Emotion-Based Dispositions to Rash Action: Positive and Negative Urgency

Under heightened emotional states, individuals are more inclined to engage in ill-considered or rash actions than at other times. The authors present evidence for the existence of 2 related traits called positive and negative urgency. The traits refer to individual differences in the disposition to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological bulletin 2008-11, Vol.134 (6), p.807-828
Main Authors: Cyders, Melissa A, Smith, Gregory T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Affective Behavior
Affectivity. Emotion
Alcohol Abuse
At Risk Persons
Attitudes
Behavior Problems
Behavioural psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Brain Hemisphere Functions
Dopamine
Drinking
Drug Abuse
Eating Disorders
Emotional Response
Emotional States
Emotions
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes
Genetics
Health Behavior
Human
Humans
Impulsive Behavior - psychology
Impulsiveness
Impulsivity
Individual behaviour
Nerve Net - physiology
Neural Pathways
Neurological Organization
Neuropsychology
Neurosciences
Neurotransmission
Personality Theory
Personality traits
Personality. Affectivity
Polymorphism
Psychological aspects
Psychological Patterns
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance
Risk
Risk behaviour
Risk Taking
Serotonin
Serotonin - physiology
Sexuality
Urgency
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Summary:Under heightened emotional states, individuals are more inclined to engage in ill-considered or rash actions than at other times. The authors present evidence for the existence of 2 related traits called positive and negative urgency. The traits refer to individual differences in the disposition to engage in rash action when experiencing extreme positive and negative affect, respectively. The authors provide evidence that these traits are distinct from other dispositions toward rash action and that they play distinct roles in predicting problem levels of involvement in behaviors such as alcohol consumption, binge eating, drug use, and risky sexual behavior. The authors identify facilitative conditions for the emergence of the urgency traits from neuroscience. Certain gene polymorphisms are associated with low levels of serotonin and high levels of dopamine; that pattern of neurotransmitter activity in a brain system linking the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala appears to facilitate the development of positive and negative urgency. The authors discuss the implications of this theory.
ISSN:0033-2909
1939-1455
DOI:10.1037/a0013341