Behavioral approach, behavioral avoidance, and behavioral inhibition.

Author(s):  
Charles S. Carver
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vilfredo De Pascalis ◽  
Paolo Scacchia ◽  
Beatrice Papi ◽  
Philip J. Corr

Abstract Using electroencephalography (EEG) power measures within conventional delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma bands, the aims of the current study were to highlight cortical correlates of subjective perception of cold pain (CP) and the associations of these measures with behavioral inhibition system (BIS), fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS), and behavioral approach system personality traits. EEG was recorded in 55 healthy right-handed women under (i) a white noise interruption detection condition (Baseline); (ii) enduring CP induced by the cold cup test. CP and Baseline EEG band power scores within conventional frequency bands served for covariance analyses. We found that: (1) higher Pain scorers had higher EEG beta power changes at left frontal, midline central, posterior temporal leads; (2) higher BIS was associated with greater EEG delta activity changes at parietal scalp regions; (3) higher FFFS was associated with higher EEG delta activity changes at temporal and left-parietal regions, and with lower EEG gamma activity changes at right parietal regions. High FFFS, compared to Low FFFS scorers, also showed a lower gamma power across the midline, posterior temporal, and parietal regions. Results suggest a functional role of higher EEG beta activity in the subjective perception of tonic pain. EEG delta activity underpins conflict resolution system responsible for passive avoidance control of pain, while higher EEG delta and lower EEG gamma activity changes, taken together, underpin active avoidance system responsible for pain escape behavior.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5330 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Todd Allen

Avoidance is a common feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as anxiety and depressive disorders. Avoidance can be expressed behaviorally as well as cognitively. Most personality assessments for avoidance involve self-report inventories which are susceptible to biased responding. The avatar task (Myers et al., 2016a) was developed as an objective measure of behavioral inhibition (BI) which is defined as a tendency for avoidance of unfamiliar people and situations. The avatar task has been demonstrated to screen avoidant behaviors related to BI, PTSD, as well as harm avoidance (HA) as measured by the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). In the current work, the avatar task was tested with cognitive as well as behavioral avoidance as measured by the cognitive-behavioral avoidance scale (CBAS; Ottenbreit & Dobson, 2004). The CBAS includes four subscales which measure behavioral social (BS) avoidance, behavioral non-social (BN) avoidance, cognitive social (CS) avoidance, and cognitive non-social (CN) avoidance. It was hypothesized that avatar scores would be significantly positively related to behavioral, but not cognitive, avoidance. In addition, it was also hypothesized that performance on the avatar task would be more related to social than non-social behavioral avoidance. Participants completed the avatar task, the HA scale of the TPQ and the CBAS. Pearson’s product moment correlations revealed that avatar scores were significantly related to CBAS total scores as well as BS and BN scores, but not CS and CN scores. In addition, BS has a stronger relationship with avatar scores than BN avoidance which fits with the social aspects of the scenarios in the avatar task. A median split of the avatar scores produced a significant difference in scores on the behavioral but not the cognitive subscales. Overall, the current results supported the idea that the avatar task is measuring behavioral avoidance, specifically in social situations, rather than cognitive avoidance. Future work could adapt the avatar task to include scenarios similar to the cognitive items on the CBAS to create an objective measure of cognitive avoidance which may be relevant in measuring avoidance in depression and behavioral avoidance associated with PTSD as well as anxiety disorders.


Author(s):  
Alexander Strobel ◽  
André Beauducel ◽  
Stefan Debener ◽  
Burkhard Brocke

Zusammenfassung: Grays Theorie zum Verhaltenshemmsystem (Behavioral Inhibition System, BIS) und zum Verhaltensaktivierungssystem (Behavioral Approach System, BAS) ist von besonderer Relevanz für die biopsychologisch orientierte Persönlichkeitsforschung. Zur Erfassung der auf diesen beiden Systemen basierenden Dispositionen liegt für den englischen Sprachraum der BIS/BAS-Fragebogen von Carver und White vor, der vier Skalen (BIS, BAS Fun Seeking, BAS Drive und BAS Reward Responsiveness) umfaßt. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt eine bisher nicht verfügbare deutsche Adaption des BIS/BAS-Fragebogens vor. 389 Männer und Frauen im Alter von 18-68 Jahren bearbeiteten eine Übersetzung des 24 Items umfassenden Inventars. Analysen erbrachten akzeptable psychometrische Eigenschaften der Skalen. Strukturüberprüfungen konnten die postulierte vierfaktorielle Struktur nicht bestätigen, weder auf der Basis der Extraktionskriterien noch mithilfe konfirmatorischer Analysen. Die Extraktionskriterien sprachen für eine zwei- bzw. dreifaktorielle Lösung. Auch aus theoretischen Gründen wird eine zweifaktorielle Lösung mit den Faktoren BIS und BAS präferiert. Weiterführende Studien sollten sich vorrangig mit einer Revision des Itemformats sowie mit der weiteren Überprüfung der faktoriellen Struktur des BIS/BAS-Fragebogens befassen.


2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Muris ◽  
Eric Rassin ◽  
Ingmar Franken ◽  
Willem Leemreis

Abstract. The Behavioral Inhibition Scale (BIS) is a brief questionnaire for measuring Kagan's (1994) temperamental characteristic of children and adolescents to be unusually shy and to react with fear and withdrawal in situations that are novel and/or unfamiliar. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the BIS in two separate samples of undergraduate students (Ns = 124 and 73). The students of Sample 1 completed the BIS as well as questionnaires for measuring personality traits, anxiety, and other psychopathological symptoms, whereas students of Sample 2 completed the scale as well as a widely used anxiety inventory on two separate occasions, some 4 weeks apart. The results showed that the BIS was reliable in terms of internal consistency and test-retest stability. Further, the scale was predominantly correlated with general levels of anxiety symptoms and not with other psychopathological symptoms. Finally, the BIS was related to other personality factors in a theoretically meaningful way, and essentially seems to reflect a combination of high neuroticism/behavioral inhibition and low extraversion/behavioral approach.


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riikka Pyhälä ◽  
Katri Räikkönen ◽  
Anu-Katriina Pesonen ◽  
Kati Heinonen ◽  
Petteri Hovi ◽  
...  

Psihologija ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snezana Smederevac ◽  
Dusanka Mitrovic

Jeffrey Gray has modified Eysenck's system by rotating the dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism by 45 degrees, which resulted in two new dimensions: impulsivity (behavioral approach system) and anxiety (behavioral inhibition system). The main purpose of this study was to examine psychometric properties of the BIS/BAS scale, inventory for assessment of dimensions included in Gray's theory, in order to, also, test the foundation of the Gray's constructs themselves. 476 participants were included, age 17 to 77. All subjects completed The BIS/BAS scale (Carver & White, 1994) and The Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, Donahue & Kentle, 1991, according to: John & Srivastava, 1999). Analysis of the BIS/BAS scale failed to replicate the original four-factor solution. Three factors were extracted, named Behavioral inhibition system (BIS), BAS-Striving for excitement and BAS-Drive. Psychometric characteristics of the BIS/BAS scale are not satisfactory. Result of the joint factor analysis of dimensions of the BIS/BAS scale and dimensions of the BFI questionnaire are three factors named active striving for reward, sensation seeking and anxiety. In general results can be considered supportive rather to Eysenck than to Gray, but they could also be ascribed to the failure in questionnaire operationalisation of the constructs of Reinforcement sensitivity theory.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snežana Smederevac ◽  
Dušanka Mitrović ◽  
Petar Čolović ◽  
Željka Nikolašević

The paper presents validation of the Reinforcement Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ), measuring the constructs of the Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity theory (RST). The research was conducted on a sample of 565 participants, using three measures of the constructs of the Revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory – the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Approach System (BIS/BAS) scale, Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ), and Reinforcement Sensitivity Questionnaire. The results of confirmatory factor analysis suggest good internal validity of the RSQ, while the results of principal components analysis show that the RSQ scales are significantly related to other RST measures.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document