Psychiatric diagnostic covariation suggests that the underlying structure of psychopathology is not one of circumscribed disorders. Quantitative modeling of individual differences in diagnostic patterns has uncovered several broad domains of mental disorder liability, of which the Internalizing and Externalizing spectra have garnered the greatest support. These dimensions have generally been estimated from lifetime or past-year comorbidity patters, which are distal from the covariation of symptoms and maladaptive behavior that ebb and flow in daily life. In this study, structural models are (...) applied to daily diary data ( Median = 94 days) of maladaptive behaviors collected from a sample ( N = 101) of individuals diagnosed with personality disorders (PDs). Using multilevel and unified structural equation modeling, between-person, within-person, and person-specific structures were estimated from 16 behaviors that are encompassed by the Internalizing and Externalizing spectra. At the between-person level (i.e., individual differences in average endorsement across days) we found support for a two-factor Internalizing–Externalizing model, which exhibits significant associations with corresponding diagnostic spectra. At the within-person level (i.e., dynamic covariation among daily behavior pooled across individuals) we found support for a more differentiated, four-factor, Negative Affect-Detachment-Hostility-Disinhibition structure. Finally, we demonstrate that the person-specific structures of associations between these four domains are highly idiosyncratic. (shrink)

The goal of this research is to explore implicit and explicit processes in shaping an individual’s characteristic behavioral patterns, that is, personality. The questions addressed are how psychological processes may be separated into implicit and explicit types, and how such a separation figures into personality. In particular, it focuses on the role of instinct and intuition in determining personality. This paper argues that personality may be fundamentally based on instincts resulting from basic human motivation, along with related processes, within a (...) comprehensive cognitive architecture. This approach is implemented as a computational model. Various tests and simulations show that this model captures major personality traits and accounts for empirical data. The work shows how a cognitive architecture with the implicit–explicit distinction may capture instinct, intuition, and personality. (shrink)

Technoscientific ambitions for perfecting human-like machines, by advancing state-of-the-art neuromorphic architectures and cognitive computing, may end in ironic regret without pondering the humanness of fallible artificial non-normative personalities. Self-organizing artificial personalities individualize machine performance and identity through fuzzy conscientiousness, emotionality, extraversion/introversion, and other traits, rendering insights into technology-assisted human evolution, robot ethology/pedagogy, and best practices against unwanted autonomous machine behavior.

Current psychological theories of performance anxiety focus heavily on relating performers’ physiological and mental states to their abilities to maintain focus and execute learned skills. How task-specific expertise and past experiences moderate the degree to which individuals become anxious in a given performance context are not well accounted for within these theories. This review considers how individual differences arising from learning may shape the psychobiological, emotional, and cognitive processes that modulate anxious states associated with the performance of highly trained skills. (...) Current approaches to understanding performance anxiety are presented, followed by a critique of these approaches. A connectionist model is proposed as an alternative approach to characterising performance anxiety by viewing performers’ anxious states at a specific time point as jointly determined by experience-dependent plasticity, competition between motivational systems, and ongoing cognitive and somatic states. Clarifying how experience-dependent plasticity contributes to the emergence of socio-evaluative anxiety in challenging situations can not only help performers avoid developing maladaptive emotional responses, but may also provide new clues about how memories of past events and imagined future states interact with motivational processes to drive changes in emotional states and cognitive processing. (shrink)

The present study has two main purposes: First, investigating the role of sensory-processing sensitivity, describing inter-individual differences with regard to people’s sensitivity to positive and negative environmental stimuli through a deeper level of information processing, in the teaching work place. Second, it aims at revealing further insight into the association between SPS and different mental disorders as well as variables of therapeutic success. The teaching profession is widely accepted as being complex and highly demanding with many expectations and requirements, so (...) the high level of stress found across teachers is thus not surprising. Nonetheless, teachers can only efficiently fulfill their important tasks and have a positive influence on students if they are mentally healthy. Given empirical findings supporting an increased stress level across teachers, numerous studies have investigated the conditions and processes behind the onset of mental ill-health and developed various prevention programs to support teachers in dealing with their perceived stress. Looking through the research area, a clear focus on behavior and personality-related characteristics of teachers is present, including, for example, various dysfunctional cognitions, coping behavior or the Big Five personality traits. Although other studies consider environmental aspects of the work place as well, such as noise or schedules, the integration of these two entities is still a research gap. This is true despite recent developments emphasizing the perspective of person-environment interactions, particularly in the field of stress. The present study takes up this gap by introducing the temperament trait of SPS into the field of teacher professionalism and health research, representing a holistic way of analyzing person-environment interactions as it focuses on individuals’ reactivity to certain environmental conditions and stimuli. Embedded into the project “Risiko-Check für das Lehramt”, two teacher samples participated in the study: a non-clinical sample of teachers, who were actively teaching in the school context and a clinical sample of teachers, who received inpatient treatment and were diagnosed with mental disorders during the data collection process. Both groups filled out the same questionnaire, which included different scales measuring aspects of the teaching environment and personality-related variables of teachers. For a small sub-group of the teachers in the clinical sample, additional clinically-relevant data, such as measures of therapeutic success or additional measures of mental disorders, was also available. In line with the first goal of the study, results reveal further evidence for the validity of the construct: SPS was successfully differentiated from other variables measuring psychological well-being, including Depression, Anxiety, and Stress. The second aim represents the investigation of the role of the temperamental trait of SPS in the teaching context. Of particular interest are the perception of certain workplace-demand characteristics unique to this profession and the extent to which certain characteristics related to SPS are activated in teachers in their everyday lives. Findings suggest that highly sensitive teachers feel more attuned to the students, who need help, but, at the same time, have more difficulties with regard to the characteristics that are very open and include a certain degree of flexibility. Those are for example, maintaining an efficient work-life balance, dealing with their tasks and deciding when certain demands are fulfilled, lack of feedback, and the various expectations teachers are confronted with. In spite of these difficulties, they perceive themselves as similarly successful as non-highly sensitive teachers. Additionally, SPS mediates the relationship between different demands and teachers’ perceived stress. Three ways this is possible are an increased frequency of applying dysfunctional cognitions, coping strategies, and lower self-efficacy. Research questions in line with the third general goal of the present study include a more detailed investigation of the association with clinically relevant variables; the difference between mentally ill teachers and those teaching actively; and evidence for the presence of the Vantage Theory framework in clinical contexts, describing increased effect of positive and supporting environments, such as those found in therapeutic interventions. In general, participants in the clinical sample reach higher mean scores on the scale measuring SPS than participants in the non-clinical sample. Additionally, investigating the symptoms of teachers in the clinical sample, highly sensitive teachers show more severe symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders. Finally, in line with one of the hypotheses stated in this context, results support the presence of vantage sensitivity in this study. While almost all patients show improvements in their general functioning and clinical global impression at release, patients with high levels of SPS are found to benefit even more from the treatment, on average, than patients with lower levels of SPS. This is true for the majority of symptoms that are associated with SPS, which include phobic anxiety, anxiety, and depressive disorders. Finally, the fourth objective of the present study aims at broadening the findings by investigating the hypothesis of the existence of different sensitivity types. Then, all theoretical and empirical models as well as existing findings and those generated in the present study are taken together in order to develop an overarching model for the development of stress in teaching, including SPS as one facet. Results of a cluster analysis including the highly sensitive teachers of both samples disclose the existence of three sensitivity types that differ significantly with regard to their core areas of certain characteristics of SPS. While one group reaches comparably high scores across facets, the remaining two sensitivity types show a particular focus, either the facet Aesthetical sensitivity or the two factors Low sensory threshold and Ease of excitation. The majority of the clinical sample is found to be more aesthetically sensitive, whereas most teachers in the nonc-clinical sample are assigned to the group with comparably higher scores across facets. Furthermore, these sensitivity types differ with regard to their work-life balance and dysfunctional cognitions as well as coping strategies in a such way that the Aesthetically sensitive type reach mean scores that can be interpreted as most functional when compared to the remaining types. Finally, with regard to a general model of stress development for teaching, despite the final model not reaching statistical indices indicating a fit to the data of the present study, comparisons of regression weights reveal support for the significant role of SPS in comparison to already-established variables. In summary, the findings of the present study close various research gaps and have multiple implications. First, they reveal evidence for the fact that SPS could add valuable information when implemented into research on teacher professionalism and teacher stress, which has diverse implications for the political, administrational and individual level. Secondly, they broaden the research field of SPS by revealing more insight into the associations between SPS and mental ill-health as well as evidence in support of vantage sensitivity, suggesting that patients with higher levels of SPS benefit more from therapeutic interventions than patients with lower levels. Limitations of the present study are discussed critically and suggested approaches for further research studies are described. (shrink)