Emotion-based Dispositions to Rash Action: Positive and Negative Urgency

By Melissa A. Cyders, Gregory T. Smith. Psychological bulletin, 2008

1,087 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Under heightened emotional states, individuals are more inclined to engage in ill-considered or rash actions than at other times. The authors present evidence for the existence of two related traits called positive and negative urgency. The traits refer to individual differences in the disposition to engage in rash action when experiencing extreme positive and negative affect, respectively. The authors provide evidence that these traits are distinct from other dispositions toward rash action, and that they play distinct roles in predicting problem levels of involvement in behaviors such as alcohol consumption, binge eating, drug use, and risky sexual behavior. The authors identify facilitative conditions for the emergence of the urgency traits from neuroscience. Certain gene polymorphisms are associated with low levels of serotonin and high levels of dopamine; that pattern of neurotransmitter activity in a brain system linking the orbitofrontal cortex and the amygdala appears to facilitate development of positive and negative urgency. The authors discuss the implications of this theory.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5fe36a3d2b5e8dd971143fa93cb7f77fe0fb4980

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Citations in the corpus

Negative urgency and risky sexual behaviors: A clarification of the relationship between impulsivity and risky sexual behavior ☆ (2011, background): “Because people may act rashly on the basis of different types of emotion, recent research demonstrated the utility of splitting urgency into both positive and negative facets (Cyders & Smith, 2008).”
Suicidal and violent behavior: The role of anger, emotion dysregulation, and impulsivity (2015, background): “For example, when experiencing distress one may act rashly to reduce negative affect whereas rash behavior may also be used to enhance an existing positive mood (Cyders & Smith, 2008).”
The Association Between Internet Gaming Disorder and Impulsivity: A Systematic Review of Literature (2019, background): “Thus, impulsivity is recognized as a predictive factor in the development of maladaptive behaviors resulting in relief from negative emotions (Cyders and Smith 2008).”
Understanding the construct of impulsivity and its relationship to alcohol use disorders (2010, background): “Fifth, the different dispositions have different concurrent and prospective external correlates (Whiteside et al. 2005; Anestis et al. 2007; Billieux et al. 2007; Cyders et al. 2007; Cyders & Smith 2007, 2008; Smith et al. 2007; Fried, Cyders & Smith 2008; Gay et al. 2008).”
Emotion Regulation and Aggression: The Incremental Contribution of Alexithymia, Impulsivity, and Emotion Dysregulation Facets (2017, background): “Negative urgency is by definition a form of impulsive behavior stemming from the inability to deal with negative emotional arousal, and is therefore intimately linked to emotion dysregulation (Cyders & Smith, 2008).”
Emotion Regulation Deficits as Mediators Between Trauma Exposure and Borderline Symptoms (2013, background): “…refers to the tendency to engage in impulsive behaviors when negatively aroused (Whiteside and Lynam 2001) and is a factor in many risk behaviors (Cyders and Smith 2008), including deliberate self-harm (Arens et al. 2012), eating disorders (Anestis et al. 2009), and substance use…”
Enhanced Anger Reactivity and Reduced Distress Tolerance in Major Depressive Disorder (2013, result): “This pattern is consistent with the construct of negative urgency (e.g., Cyders and Smith 2008), which describes the tendency to display rash action in response to negative emotions, and may provide the first evidence of such a style in MDD compared to those without MDD.”
Relationship between Impulsivity, Social Media Usage and Loneliness (2016, background): “In studies, impulsivity is regarded as a risk factor for obesity, sex addiction, alcohol and drug addiction, internet addiction, pathologic game playing, and risky behaviors (Beard & Wolf, 2001; Cyders & Smith, 2008; Petrie & Gunn, 1998; Spinella, 2007).”