The evolution of the Behavioural Approach System (BAS): Cooperative and competitive resource acquisition strategies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.01.044Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Multidimensional perspective of the BAS is studied within evolutionary psychology.

  • Reward Interest generally reflect sensitivity to social rewards.

  • Goal Drive Persistence relates to social exchange.

  • Reward Reactivity relates to safety and commitment.

  • Impulsivity and SR relate to competitive motives.

Abstract

The nature of approach motivation has not yet been adequately defined. Some authors view it as a unidimensional construct, while others consider it to be multidimensional. Its psychometric nature is explored in this study, which tests empirically the motivational account of the Behavioural Approach System (BAS) within an evolutionary context. In a sample of 394 participants, we administered the Assessment of Individual Motives questionnaire (AIM-Q), the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ) and a short version of the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward (SPSRQ-20). The results of set correlation analysis indicated that different BAS scales relate to different motives, thus supporting the multidimensional perspective on approach motivation. Specifically, Reward Interest relates to various types of motives that generally reflect sensitivity to social rewards; Goal-Drive Persistence relates to social exchange; Reward Reactivity to safety and commitment; while Impulsivity and Sensitivity to Reward (SR) relate to competitive motives. These results are discussed within an evolutionary framework for the multidimensionality of the BAS.

Introduction

The Behavioural Approach System (BAS) is one of the three major systems in the neuropsychological theory of personality known as the reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST), which includes two additional defensive systems: the Fight–Flight–Freeze System (FFFS), responsible for the active avoidance of, and escape from, aversive stimuli; and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), responsible for passive avoidance and the detection and resolution of goal-conflict. It is assumed that the BAS represents a general domain approach mechanism designed to solve the important evolutionary adaptive problem of attaining critical resources, such as food, water, sex and social status (Berridge, 2004, Berridge and Robinson, 2003, Kenrick and Shiota, 2008). In general terms, the BAS mediates reactions to reward and non-punishment. Its outputs serve to motivate approach behaviours toward biological reinforcers and to engage in activities that lead to consummatory behaviour (Corr, 2008, Gray and McNaughton, 2000). Despite the popularity and long history of this theory, the obvious evolutionary importance of the BAS has not yet been explored empirically.

Section snippets

Evolutionary explanations of individual differences

Within evolutionary psychology, individual differences in personality and/or temperament are interpreted as variations in adaptive mechanisms that evolved to provide solutions to problems concerning reproduction and survival (Buss, 2008, Buss, 2009). Since environmental conditions were not equal for the entire human population, it may be assumed that some phenotypic variations were more adaptive in one environment than in another. Thus, there is no “gold standard” for a personality trait that

Participants and procedure

A total of 394 (208 male and 186 female) participants (MAGE = 27.99; SD = 9.70, range from 16 to 54) completed three questionnaires online using LimeSurvey web application. Only complete data were recorded. The Ethics Committee of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka gave approval for the study

Measures

We administered two RST questionnaires: Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ; Corr & Cooper, 2016), and the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward

Results

Descriptive statistics for AIM-Q and results of SCA are shown in Table 1, while zero order correlation matrices between and within questionnaires are available in Supplementary materials. All analyses were conducted using R version 3.2.2 (R Development Core Team, 2013), using package psych version 1.5.8 (Revelle, 2015).

Using set correlation, all canonical variates in the data set were taken into account in one index to provide an overall estimate of association. The overall relationship between

Discussion

In order to provide an evolutionary account of the BAS, we examined the relationships between inter-individual variation on different BAS scales and different types of motives, including (a) motives facilitating individual integrity, (b) motives facilitating competition for resources and mates, and (c) motives facilitating cooperation. Overall, the BAS scales correlated with both resource acquisition strategies and, additionally, with the integrity motives. More specifically, discrete motives

References (49)

  • R. Feldman

    Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans

    Hormones and Behavior

    (2012)
  • C.J. Jackson et al.

    Appetitive motivation predicts the majority of personality and an ability measure: A comparison of BAS measures and a re-evaluation of the importance of RST

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (2004)
  • D. Krupić et al.

    Individual differences in emotion elicitation in university examinations: A quasi-experimental study

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (2014)
  • A.G. Rosati et al.

    The evolutionary origins of human patience: Temporal preferences in chimpanzees, bonobos, and human adults

    Current Biology

    (2007)
  • J.G. Sellers et al.

    Hormones and personality: Testosterone as a marker of individual differences

    Journal of Research in Personality

    (2007)
  • L.D. Smillie et al.

    Conceptual distinctions among Carver and White's (1994) BAS scales: A reward-reactivity versus trait impulsivity perspective

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (2006)
  • R. Torrubia et al.

    The Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ) as a measure of Gray's anxiety and impulsivity dimensions

    Personality and Individual Differences

    (2001)
  • A. Aluja et al.

    Neuropsychological Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) assessment: A shortened Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire version (SPSRQ–20)

    Journal of Personality Assessment

    (2011)
  • L.C. Bernard

    Consensual and behavioral validity of a measure of adaptive individual differences dimensions in human motivation

    Motivation and Emotion

    (2009)
  • L.C. Bernard

    Motivation and personality: Relationships between putative motive dimensions and the five factor model of personality

    Psychological Reports

    (2010)
  • Bernard, L. C. (2013). Manual for the Assessment of Individual Motives–Questionnaire. Unpublished manuscript, Loyola...
  • L.C. Bernard et al.

    The incremental validity of motive traits of action: Predicting behavior longitudinally

    Individual Differences Research

    (2014)
  • L.C. Bernard et al.

    An evolutionary theory of human motivation

    Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs

    (2005)
  • K.C. Berridge

    From prediction error to incentive salience: Mesolimbic computation of reward motivation

    European Journal of Neuroscience

    (2012)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text