Focusing on symptoms rather than diagnoses in brain dysfunction: Conscious and nonconscious expression in impulsiveness and decision-making

A Personalidade na Tomada de Decisão com o Iowa Gambling Task: Uma Revisão Integrativa

RESUMO O Iowa GamblingTask (IGT), apesar de amplamente utilizado na avaliação da tomada de decisão, apresenta uma grande variabilidade nos resultados. Pretende-se com este trabalho proceder a uma revisão integrativa da literatura que relacione a personalidade com o desempenho no IGT, de modo a identificar o papel dessa variável nesse desempenho. Para o efeito, foram selecionados e analisados 74 estudos referenciados na Web of Science e na b-on. Os resultados evidenciam alguma inconsistência e algumas relações não lineares entre variáveis, embora o mau desempenho no IGT surja associado mais frequentemente à dimensão neuroticismo, ansiedade, impulsividade, variáveis socioeconômicas e ao fator antissociabilidade na psicopatia e dependência de substâncias. À luz desses resultados, sugerem-se algumas orientações para a pesquisa na área.

The roles of gender and personality factors in vandalism and scrawl-graffiti among Swedish adolescents

A total of 360 upper secondary school students in Sweden were divided into three grouping variables: gender (male, female), vandalism (involved, not involved), and scrawl-graffiti (involved, not involved). Relevant to the discussion of whether or not scrawl-graffiti may be construed as vandalism or art, the aim of the study was to explore whether or not personality factors known to be linked to vandalism in general (such as impulsivity, affectivity, emotional disability, and optimism) are related also to involvement in scrawl-graffiti, and, furthermore, how the gender factor relates to vandalism and scrawl-graffiti, respectively. The analysis showed that impulsiveness was a significant variable related to vandalism as well as to scrawl-graffiti. Further analysis indicated that vandalism was predicted by non-planning impulsiveness whereas scrawl-graffiti was predicted by motor impulsiveness. Analyses showed also that there were significant gender differences related to both vandalism and scrawl-graffiti, whereby male participants were significantly more involved in vandalism than female participants, while the latter were significantly more involved in scrawl-graffiti than the former.

Two different approaches to the affective profiles model: median splits (variable-oriented) and cluster analysis (person-oriented)

Background. The notion of the affective system as being composed of two dimensions led Archer and colleagues to the development of the affective profiles model. The model consists of four different profiles based on combinations of individuals’ experience of high/low positive and negative affect: self-fulfilling, low affective, high affective, and self-destructive. During the past 10 years, an increasing number of studies have used this person-centered model as the backdrop for the investigation of between and within individual differences in ill-being and well-being. The most common approach to this profiling is by dividing individuals’ scores of self-reported affect using the median of the population as reference for high/low splits. However, scores just-above and just-below the median might become high and low by arbitrariness, not by reality. Thus, it is plausible to criticize the validity of this variable-oriented approach. Our aim was to compare the median splits approach with a person-oriented approach, namely, cluster analysis.

Method. The participants (N = 2, 225) were recruited through Amazons’ Mechanical Turk and asked to self-report affect using the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule. We compared the profiles’ homogeneity and Silhouette coefficients to discern differences in homogeneity and heterogeneity between approaches. We also conducted exact cell-wise analyses matching the profiles from both approaches and matching profiles and gender to investigate profiling agreement with respect to affectivity levels and affectivity and gender. All analyses were conducted using the ROPstat software.

Results. The cluster approach (weighted average of cluster homogeneity coefficients = 0.62, Silhouette coefficients = 0.68) generated profiles with greater homogeneity and more distinctive from each other compared to the median splits approach (weighted average of cluster homogeneity coefficients = 0.75, Silhouette coefficients = 0.59). Most of the participants (n = 1,736, 78.0%) were allocated to the same profile (Rand Index = .83), however, 489 (21.98%) were allocated to different profiles depending on the approach. Both approaches allocated females and males similarly in three of the four profiles. Only the cluster analysis approach classified men significantly more often than chance to a self-fulfilling profile (type) and females less often than chance to this very same profile (antitype).

Conclusions. Although the question whether one approach is more appropriate than the other is still without answer, the cluster method allocated individuals to profiles that are more in accordance with the conceptual basis of the model and also to expected gender differences. More importantly, regardless of the approach, our findings suggest that the model mirrors a complex and dynamic adaptive system.

The affective profiles, psychological well-being, and harmony: environmental mastery and self-acceptance predict the sense of a harmonious life

Background. An important outcome from the debate on whether wellness equals happiness, is the need of research focusing on how psychological well-being might influence humans’ ability to adapt to the changing environment and live in harmony. To get a detailed picture of the influence of positive and negative affect, the current study employed the affective profiles model in which individuals are categorised into groups based on either high positive and low negative affect (self-fulfilling); high positive and high negative affect (high affective); low positive and low negative affect (low affective); and high negative and low positive affect (self-destructive). The aims were to (1) investigate differences between affective profiles in psychological well-being and harmony and (2) how psychological well-being and its dimensions relate to harmony within the four affective profiles.

Method. 500 participants (mean age = 34.14 years, SD. = ±12.75 years; 187 males and 313 females) were recruited online and required to answer three self-report measures: The Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule; The Scales of Psychological Well-Being (short version) and The Harmony in Life Scale. We conducted a Multivariate Analysis of Variance where the affective profiles and gender were the independent factors and psychological well-being composite score, its six dimensions as well as the harmony in life score were the dependent factors. In addition, we conducted four multi-group (i.e., the four affective profiles) moderation analyses with the psychological well-being dimensions as predictors and harmony in life as the dependent variables.

Results. Individuals categorised as self-fulfilling, as compared to the other profiles, tended to score higher on the psychological well-being dimensions: positive relations, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, autonomy, personal growth, and purpose in life. In addition, 47% to 66% of the variance of the harmony in life was explained by the dimensions of psychological well-being within the four affective profiles. Specifically, harmony in life was significantly predicted by environmental mastery and self-acceptance across all affective profiles. However, for the low affective group high purpose in life predicted low levels of harmony in life.

Conclusions. The results demonstrated that affective profiles systematically relate to psychological well-being and harmony in life. Notably, individuals categorised as self-fulfilling tended to report higher levels of both psychological well-being and harmony in life when compared with the other profiles. Meanwhile individuals in the self-destructive group reported the lowest levels of psychological well-being and harmony when compared with the three other profiles. It is proposed that self-acceptance and environmental acceptance might enable individuals to go from self-destructive to a self-fulfilling state that also involves harmony in life.

The affective profiles in the USA: happiness, depression, life satisfaction, and happiness-increasing strategies

Background. The affective profiles model categorizes individuals as self-fulfilling (high positive affect, low negative affect), high affective (high positive affect, high negative affect), low affective (low positive affect, low negative affect), and self-destructive (low positive affect, high negative affect). The model has been used extensively among Swedes to discern differences between profiles regarding happiness, depression, and also life satisfaction. The aim of the present study was to investigate such differences in a sample of residents of the USA. The study also investigated differences between profiles with regard to happiness-increasing strategies.

Methods. In Study I, 900 participants reported affect (Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule; PANAS) and happiness (Happiness-Depression Scale). In Study II, 500 participants self-reported affect (PANAS), life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale), and how often they used specific strategies to increase their own happiness (Happiness-Increasing Strategies Scales).

Results. The results showed that, compared to the other profiles, self-fulfilling individuals were less depressed, happier, and more satisfied with their lives. Nevertheless, self-destructive individuals were more depressed, unhappier, and less satisfied than all other profiles. The self-fulfilling individuals tended to use strategies related to agentic (e.g., instrumental goal-pursuit), communal (e.g., social affiliation), and spiritual (e.g., religion) values when pursuing happiness.

Conclusion. These differences suggest that promoting positive emotions can positively influence a depressive-to-happy state as well as increasing life satisfaction. Moreover, the present study shows that pursuing happiness through strategies guided by agency, communion, and spirituality is related to a self-fulfilling experience described as high positive affect and low negative affect.

Neurogenetics and Epigenetics in Impulsive Behaviour: Impact on Reward Circuitry

Adverse, unfavourable life conditions, particularly during early life stages and infancy, can lead to epigenetic regulation of genes involved in stress-response, behavioral disinhibition, and cognitive-emotional systems. Over time, the ultimate final outcome can be expressed through behaviors bedeviled by problems with impulse control, such as eating disorders, alcoholism, and indiscriminate social behavior. While many reward gene polymorphisms are involved in impulsive behaviors, a polymorphism by itself may not translate to the development of a particular behavioral disorder unless it is impacted by epigenetic effects. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) affects the development and integrity of the noradrenergic, dopaminergic, serotonergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic neurotransmitter systems, and plasma levels of the neurotrophin are associated with both cognitive and aggressive impulsiveness. Epigenetic mechanisms associated with a multitude of environmental factors, including premature birth, low birth weight, prenatal tobacco exposure, non-intact family, young maternal age at birth of the target child, paternal history of antisocial behavior, and maternal depression, alter the developmental trajectories for several neuropsychiatric disorders. These mechanisms affect brain development and integrity at several levels that determine structure and function in resolving the final behavioral expressions.

Cognition and global assessment of functioning in male and female outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

The relationship between the symptom and function subscales of the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and neurocognitive test performance was studied in 195 outpatients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or delusional disorder who were assigned to functional groups based on their sex. A composite cognition score was created based on z-scores. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to assess the predictive value of GAF Symptom and GAF Function on composite cognition and to check for the effect of the individual cognitive tests against the GAF subscales. Better composite cognition scores were predicted by higher function levels in male patients and by lower symptom levels in female patients. There was also a sex-specific difference in neurocognitive components, indicating that executive functioning may have a greater impact on the symptom and function profiles of male schizophrenia spectrum patients than on that of female patients. The results suggest that endophenotypes in schizophrenia may be sex-specific.

Staging perspectives in neurodevelopmental aspects of neuropsychiatry: agents, phases and ages at expression

Neurodevelopmental risk factors have assumed a critical role in prevailing notions concerning the etiopathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders. Staging, diagnostic elements at which phase of disease is determined, provides a means of conceptualizing the degree and extent of factors affecting brain development trajectories, but is concurrently specified through the particular interactions of genes and environment unique to each individual case. For present purposes, staging perspectives in neurodevelopmental aspects of the disease processes are considered from conditions giving rise to neurodevelopmental staging in affective states, adolescence, dopamine disease states, and autism spectrum disorders. Three major aspects influencing the eventual course of individual developmental trajectories appear to possess an essential determinant influence upon outcome: (i) the type of agent that interferes with brain development, whether chemical, immune system activating or absent (anoxia/hypoxia), (ii) the phase of brain development at which the agent exerts disruption, whether prenatal, postnatal, or adolescent, and (iii) the age of expression of structural and functional abnormalities. Clinical staging may be assumed at any or each developmental phase. The present perspective offers both a challenge to bring further order to diagnosis, intervention, and prognosis and a statement regarding the extreme complexities and interwoven intricacies of epigenetic factors, biomarkers, and neurobehavioral entities that aggravate currents notions of the neuropsychiatric disorders.

Affective status in relation to impulsive, motor and motivational symptoms: personality, development and physical exercise

The contributions of impulsive and risk-taking behaviour in depressive and bipolar disorders, motivational and motor behaviours in anhedonic and substance addictive states, and the factors, particularly distress and trauma, underlying the development of neuropathology in affective status are described from clinical, epidemiological and laboratory perspectives. In order to distinguish one case factor for biopsychological substrates of health, an array of self-reported characteristics, e.g., positive or negative affect, stress or energy, optimism, etc., that may be predictive or counterpredictive for the propensity for physical exercise and activity were analysed using a linear regression in twelve different studies. Several individual characteristics were found to be markedly and significantly predictive of the exercise propensity, i.e., positive affect, energy, health-seeking behaviour and character, while optimism was of lesser, though significant, importance. Several individual characteristics were found to be significantly counterpredictive: expression of BDI- and HAD-depression, major sleep problems and lack/negligence of health-seeking behaviour. The consequences of physical activity and exercise for both affective well-being, cognitive mobility and neurogenesis is noted, particularly with regard to developmental assets for younger individuals. Affective disorder states may be studied through analyses of personal characteristics that unfold predispositions for symptoms-profiles and biomarkers derived from properties of dysfunction, such as impulsiveness, temperament dimensions, anhedonia and 'over-sensitivity', whether interpersonal or to reward.