Surgency

Last updated

Surgency is a trait aspect of emotional reactivity in which a person tends towards high levels of positive affect. [1] The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines it as "a personality trait marked by cheerfulness, responsiveness, spontaneity, and sociability but at a level below that of extraversion or mania." [2]

In children, surgency is an emotional dimension that is characterized by high levels of activity and positive emotion, impulsivity, and engagement with their environment. [1] It has been linked to the Big Five personality trait of extraversion in children. [3] [4] High surgency in children as identified by parental self-report has been associated with lower levels of effortful control. [5] A 2003 meta-analysis of gender differences in temperament showed a small to moderate gender difference in surgency levels between boys and girls, with boys showing higher levels of surgency and "generally indicating that boys are slightly more active, less shy, and derive more pleasure than girls from high-intensity stimuli." [4]

Thurstone and Thurstone identified surgency by the word "fluency". [6] This concept of fluency is very broad, and includes facility both in speech and in writing. Cattell found that of all of the objective tests developed for assessing temperament, the fluency tests were the most valid for testing surgency. Studman had also come to similar conclusions. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, and adjust emotions to adapt to environments. Although the term first appeared in 1964, it gained popularity in the 1995 best-selling book Emotional Intelligence, written by science journalist Daniel Goleman. Goleman defined EI as the array of skills and characteristics that drive leadership performance.

In psychology, temperament broadly refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of learning, system of values and attitudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personality</span> Psychological characteristics of an individual

Personality is a structure gathering interrelated behavioral, cognitive and emotional patterns that biological and environmental factors influence; these interrelated patterns are relatively stable over time periods, but they change over the entire lifetime. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, most theories focus on motivation and psychological interactions with the environment one is surrounded by. Trait-based personality theories, such as those defined by Raymond Cattell, define personality as traits that predict an individual's behavior. On the other hand, more behaviorally-based approaches define personality through learning and habits. Nevertheless, most theories view personality as relatively stable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trait theory</span> Approach to the study of human personality

In psychology, trait theory is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behaviour, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals, are relatively consistent over situations, and influence behaviour. Traits are in contrast to states, which are more transitory dispositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensory processing sensitivity</span> Personality trait of highly sensitive people

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a temperamental or personality trait involving "an increased sensitivity of the central nervous system and a deeper cognitive processing of physical, social and emotional stimuli". The trait is characterized by "a tendency to 'pause to check' in novel situations, greater sensitivity to subtle stimuli, and the engagement of deeper cognitive processing strategies for employing coping actions, all of which is driven by heightened emotional reactivity, both positive and negative".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Five personality traits</span> Personality model consisting of five broad dimensions

The Big Five personality traits is a suggested taxonomy, or grouping, for personality traits, developed from the 1980s onward in psychological trait theory.

Sex differences in psychology are differences in the mental functions and behaviors of the sexes and are due to a complex interplay of biological, developmental, and cultural factors. Differences have been found in a variety of fields such as mental health, cognitive abilities, personality, emotion, sexuality, and tendency towards aggression. Such variation may be innate, learned, or both. Modern research attempts to distinguish between these causes and to analyze any ethical concerns raised. Since behavior is a result of interactions between nature and nurture, researchers are interested in investigating how biology and environment interact to produce such differences, although this is often not possible.

Personality development encompasses the dynamic construction and deconstruction of integrative characteristics that distinguish an individual in terms of interpersonal behavioral traits. Personality development is ever-changing and subject to contextual factors and life-altering experiences. Personality development is also dimensional in description and subjective in nature. That is, personality development can be seen as a continuum varying in degrees of intensity and change. It is subjective in nature because its conceptualization is rooted in social norms of expected behavior, self-expression, and personal growth. The dominant viewpoint in personality psychology indicates that personality emerges early and continues to develop across one's lifespan. Adult personality traits are believed to have a basis in infant temperament, meaning that individual differences in disposition and behavior appear early in life, potentially before language of conscious self-representation develop. The Five Factor Model of personality maps onto the dimensions of childhood temperament. This suggests that individual differences in levels of the corresponding personality traits are present from young ages.

In the study of psychology, neuroticism has been considered a fundamental personality trait. For example, in the Big Five approach to personality trait theory, individuals with high scores for neuroticism are more likely than average to be moody and to experience such feelings as anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, envy, jealousy, guilt, depressed mood, and loneliness. Such people are thought to respond worse to stressors and are more likely to interpret ordinary situations, such as minor frustrations, as appearing hopelessly difficult. The responses can include maladaptive behaviors, such as dissociation, procrastination, substance use, etc., which aids in relieving the negative emotions and generating positive ones.

Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model. Openness involves six facets, or dimensions: active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety (adventurousness), intellectual curiosity, and challenging authority. A great deal of psychometric research has demonstrated that these facets or qualities are significantly correlated. Thus, openness can be viewed as a global personality trait consisting of a set of specific traits, habits, and tendencies that cluster together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affective events theory</span> Psychological model

Affective events theory (AET) is a model developed by organizational psychologists Howard M. Weiss and Russell Cropanzano to explain how emotions and moods influence job performance and job satisfaction. The model explains the linkages between employees' internal influences and their reactions to incidents that occur in their work environment that affect their performance, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. The theory proposes that affective work behaviors are explained by employee mood and emotions, while cognitive-based behaviors are the best predictors of job satisfaction. The theory proposes that positive-inducing as well as negative-inducing emotional incidents at work are distinguishable and have a significant psychological impact upon workers' job satisfaction. This results in lasting internal and external affective reactions exhibited through job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

Positive affectivity (PA) is a human characteristic that describes how much people experience positive affects ; and as a consequence how they interact with others and with their surroundings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extraversion and introversion</span> Personality trait

The traits of extraversion and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms introversion and extraversion were introduced into psychology by Carl Jung, although both the popular understanding and current psychological usage vary. Extraversion tends to be manifested in outgoing, talkative, energetic behavior, whereas introversion is manifested in more reflective and reserved behavior. Jung defined introversion as an "attitude-type characterised by orientation in life through subjective psychic contents", and extraversion as "an attitude-type characterised by concentration of interest on the external object".

Reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) proposes three brain-behavioral systems that underlie individual differences in sensitivity to reward, punishment, and motivation. While not originally defined as a theory of personality, the RST has been used to study and predict anxiety, impulsivity, and extraversion. The theory evolved from Gray's biopsychological theory of personality to incorporate findings from a number of areas in psychology and neuroscience, culminating in a major revision in 2000. The revised theory distinguishes between fear and anxiety and proposes functionally related subsystems. Measures of RST have not been widely adapted to reflect the revised theory due to disagreement over related versus independent subsystems. Despite this controversy, RST informed the study of anxiety disorders in clinical settings and continues to be used today to study and predict work performance. RST, a continuously evolving paradigm, is the subject of multiple areas of contemporary psychological enquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subjective well-being</span> Self-reported measure of well-being

Subjective well-being (SWB) is a self-reported measure of well-being, typically obtained by questionnaire.

Within personality psychology, it has become common practice to use factor analysis to derive personality traits. The Big Five model proposes that there are five basic personality traits. These traits were derived in accordance with the lexical hypothesis. These five personality traits: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience have garnered widespread support.

Personality changes are changes in individuals personalities over time. Originally thought to be concrete and unchanging, recent studies have found evidence that personality can change throughout a person's life.

Activity-specific approach in temperament research is the theory related to a structure of temperament, i.e. how temperament traits can be classified and organized. This approach suggests:

Intelligence and personality have traditionally been studied as separate entities in psychology, but more recent work has increasingly challenged this view. An increasing number of studies have recently explored the relationship between intelligence and personality, in particular the Big Five personality traits.

Personality theories of addiction are psychological models that associate personality traits or modes of thinking with an individual's proclivity for developing an addiction. Models of addiction risk that have been proposed in psychology literature include an affect dysregulation model of positive and negative psychological affects, the reinforcement sensitivity theory model of impulsiveness and behavioral inhibition, and an impulsivity model of reward sensitization and impulsiveness.

References

  1. 1 2 Blandon, Alysia Y.; Susuan D. Calkins; Susan P. Keane; Marion O'Brien (2010). "Contribution of child's physiology and maternal behavior to children's trajectories of temperamental reactivity". Developmental Psychology. 46 (5): 1089–1102. doi:10.1037/a0020678. PMC   3035931 . PMID   20822225.
  2. "Surgency". APA Dictionary of Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. n.d. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  3. Shiner, Rebecca; Avshalom Caspi (2003). "Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development, and consequences". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 44 (1): 2–32. doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00101. PMID   12553411.
  4. 1 2 Else-Quest, Nicole (2003). "Gender Differences in Temperament: A Meta-Analysis". PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi:10.1037/e341392004-001.
  5. Rothbart, Mary; Evans, D. E.; Ahadi, S. A. (2000). "Temperament and Personality: Origins and Outcome". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 78 (1): 122–135. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.122.
  6. Thurstone, L.L. & Thurstone, T.G. (1941). Factorial Studies of Intelligence. Psychometric Monographs, no. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  7. Studman, L. G. (1935). "Studies in experimental psychiatry. V. w and f factors in relation to traits of personality". Journal of Mental Science. 81 (332): 107–137. doi:10.1192/bjp.81.332.107.