Reinforcement sensitivity theory and major motivational and self-regulatory processes in children

Abstract

The present research explores the role of sensitivity in the BIS and the BAS as antecedents to cognitive and affective motivational processes in middle-school children. Two studies were initiated to examine the relationship between sensitivity in the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) and several important motivational factors. The first study looked at the assumption that the BIS and the BAS are systematically linked to motives and achievement goals. The second study investigated the links between BIS/BAS and individual differences in self-regulatory processes and affect during problem-solving. The findings indicate that the motive to avoid failure, the inability to take action after failure and to initiate intended goal-directed activities, as well as the tendency to focus on avoiding misunderstanding are all grounded in threat responsiveness. Conversely, the motive to approach success, self-efficacy and the tendency to focus on comparison with others in a problem-solving setting are grounded in incentive responsiveness.

Introduction

According to Gray, 1982, Gray, 1990, two affect systems in the brain underlie a great deal of human behavior and personality traits. One system regulates approach behavior, while the other regulates avoidance behavior in response to environmental stimuli. These systems are referred to as the behavioral approach system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), respectively.

The BIS makes the individual aware of potentially dangerous situations or signals of punitive measures. Activation of this system is assumed to increase avoidance behavior and induces passive avoidance, enabling the individual to examine the environment more closely for further information. The BIS is sensitive to signals of nonreward and novelty, resulting in increments in arousal and attention, while activity in this system induces anxiety. The personality dimension associated with the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) involves the degree to which responses are triggered by stimuli that signal punitive measures or the loss of a reward.

The BAS is sensitive to signals of reward and is connected to approach behavior. A BAS-reactive individual will have a greater motivational reaction to a conditional stimulus for reward than a non-BAS-reactive individual. Individuals with high BAS sensitivity are also more aware of cues of reward, as well as of cues of non-punishment or escape from punishment. In addition, high levels of BAS activity may give rise to impulsive behavior.

There have been a number of recent revisions to Gray’s theory. According to the revised theory, the BAS is sensitive to both conditioned and unconditioned appetitive stimuli. However, these revisions have had little impact on BAS scales, including the one employed by the present studies. Smillie et al. assert: “In fact, because the unconditioned/conditioned distinction has been largely ignored in the design of BAS scales, the psychometric and the neuropsychological views of this system might now be in closer agreement” (Smillie, Pickering, & Jackson, 2006, p. 324). Furthermore, according to the Gray–McNaughton revision, the BIS is now responsible for resolving goal conflicts in general, and no longer serves to mediate responses to conditioned aversive stimuli and innate fear stimuli. These are mediated (along with unconditioned aversive stimuli) by the Fight-Flight-Freeze-System (FFFS) (McNaughton & Corr, 2004). Thus existing BIS measures have a shortcoming, as they are designed to measure threat responsiveness.