The behavioural activation system: challenges and opportunities

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511819384.005

4 - The behavioural activation system: challenges and opportunities

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2011

Alan D. Pickering and

Luke D. Smillie

Edited by

Philip J. Corr

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Alan D. Pickering: Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of London
Luke D. Smillie: Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of London
Philip J. Corr: Affiliation:
University of Wales, Swansea

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Summary

The influence of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) on personality psychology has been far greater than Jeffrey Gray would ever have conceived. This is especially the case for the Behavioural Activation System (or Behavioural Approach System) (BAS), which was introduced to his model on a somewhat arbitrary basis, only to be embraced by others as a major organizing framework for trait explanation. In the last few years, RST has been substantially revised in a number of aspects (as discussed in other chapters of this book), particularly centring on the role of the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) and Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS). This might give the impression that the changes in thinking about the BAS have been relatively minor. We would argue that this impression is misleading and that an equally radical review of the BAS is called for (as we have been arguing in a series of articles: Pickering and Gray 1999, 2001; Pickering 2004; Smillie, Pickering and Jackson 2006). In this chapter we highlight the opportunities ahead at this time of theoretical flux, sketch some of the challenges to be met by future research, and suggest what we believe may be some promising initial steps in this process.

A time for rethinking the BAS within RST

Like Gray's other brain-behavioural systems, such as the BIS, the BAS was originally defined in ethological terms (see Gray 1987c).

Type: Chapter
Information: The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality , pp. 120 - 154

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819384.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

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