To appear in: Oxford Companion to the Affective Sciences Oxford University Press

Personality and Emotion

William Revelle Klaus R. Scherer Department of Psychology Swiss Center for Affective Sciences Northwestern University University of Geneva

Personality is the coherent patterning of affect, be- lenced environmental cues. havior, cognition, and desires (goals) over time and Descriptively, there is much literature on hys- space. Just as a full blown emotion represents an teric, neurotic, or anhedonic personalities (Keller- integration of feeling, action, appraisal and wants man, 1990), or, in more recent terminology, on at a particular time and location so does personality trait anger, trait anxiety, or trait positive-negative af- represent integration over time and space of these fect (Spielberger et al., 1999; Tellegen et al., 1999) components (Ortony et al., 2005). A helpful anal- . These trait differences ogy is to consider that personality is to emotion as in emotionality increase the odds of experiencing climate is to weather. That is, what one expects is trait-congruent emotions. In other words, individ- personality, what one observes at any particular mo- uals high on trait anxiety run an increased risk of ment is emotion. experiencing anxiety bouts, individuals high on trait To understand the personality-affect link it is anger get irritated more often, and so forth. necessary to consider the ways in which person- Thus, in a quasi-representative survey of ev- ality may be described. Since Theophrastus’ dis- eryday emotion experiences Scherer et al. (2004) cussion of characters and Galen’s theory of tem- showed that the emotionality dispositions may sig- perament (Stelmack & Stalikas, 1991), dimensional nificantly increase the risk to experience certain models of individual differences in personality have emotions. Concretely, the more frequently respon- consistently identified three (the Giant Three, e.g., dents habitually experienced a particular kind of Eysenck & Eysenck (1985)) to five (the Big Five, emotion (trait emotionality), the more likely they e.g., Digman (1990)) broad dimensions of person- experienced an exemplar of that emotion category ality. Two of these dimensions, in particular, Ex- yesterday. Thus, respondents high on trait anxiety traversion (E) and Neuroticism (N, sometimes re- were almost three times as likely to have experi- ferred to by the other end of the dimension as Emo- enced anxiety yesterday compared to those who are tional Stability) have been associated with individ- low on this trait. In the case of trait sadness and trait ual differences in affective level and environmental despair, the likelihood is about two times higher. responsivity (Corr, 2008; Revelle, 1995). Respondents high on trait irritation are about 1.5 Ever since antiquity, starting with Galen’s classi- times more likely to have experienced anger yester- fication of the four different humors, it has been as- day. Similarly, respondents reporting frequent ha- sumed that individuals differ in their predisposition bitual pleasure, surprise, or pride experiences are to experience certain emotions. Extrapolating from also 1.5 times more likely to have experienced joy animal studies, E and N have been associated with or happiness. Because some emotions occur less the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and Be- frequently than expected for respondents with cer- havioral Inhibition System (BIS) respectively, while tain habitual emotion dispositions, some types of distinctions between trait fear and trait anxiety have trait emotionality might inoculate, or shield, against been associated with the Fight/Freeze/Flight Sys- particular emotions. The results seem to indicate tem (FFFS) (Corr, 2008; Gray & McNaughton, that trait pleasure may reduce the risk of despair, 2000). Indeed, the basic assumptions of Rein- and that trait surprise may reduce the risk of anxiety. forcement Sensitivity Theory (Corr, 2008), perhaps These results do not just reflect common re- better labeled as Three Systems Theory, are that sponses to questionnaires, but rather reflect basic the stable personality traits reflect individual differ- neural processes. Using functional brain mapping ences in reactivity to emotional and affectively va- (e.g., fMRI), trait extraversion and neuroticism were

1 2 WILLIAM REVELLE & KLAUS R. SCHERER associated with differential activation to rewarding ing and socialization, often in interaction with in- or positive slides (extraversion) and to threat cues nate dispositions (Caspi et al., 2005). Of course, (neuroticism). Extraversion was correlated with many other individual factors may also play a role. amount of activation in widely distributed brain Recently, attribution and appraisal theorists have regions (amygdala, caudate, medio-frontal gyrus, suggested that specific styles of causal attribution right fusiform gyrus) in response to positively va- () or appraisal styles lenced slides but unrelated to activation to nega- () in a very general tively valenced slides. Neuroticism, on the other sense can lead certain persons to be more or less hand, was correlated with amount of activation to prone to experience certain types of emotions be- negatively valenced slides, but unrelated to activa- cause of differences in goals, values, and coping tion to positively valenced slides (Canli, 2004). potential (Reekum & Scherer, 1997). This is par- Taken together, these results seem to strongly ticularly salient, when a person demonstrates an ap- confirm the notion of habitual or trait emotionality; praisal bias which may lead to dysfunctional and that is, an individual difference variable consisting unrealistic appraisals and in consequence, to mal- of a disposition to experience certain types of emo- adaptive emotions or even emotional disturbances tions more frequently than other people. While this (Kaiser & Scherer, 1998; Roseman & Kaiser, 2001). notion is widely accepted for trait anxiety and trait An appraisal bias would be exhibited if a person anger (Spielberger et al., 1999), as well as trait posi- has a tendency to always over- or underestimate the tive affect (Tellegen et al., 1999), other types of trait responsibility of self or another person for a fail- emotionality have rarely been investigated. Nor is ure experience, to systematically, irrespective of cir- the relationship of affect to the other three of the cumstances or over- or underestimate his or her cop- “Big 5” as well established. ing potential. Like the question of the origin of To some, extraversion is just trait positive affect affect dispositions, it will be important to examine and neuroticism is just trait negative affect. Al- to what extent these biases are effects of individual though trait extraversion is associated with trait pos- learning or socialization careers or whether cultural itive affect in many cultures (Lucas & Baird, 2004) or social group factors may play a major role in sen- and has been proposed to have the tendency to ex- sitizing individuals to certain appraisal possibilities perience positive affect at its core (Watson & Clark, or to privilege certain types of appraisal style. 1997), extraversion is more than positive affect, for Although representing different research tradi- it also represents differences in behavior, cognition, tions, normal and abnormal personality may be inte- and desires (Wilt & Revelle, 2008). Extraversion grated into a common framework with respect to in- is related to general activation and behavioral ap- dividual differences in affective processes (Krueger proach as well as ways of categorizing words in & Tackett, 2006; Markon et al., 2005). Extreme lev- terms of their semantic associates (Rogers & Rev- els of activation of the BIS, BAS, or FFFS have been elle, 1998). Similarly, neuroticism is not just nega- used as explanations of many of the personality dis- tive affect, for it has cognitive and behavioral com- orders, particularly those associated with uninhib- ponents as well. Other non-affective components ited behaviors,“externalizing” disorders, overly in- of extraversion and neuroticism include differences hibited anxious behaviors and “internalizing” disor- in desires, with extraversion associated with a need ders. The search for a common core to normal and for social contact, power and status and neuroti- abnormal personality has emphasized the study of cism associated with needs for acceptance, tranquil- affective and cognitive deficits in psychopathology ity, order, vengenace, and savings (Olson & Weber, as they relate to multiples levels of processing, from 2004). the reactive, to the routine, to the reflective (Ortony One of the issues that remains difficult to as- et al., 2005; Reekum & Scherer, 1997). sess is the origin of such affect dispositions. In that personality represents the integration over While clearly sharing a large genetic component time of feelings, actions, thoughts and desires, the- (Bouchard, 2004) some of these dispositions may oretical developments in personality benefit from a in fact be already prepared at birth or early child- greater understanding of emotional processes. 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