Search

Extraversion is comprised of two major components, referred to as agency and affiliation, which are characterized by two different types of positive emotional states of incentive motivation–positive activation and warmth–affection, respectively (Depue & Collins, 1999). In response to the lack of film material targeting these different positive emotional states, a set of films was previously developed that significantly induces a state of incentive motivation–positive activation (Morrone, Depue, Scherer, & White, 2000). In the present study, due to a paucity of methods that specifically induce warmth and affection, dynamic film material was developed that activates such subjective experience. Affiliative film-induced increases in warmth and affection ratings were significantly related to a trait measure of affiliative extraversion [Tellegen's MPQ Social Closeness scale (r=0.39, P

A large animal literature implicates serotonin (5-HT) in the modulation of positive and negative affective behavior. In contrast, data from human studies almost exclusively emphasize 5-HT modulation of negative emotional processing. However, no previous studies have directly assessed the relation between 5-HT functioning and positive (PA) and negative (NA) affect. The present investigation tested whether individual differences in 5-HT functioning correlate with PA and NA ratings in a group of healthy subjects. Thirty-one psychiatrically healthy males completed separate assessments of affect and 5-HT functioning. Affect was examined with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule rated three times a day for two work-weeks. 5-HT functioning was indexed by the maximum prolactin response to d,l-fenfluramine. The prolactin response to d,l-fenfluramine demonstrated a significant inverse correlation with mean ratings of both PA (r=−0.49; p

Recently we argued that a core process underlying the trait of extraversion is positive incentive motivation, an association that particularly characterizes the agentic as opposed to the affiliative component of extraversion (Depue & Collins, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22 , 1–79, 1999). Due to a paucity of methods that specifically induce incentive motivation–positive activation (as opposed to solely amusement and pleasantness), this study developed dynamic film material that activates such subjective experience. Moreover, the films represent three levels of magnitude of induced incentive motivation–positive activation, ranging from minimal to moderate to strong. Therefore, individual differences in film-induced positive activation could be expressed as a stimulus intensity–response function via the slope of positive activation ratings across the range of incentive magnitudes. Film-induced reactivity in positive activation, as opposed to pre-film basal positive activation, was preferentially related to extraversion. Moreover, the slope of post-film positive activation across films, reflecting a stimulus intensity–response function, was more robustly related to overall estimates of extraversion ( r =0.34, p r =0.32, p r =0.18, p =0.09) component of extraversion. The findings suggest that a unitary concept of extraversion may be incorrect, and that further research is necessary to characterize the nature of agentic and affiliative components of the trait. The film method reported herein provides one means of investigating the incentive motivation–positive activation nature of extraversion.