Pluess, M. (2007). Individual Differences in Environmental Sensitivity

Question 1

What is the article about?

Answer 1

In the article, Pluess looks at individual differences in environmental sensitivity, drawing from several theoretical perspectives and emerging empirical evidence. He then presents an integrated view across concepts and perspectives, and proposes research options.

Question 2

Two different strategies to encountering new or threatening situations are seen across many many species. Which?

Answer 2

Hawks and doves. Hawks refers to a prototypical behavioral type that is bold, aggressive and impulsive, while doves refer to a behavioral type that is avoidant, less aggressive and more cautious and fearful.

Question 3

In what way does the biological concept of hawks and doves translate to human behavior?

Answer 3

Pluess argues that although different, the concept of hawks and doves could be related to the personality traits introversion and extroversion.

Question 4

In what way is introversion and extroversion similar to the hawks and doves behavioral patterns in biology?

Answer 4

They seem to describe how individuals differ in how they perceive and process environmental features, with some being generally more and some generally less sensitive.

Question 5

What is meant by sensitivity to the environment?

Answer 5

Sensitivity refers to aspects of perception and internal processing of external influences.

Question 6

What is meant by responsivity?

Answer 6

Responsivity refers to the resulting behavioral consequences (i.e. the output).

Question 7

How are sensitivity and responsivity related?

Answer 7

Sensitivity, refering to aspects of perception and internal processing of external influences, must naturally be a determinant to responsivity, which is the resulting behavioral consequences of that sensitivity. There are limitations to this view - sensitivity does not equate responsivity: there are other factors that modulate responsivity.

Question 8

Give an example of how responsivity is not determined entirely by sensitivity.

Answer 8

A highly sensitive child may behave in a more introverted and shy manner in a novel and unfamiliar social environment, but the same child may behave like less sensitive children in a well-known and familiar setting.

Question 9

Pluess considers two different ways of looking at the continuity of environmental sensitivity. Which?

Answer 9

1. Developmental processes.

2. Immediate reactivity.

Question 10

What is meant by looking at environmental sensitivity as a developmental process?

Answer 10

The developmental perspective refers to developmental plasticity, the ability of an organism to adapt its phenotype over time to the conditions of the particular environment.

Question 11

What is meant by looking at environmental sensitivity as an immediate reactivity?

Answer 11

The perspective of immediate reactivity stands in contrast to that of the developmental process. Immediate reactivity refers to environmental sensitivity as a relatively stable trait, and implies continuity of environmental sensitivity across life and across different contexts.

Question 12

Mention research indicating that environmental sensitivity should be regarded as a developmental process and not an immediate reactivity.

Answer 12

Children characterized with a more reactive temperament in infancy develop into children with consistently more or less aggression, depending on whether their early care environment was less or more supportive.

Question 13

Mention research indicating the environmental sensitivity should be regarded as an immediate reactivity rather than as a developmental process?

Answer 13

In a study in which young adults rated perceived stress during examination and nonexamination days, those with the short version of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), a gene variant consistently associated with heightened developmental plasticity, reported both higher and lower stress, respectively, than those carrying other version of the same gene, suggesting that the gene version associated with developmental plasticity in early childhood may also predict immediate reactivity in early adulthood.

Question 14

What is Pluess’ conclusion based on the available evidence on whether environmental sensitivity should be regarded as a developmental process or an immediate reactivity?

Answer 14

That there is not enough research available to clarify the relationship between these different aspects of environmental sensitivity.

Question 15

Pluess makes a note on a flaw in the research done on the topic of environmental sensitivity. Which?

Answer 15

As other researchers has pointed out, also the notion of individual differences in environmental sensitivity has typically been framed within a diathesis-stress model, with sensitivity seen primarily as vulnerability for developing problematic outcomes when faced with adversity. As a consequence, most research on environmental sensitivity is biased toward psychopathology, often failing to consider the possibility that environmental sensitivity may extend to positive environments and adaptive outcomes.

Question 16

Since the 1900s, researchers have proposed at least three theoretical frameworks related to variability in environmental sensitivity. Which?

Answer 16

1. Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS).
2. Belsky’s differential susceptibility theory (DST).
3. Biological sensitivity to context theory (BSC).

Question 17

What is sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)?

Answer 17

It is a theoretical framework related to variability in environmental sensitivity.

Question 18

What is differential susceptibility theory(DST)?

Answer 18

It is a theoretical framework related to variability in environmental sensitivity.

Question 19

What is biological sensitivity to context theory (BSC)?

Answer 19

It is a theoretical framework related to variability in environmental sensitivity.

Question 20

Explain the position of sensory processing sensitivity.

Answer 20

SPS is based on a personality perspective, suggesting that about 20% of people have a high-sensitivy personality trait defined by greater awareness of sensory stimulation, behavioral inhibition, deeper cognitive processing of environmental stimuli, and higher emotional and physiological reactivity. Differences in SPS are evolutionarily adaptive, influenced by genes, and associated with a amore sensitive central nervous system.

Question 21

Explain the position of differential susceptibility theory (DST).

Answer 21

According to DST, individuals differ in their environmental sensitivity, with some being generally more and some generally less susceptible to both negative and positive influences. DST posits that such fundamental differences in susceptibility represent two alternative developmental strategies that have been maintained by natural selection as a form of bet-hedging, given that the future is inherently unpredictable. Originally DST adopted the view that differences in susceptibility are genetically determined. More recently, researchers suggest that high susceptibility may also develop in response to prenatal and early postnatal factors.

Question 22

Explain the position of biological sensitivity to context theory (BSC)

Answer 22

According to BSC, individuals differ in bio-behavioral reactivity to the environment, inspired by the surprising observation that both negative and positive aspects of the environment affected children who were physiologically highly reactive. In contrast to SPS and DST, BSC emphasizes the role of environmental influences in shaping difference in the environmental sensitivity over time, with individuals exposed to especially adverse or supportive environments developing higher physiological reactivity and consequently, higher sensitivity to both const-inflicting and benefit-conferring features of the environment than those growing up in more moderate environments.

Question 23

SPS, BSC and DST. Which are rooted in evolutionary theory?

Answer 23

SPS and BSC.

Question 24

What could be the mechanism of environmental sensitivity?

Answer 24

Empirical studies suggest that environmental sensitivity may be driven by many mechanisms. However, these different sensitivity factors most likely reflect different levels of analysis across various biological mechanisms that jointly influence neurobiological susceptibility as the underlying central mechanism of environmental sensitivity.

Question 25

Why does Pluess conclude that environmental sensitivity most likely reflects the combination of bet-hedging and conditional adaptation rather than one or the other?

Answer 25

Given that differences in environmental sensitivity are neither exclusively based on genes nor exclusively the result of conditional adaption processes.

Question 26

Pluess concludes that environmental sensitivity most likely reflects the combination of bet-hedging and conditional adaptation rather than one or the other. How would that work?

Answer 26

Environmental sensitivity facilitates conditional adaptation to the environment, but an individual’s degree of adaptation depends on the presence of genetic factors that have been maintained by natural selection.

Question 27

Computer and empirical simulation studies suggest that high sensitivity is advantageous?

Answer 27

Yes! But only when found in a minority.

Question 28

Pluess offers five research questions that the field should look into. Which?

Answer 28

1. What is the mechanism of environmental sensitivity? (neuroscience).
2. Is environmental sensitivity domain-specific or general?
3. How do genetic and environmental factors interact in developing environmental sensitivity?
4. Researchers should test empirically the proposition that environmental factors shape an initially neutral propensity for sensitivity into specific and distinct sensitivity types.
5. Investigators should develop precise and reliable psychological and biological measures of environmental sensitivity. Self-report measures are not good enough.