neuroticism

neuroticism, in psychology and development, a broad personality trait dimension representing the degree to which a person experiences the world as distressing, threatening, and unsafe. Each individual can be positioned somewhere on this personality dimension between extreme poles: perfect emotional stability versus complete emotional chaos. Highly neurotic individuals tend to be labile (that is, subject to frequently changing emotions), anxious, tense, and withdrawn. Individuals who are low in neuroticism tend to be content, confident, and stable. The latter report fewer physical and psychological problems and less stress than do highly neurotic individuals.

Neuroticism is associated with distress and dissatisfaction. Neurotic individuals (that is, those who are high on the neuroticism dimension) tend to feel dissatisfied with themselves and their lives. They are more likely to report minor health problems and to feel general discomfort in a wide range of situations. Neurotic individuals are more prone to negative emotions (such as anxiety, depression, anger, and guilt). Empirical studies suggest that extremely high levels of neuroticism are associated with prolonged and pervasive misery in both the neurotic individuals and those close to them.

History

The concept of neuroticism can be traced back to ancient Greece and the Hippocratic model of four basic temperaments (choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholic, the latter most closely approximating neuroticism). In modern psychometric studies of personality and psychopathology, neuroticism tends to be identified as a first general factor (that is, the variable with the broadest power in explaining individual differences). For example, a large percentage of variability in the types of mental illness characterized as “internalizing”—such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive neurosis, phobia, and hysteria—can be explained by a general dimension of neuroticism. For this reason, neuroticism almost always appears in modern trait models of personality, though sometimes with slightly different theoretical formulations or names (such as trait anxiety, repression-sensitization, ego-resiliency, and negative emotionality). German psychologist Hans Eysenck popularized the term neuroticism in the 1950s by including it as a key scale in his popular personality inventory. Neuroticism figures prominently in the widely accepted Big Five model of personality disposition (a model that considers five factors—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, as well as neuroticism—to produce its assessment). Neuroticism also plays roles in tests designed to measure the Big Five, such as the NEO Personality Inventory. Neuroticism is even reflected in inventories designed for clinical psychological use, such as the recently developed “Demoralization” scale on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2.

Growing but still limited evidence suggests that most major personality traits (including neuroticism) identified by Western psychology manifest universally. Evidence of the importance of neuroticism in individuals from diverse cultures (and who use different languages) can be found in large-scale cross-cultural studies of personality.

Biological basis

Accruing research data show persuasively that individual differences in neuroticism are substantially heritable (which means they are passed from parent to child). Heritability estimates based on twin studies generally fall in the 40–60 percent range. The remaining individual differences in neuroticism are attributed primarily to unique (nonfamilial) environmental differences; the shared familial environment appears to exert virtually no reliable influence on individual differences in neuroticism. Researchers speculate that an overreactive limbic system in the brain is associated with high levels of neuroticism, but specific neurochemical mechanisms or locations within the brain and nervous system have not yet been identified.

Costs and benefits of extreme levels of neuroticism

Highly neurotic individuals are defensive pessimists. They experience the world as unsafe and use fundamentally different strategies in dealing with distress than non-neurotic people do. They are vigilant against potential harm in their environment and constantly scan the environment for evidence of potential harm. They may withdraw from reality and engage in protective behaviors when they detect danger.

Psychologists note that highly neurotic individuals tend to be poor problem solvers. Because of their tendency to withdraw, highly neurotic individuals tend to possess an impoverished repertoire of behavioral alternatives for addressing the demands of reality. Consequently, they tend to engage in mental role-play (rumination and fantasy) instead of constructive problem-solving behaviors. In contrast to their impoverished behavioral repertoires, however, they may possess a rich inner world. Introspective and apt to analyze their thoughts and feelings, they are highly invested in seeking the true nature of their intrapsychic experiences. Some neurotic individuals who have developed creative channels through which to tap their rich, overpopulated intrapsychic worlds, such as American filmmaker Woody Allen, have become successful artists.

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Although high neuroticism is related to a deflated sense of well-being, high levels of neuroticism are not always associated with unfavorable characteristics. Neurotic behaviors may be essential for survival by facilitating safety through the inhibition of risky behaviors. Neurotic individuals tend to possess high anticipatory apprehension that may orient them to pay closer attention to contingencies previously associated with punishments. Also, the subjective discomfort (that is, anxiety) regarding violations of social convention may be greater in a neurotic individual than in others; thus, it may be less likely that a neurotic individual will become involved in some types of antisocial activity. There is some disagreement on this point, however, and some studies suggest that neuroticism may be linked to antisocial behavior. Some studies note that adolescents with extremely low neuroticism have been shown to possess a higher risk of adult criminality and to experience low levels of uncomfortable physiological arousal over violations of social conventions, whereas others suggest a positive correlation between neuroticism and some antisocial behaviors, such as substance abuse.

Keenly attuned to their inner experiences, those high in neuroticism are also attentive to their physical discomforts. Their health maintenance behaviors (that is, consultations with a physician) are more frequent than those of individuals with less neuroticism. Although their complaints regarding health are more frequent, their objectively assessed health is not poorer than those low in neuroticism. To the contrary, the results of some studies have found that their general health is often better, noting that neurotic individuals are diagnosed with cancer less frequently. Researchers hypothesize that this finding is attributable to the early detection of potentially harmful symptoms resulting from frequent health maintenance behaviors. Universal agreement on this point remains elusive, however, with other studies reporting that the linkages between personality and cancer diagnosis are inconsistent.