ABSTRACT

The third noteworthy pairing of Big Five dimensions which address key aspects of the human condition is the combination of extraversion and emotional variability/neuroticism. The combination of emotional variability with high extraversion has been associated with impulsiveness and emotional variability accompanied by low extraversion with anxiety. Of these two, potentially dysfunctional, conditions, research has given most attention to the latter. Anxiety is defined as the anticipation of threat based on previous experience, the conflicting possibility of reward and having to decide how to respond. The more encouraging news is that it has been found possible to train people to be less pessimistic by exercises encouraging the recognition of the positive aspects in the presentation of some standard situations. Furthermore, successful training produced some interesting changes in the functioning of the brain, with the left hemisphere becoming more active.