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C82PIN > Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) > Flashcards

Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) Flashcards

1
Q

What was the main premise of Gray’s RST?

A

That there are separate reward and punishment systems in the brain, which are important in the development of personality (Gray, 1970).

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2
Q

What two main personality dimensions did Gray’s RST propose?

A
  • BIS: high end is neurotic introversion, low end is stable extraversion. Anxiety dimension, corresponds to punishment sensitivity.
  • BAS: high end is neurotic extraversion, low end is stable introversion. Impulsivity dimension, corresponds to reward sensitivity.
    Interaction between the BIS and BAS is the basis of personality.
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3
Q

In what way is Gray’s RST a modified version of Eysenck’s theory?

A
  • BIS and BAS are E and N rotated 30 degrees.
  • According to Gray (1981), E and N are subsystems of the RST.
    • Punishment is more arousing than reward (high BIS/low BAS=introversion)  introverts more sensitive to punishment  introverts more aroused
      + Pickering et al. (1999): most data supports the notion that E = impulsivity and N = anxiety because anxiety is unaffected by rewards and impulsivity by punishment.
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4
Q

What kinds of individual differences does Gray’s RST take into account?

A

Emotion, motivation and learning. As well as the obvious impulsivity and anxiety!

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5
Q

Other than Eysenck’s PEN, what is Gray’s RST based on?

A

Based on animal learning theory, supported by psychopharmacological and lesion-based animal models. Also as a biopsychological theory of personality, it’s linked to brain function.

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6
Q

Outline the two stage process to understand biological basis of personality.

A
  1. Identify fundamental properties of brain-behavioural systems that might be involved in variation observed in human behaviour
  2. Relate variations in these systems to existing measures of personality
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7
Q

What was the critical point about the two stage process to understand biological basis of personality and how it underpinned Gray’s RST?

A

The assumption that variation observed in the functioning of these systems comprises personality and that personality is defined by basic brain-behaviour systems.

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8
Q

What is the conceptual nervous system?

A

A set of hypothetical interacting mental components which are responsible for the behaviour of the organism.

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9
Q

What were Gray’s ideas of the processes involved in behaviour the result of?

A

A conceptual NS which seemed to fit the data. Following Pavlov, Gray investigated the brain directly to find structure and neural variables which operated in the way that confirmed his conceptual NS

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10
Q

Describe the bottom-up approach taken by Gray.

A
  1. Find explanation of personality dimensions via underlying psychological functions
  2. These functions are essentially similar in humans and animals
  3. Study personality correlates of the functions in humans
  4. Identify biological basis of the functions in terms of enduring structures in endocrine system
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11
Q

What is it essential to do in order to transcend the gap between humans and animals?

A

To map behavioural patterns across species.

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12
Q

What did Gray’s original RST (1973; 1982) propose?

A

Three systems:

  1. Behavioural inhibition system (BIS)
  2. Behavioural activation system (BAS)
  3. Fight-flight system (FFS) related to the BIS.
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13
Q

What is the BIS sensitive to?

A

Punishment.

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14
Q

What emotions are related to the BIS?

A

Anxiety and fear.

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15
Q

What key behaviours are related to the BIS?

A

Avoidance and withdrawal.

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16
Q

What is the BAS sensitive to?

A

Rewards and incentives.

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17
Q

What emotions are related to the BAS?

A

Pleasure and positive affect.

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18
Q

What key behaviour is related to the BAS?

A

Approach.

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19
Q

What is the FFS sensitive to?

A

Threat.

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20
Q

What emotions are related to the FFS?

A

Rage and panic (unaffected by anxiolytics).

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21
Q

What key behaviours are related to the FFS?

A

Avoidance and withdrawal.

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22
Q

What cues/stimuli is the BIS sensitive to?

A

Aversive cues, conditioned punishment stimuli or frustrated non-reward, innate fear and novel stimuli.

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23
Q

What is the output of the BIS?

A

Suppression of ongoing behaviour, increase attention and (nonspecific) arousal to enhance information processing.

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24
Q

What neural substrate is the BIS related to?

A

The septo-hippocampal system (serotonin pathway).

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25
Q

What cues/stimuli is the BAS sensitive to?

A

Conditioned appetitive and rewarding stimuli (and omission of punishment).

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26
Q

What is the output of the BAS?

A

Initiation of goal-directed behaviour, facilitate movement towards goal/reward.

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27
Q

What neural substrate is the BAS related to?

A

Mesolimbic dopaminergic projection (VTA  striatum  NAC), linked to dopamine.

28
Q

What cues/stimuli is the FFS sensitive to?

A

Threat - unconditioned negative stimuli (e.g. innately painful stimuli).

29
Q

What is the output of the FFS?

A

Actively facilitates response to relieve aversive state/escape from aversive stimuli.

30
Q

What neural substrate is the FFS related to?

A

The central periacqueductal grey and hypothalamus.

31
Q

What is the FFS associated with related to Eysenck’s model?

A

Psychoticism.

32
Q

What evidential support is there for the original RST?

A

Nagpal and Gupta (1979) found that reward produced more verbal conditioning for neurotic extraverts and punishment was most effective with the neurotic introverts.

33
Q

What are the two key issues with the RST?

A
  1. Boundary between FFS (threat response system - should be linked to fear?) and BIS (punishment system) difficult to define:
    - Separate cognitive systems underlying anxiety and fear – need to be studied outside of animal models (Matthews and Gilliland, 1999)
    - Clinical studies support the distinction between fear and anxiety related disorders and conflation of these under the umbrella term “anxiety disorders” has been questioned (Sylvers, Lilienfield & LaPrairie, 2011)
  2. New evidence from lesion and drug studies on the specificity of drugs: pharmacological double dissociation for new anxiolytic drugs (e.g. on serotonin receptor 5-HT) and panxiolytic drugs for anxiety versus panic/phobia
    This led to major revision and renaming of the theory in 2000
34
Q

How did Blanchard and Blanchard (1990) distinguish between fear and anxiety?

A

Actual vs. potential threat (Cat/cat odour) reaction in mice:
- Specific danger that must be avoided  fear  defensive avoidance
- Diffuse danger to be approached  anxiety  defensive approach
Defensive direction as fundamental distinction, which suggests a two dimensional defence system of fear and anxiety.

35
Q

Who came up with the revised RST?

A

Gray & McNaughton (2000)

36
Q

Outline the BAS of the Revised RST.

A
  • Reward sensitivity system (conditioned and unconditioned reward stimuli)
  • Emotions related: anticipatory pleasure
  • Associated with impulsivity and optimism
  • Key behaviour: approach
37
Q

Outline the FFFS of the Revised RST.

A

Fight/Flight/Freeze system (FFFS)

  • Punishment sensitivity system (conditioned and unconditioned aversive stimuli)
  • Emotions related: fear
  • Key behaviour: active avoidance
38
Q

Outline the BIS of the Revised RST.

A
  • Conflict sensitive system (between reinforcing stimuli via FFFS and/or BAS)
  • Input: conflicting goals/competing stimuli that must be approached
  • Output: behavioural inhibition, increase in arousal and attention for risk assessment  resolution of conflict to bring organism to state of non-conflict
  • Emotions related: anxiety and worry
  • Key behaviour: passive avoidance
39
Q

What is different about the Revised RST?

A
  • It has 3 interacting systems (BIS, BAS & FFFS) rather than focusing on just the BIS and BAS.
  • It distinguishes between fear and anxiety by major revisions to the FF(F)S and BIS respectively, approaching fear and anxiety as separate adapted evolutionary-based functions.
  • It therefore has important implications for personality research.
  • It more closely maps the findings with animal work and disambiguates FFFS and BIS.
40
Q

What methods of measurement are used for the RST?

A

Questionnaires:

  • Carver & White (1994) BIS/BAS scales
  • Torrubia et al.’s (2001) sensitivity to punishment and reward
  • Eysenck’s N; or Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety (for BIS)
  • Eysenck’s E or P; or Cloninger’s Novelty Seeking (for BAS)
  • Cloninger’s Harm Avoidance (for BIS or FFFS)
41
Q

How is research into the RST typically carried out?

A

Measure some behaviour in lab/preference behaviours, and then associate this with BIS/BAS measures (e.g. from questionnaires).

42
Q

What evidence is there for the biological basis of the RST?

A
  1. Physiological substrates
  2. Hereditary or genetic contribution
  3. Temporal stability
  4. Cross cultural evidence
  5. Similar traits in non-humans
43
Q

What structural evidence do physiological substrates provide for RST?

A

Fuentes et al. (2012) found that greater BIS sensitivity was associated with reduced regional volume of right OFC and percuneus (self-awareness). However they found no link to the amygdala, which is linked to anxiety and, particularly, fear.

44
Q

What functional evidence does fMRI evidence about physiological substrates provide for RST?

A

Barros-Loscertales et al. (2010) found that BAS scores are positively correlated with activation in reward centre areas in the MPFC but not striatum or OFC.

45
Q

What functional evidence does fMRI evidence about physiological substrates provide against RST?

A

Canli et al. (2001) found that extraverts show frontal brain reactivity to pleasant and rewarding images, while introverts show frontal brain reactivity to threatening images. This suggests an Eysenckian model related to reinforcement sensitivity rather than arousal.

46
Q

What functional physiological substrate evidence was found by Balconi et al. (2012) supporting RST?

A

They found that participants with high BAS scores showed increased arousal (as measured by HR, SCR and EMG) for positive pictures and those with high BIS scores showed increased arousal for negative pictures.

47
Q

What evidence did Whisman et al. (2011) provide for a hereditary or genetic contribution for RST?

A

BIS is associated with serotonergic networks, and a serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) regulates the reuptake of serotonin at synapses. Found that 5-HTT polymorphism (1 or 2 copies of the short 5-HTT allele) was associated with BIS but not BAS

48
Q

What evidence did Reuter et al. (2006) provide for a hereditary or genetic contribution for RST?

A

BAS is associated with the dopaminergic (DA) system. Found that equilibrium between two polymorphisms (DRD2 TaqlA and COMT) related to the activity of DA system are associated with low BAS, and imbalance is related to high BAS.

49
Q

What evidence did Takahashi et al. (2007) provide for a hereditary or genetic contribution for RST?

A

Studied 448 adolescent twin pairs over 2-3yrs and found that one third of the variation in BIS/BAS scores was attributed to genetic factors at both time points. Additionally, genetics influenced continuity, whereas environment influenced continuity and change, and the degree of genetic influence didn’t change over time.

50
Q

What evidence is there for temporal stability in Gray’s RST?

A

Carver and White (1994) found high test-retest reliability over 8 weeks (Rs = .59-.69).

51
Q

What cross-cultural evidence is there to support RST?

A

Similar findings in Russian samples (SPSRQ: experimental evidence from Avila & Torrubia, 2006), similar scale consistency in Australian samples and UK (BIS/BAS: Gullo et al., 2011), and generally good consistency in French samples (BIS/BAS and SPSRQ: Caci et al., 2007) (although BAS-Reward Responsiveness was less consistent).

52
Q

What evidence for RST is provided by similar traits in non-humans?

A
  1. It was based on animal models (origins in Pavlov).
  2. Lesion and pharmacological studies with rats demonstrate that there are separate systems controlling behaviour in reaction to reward and punishment (Gray, 1970). Gray made substantial effort to link animal and human research on structure of personality with animal-models of neurochemical function.
53
Q

What did Larsen et al. (2003) do?

A

A moderate difficulty colour naming task with two conditions:
- Condition 1 (punishment): start with 10$, punished for incorrect/slow responses (all ended up with 5$)
- Condition 2 (reward): start with 0$, rewarded for correct/fast responses (all ended up with 5$)
Found that those high in BIS did better in condition 1, suggesting that they were more responsive to punishment, and that those high in BAS did better in condition 2, suggesting that they were more responsive to reward. This supports Gray’s RST.

54
Q

What did Avila and Torrubia (2006) do?

A

A gambling task in which the probability of losing varied across the 8 packs of cards from 20-90%. Participants start with one pack and have the choice to move or stick (can’t return to a pack) for real financial gain/loss. Found that people with low BIS won more than high BIS if punishment low but not if punishment high. Suggests that underactive BIS leads to lower processing of punishment contingencies. Supports Gray’s RST.

55
Q

What did Zinbarg and Mohlman (1998) do?

A

An experiment where certain cues led mostly to punishment, others to reward and participants had to work out their expectations and make appropriate responses. Found that those high in BIS were better at identifying expectancies for punishment cues but that BAS moderated the effect of anxiety on responses (high BAS = less punishment response even if high BIS).

56
Q

What criticisms of Gray’s RST were made by Matthews and Gilliland (1999)?

A
  1. Neurophysiological substrates results contradictory and Gray didn’t specify the neurological bases predicted.
  2. Learning models show effects with classical conditioning (UCS) which Gray’s original theory did not argue. Learning tasks may not simply tap into reinforcement sensitivities but cognitive abilities, such as attention.
  3. Impulsivity seems to influence role of anxiety to punishment cues, which suggests that the separate subsystems approach may be wrong.
57
Q

What criticisms of Gray’s RST were made by Corr (2001)?

A
  1. Some inconsistencies in physiological substrates may be due to operationalising the questionnaires measures - cannot extrapolate impulsivity from E and anxiety from N.
  2. Learning models do show some Pavlovian (classical) conditioning, but some of the UCS may actually have a CS component to them (2nd order Pavlovian conditioning), so tasks and stimuli need to be more basic.
  3. Subsystem approach needs examination - animal studies have strong appetitive/punishment schedules, but in humans it’s likely that one system doesn’t completely inhibit the other. It’s likely that Imp+/Anx- is greatest approach to reward and Imp-/Anx+ is greatest avoidance of punishment. Tasks and measures need to be refined.
58
Q

What are the implications of the revised RST for measurement?

A

Most work uses existing measures based on original theory, which conflate constructs of behavioural inhibition (BIS) with punishment sensitivity (former BIS , now FFFS) and don’t capture new aspects of BIS (risk assessment/passive avoidance) or separate FFFS (fear/active avoidance).

59
Q

What are the two measures which use the Revised RST?

A
  • Jackson (2009)’s scales - The Jackson-5 Evaluation

- Heym, Ferguson and Lawrence (2008)

60
Q

Describe the Jackson-5 scales.

A

They use regression with r-RST scales as independent variables in the prediction of:

  • Delinquency (Fight and flight)
  • Psychopathy (BAS and fight)
  • Factor 1: psychopathic personality (BAS, flight and freeze)
  • Factor 2: social deviance (BAS, fight and freeze)
61
Q

What is the problem with the Jackson-5 scales?

A

The items have poor face validity (perhaps because they were assigned by factor analysis) and the pattern of validity findings is inconsistent with theoretical predictions. For example the flight response correlates with delinquency, which makes no sense.

62
Q

Evaluate the Jackson-5 as a measure.

A

+ Good use of criteria to validate the scales
+ Using relevant constructs e.g. delinquency and psychopathy
+ Has scales which cover all aspects of FFFS
- Although not BAS or BIS
- But items poor face validity and pattern of validity findings inconsistent with theoretical prediction

63
Q

Outline Heym et al. (2008)’s scale.

A

Redefined some of Carver & White’s (1992) BIS/BAS scale - some statements had been highlighted as BIS previously and Heym redefined them as FFFS. Also redefined some aspects of the associations between RST and Eysenck’s P-E-N model.

64
Q

What associations did Heym et al. (2008) find between the Revised RST and Eysenck’s PEN?

A

E: Positively linked to BAS-RR, BAS-DR, and BAS-FS. Negatively linked to FFFS-Fear.
N: Positively linked to BAS-RR, BIS-Anxiety, and FFFS-Fear. Negatively linked to BAS-FS.
P: Positively linked to BAS-FS. Negatively linked to BAS-RR, BIS-Anxiety, and FFFS-Fear.

65
Q

Evaluate Heym et al. (2008)’s scale.

A

+ Good use of criteria to validate the scales
+ Using established and relevant constructs e.g. E, P and N
+ Has scales which cover different aspects of BAS
- Although not BIS or FFFS
+ Items have good face validity and pattern of validity findings consistent with theoretical prediction

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