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Revised reinforcement sensitivity theory: The impact of FFFS and stress on driving

2012; Elsevier BV; Volume: 54; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.005

1873-3549

Rachel Morton, Melanie J. White,

Crime Patterns and Interventions

This study investigated the effect of a fear-based personality trait, as conceptualized in Gray's revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) by the strength of the Fight/Flight/Freeze system (FFFS), on young people's driving simulator performance under induced psychosocial stress. Seventy-one young drivers completed the Jackson-5 questionnaire of RST traits, followed by a psychosocial stress or relaxation induction procedure (random allocation to groups) and then a city driving simulator task. Some support was found for the hypothesis that higher FFFS sensitivity would result in poorer driving performance under stress, in terms of significantly poorer hazard responses, possibly due to an increased attentional focus on the aversive cues inherent in the stress induction leaving reduced attentional capacity for the driving task. These results suggest that stress may lead to riskier driving behaviour in individuals with fearful RST personality styles.