented in a continuum from pronounced anhedonia (minimum level of extraversion) up to the harmonious ability to experience pleasure. Obviously, the pole of extraversion is more adaptive, indicating the desirable direction of personal development or possible psychotherapeutic efforts. Most of accessible clinical cases of depression and related disorders, described in special sources, demonstrate a deficit of taking into account individual parameters of extraversion, both at the level of its aspects and in terms of interaction with reward over time. This allows us to figure out how to build so called "individual hedonistic profiles" of the personality. In this study, the following variants of profiles were defined and described: anhedonic profile (reduced sensitivity to pleasure observed at all stages of the processing of hedonistic stimuli; increased risk of abuse), narcissistic profile (assertiveness significantly outweighs enthusiasm; anticipation and expectation of interaction with the stimulus is much stronger than the pleasure during its real consumption and at the stage of satisfaction, so called "aftertaste"), abulic profile (assertiveness is much lower than enthusiasm, reduced activity of the Behavioral Approach System - BAS; expectation is low but "on-line" consumption is pleasurable), compulsive profile (increased assertiveness prevails at the stage of interaction with the stimulus; consumption is repeated more and more, but satisfaction does not occur) and harmonious profile (adaptive version, which optimally combines assertiveness and enthusiasm; a balanced combination of hedonism and self-restraint; evenly distribution of pleasure experience in time).