Cybernetic Big Five Theory - Auszüge - Teil5 - "Stability, Plasticity, and Adaptation"

Colin DeYoung:

[Kernthema: Die zwei Metatraits "Stability" and "Plasticity"; Die Auszüge erfüllen eher persönliche Zwecke, d.h. sie werden Lesern vermutlich nicht besonders hilfreich sein. Schön wäre es, wenn sie Lesern als Anregung dienen, den Artikel zur Hand zu nehmen und durchzulesen. Nach Teil6 wird in den folgenden Tagen eine mit persönlichen Anmerkungen angereicherte Zusammenfassung des Artikels gepostet.]

"CB5T ... contains an account of adaptation, linked to the two metatraits, that allows it to explain what is arguably the most distinctive feature of the human cybernetic system, namely that its collection of characteristic adaptations can be transformed, in ways that range from prosaic to radical (Peterson, 1999)."

"entropy, which is always spontaneously increasing and which threatens the stability of ongoing goal-directed functioning. Increases in psychological entropy occur when prediction fails and the current state is not entirely as expected, either because some interpretation has been invalidated—raising the question, ‘‘What is happening?’’—or because a strategy has failed (or is anticipated to fail) to reach its goal—raising the question, ‘‘What should I do? (DeYoung, 2013; Hirsh et al., 2012). Every experience can be categorized based on whether it entails a match to prediction or a mismatch, and any mismatch entails at least a small encounter with the unknown, an increase in psychological entropy. Human beings are profoundly adapted to these two extremely broad classes of stimuli, match and mismatch, the known and the unknown, the predictable and the unpredictable, the expected and the anomalous, order and chaos (Peterson, 1999; Peterson & Flanders, 2002). Not only do human beings possess evolved mechanisms designed to operate when events are unfolding as anticipated and one knows what to do, they also possess evolved mechanisms designed to operate when events do not unfold as anticipated."

"Increases in psychological entropy are threatening ... They are also promising, however, meaning they act as incentive rewards, because they signal the possibility of reducing psychological entropy in the longer term, either by attaining some specific reward or by acquiring information (DeYoung, 2013; Schwartenbeck et al., 2013)."

"Stability and plasticity may seem conceptually opposed, but they are in fact complementary and, also, in dynamic tension, as extreme plasticity may pose a challenge to stability and vice versa. The opposite of stability is not plasticity but instability, and the opposite of plasticity is not stability but rigidity."

"CB5T hypothesizes that the serotonergic and dopaminergic systems are the major biological substrates of Stability and Plasticity, respectively (DeYoung, 2010b, 2013; DeYoung et al., 2002)."

"Not only does high Stability prevent disruption of goals by defensive impulses, however, it also prevents disruption of goals by exploratory or reward-related impulses (DeYoung, 2010a). Stability, therefore, reduces spontaneity."

"In defensive reactions to uncertainty—those related to Neuroticism and especially Withdrawal—interpretations, strategies, or goals that led to perceived error are deprioritized or simply abandoned. This is contractive learning, in which the individual learns what not to do or to believe[.]"

"Stability predicted almost all of its behavioral correlates negatively, whereas Plasticity predicted almost all of its behavioral correlates positively."

"Plasticity was positively associated with exploratory behaviors such as attending public lectures and telling jokes. (One might not intuitively think of telling jokes as a form of exploration, but consider that telling jokes is usually designed to pursue some form of social reward, and the outcome is uncertain."

"In many situations, only minor mismatches occur, and the questions of what is happening and what should be done may be answered with relative ease; interpretations can be adjusted and alternative strategies deployed without calling major goals or interpretive structures into question. Occasionally, however, sufficiently dramatic mismatches occur that one must abandon interpretations, strategies, and goals that have been stable enough to be considered characteristic adaptations."

"the individual has encountered sufficient anomaly to destabilize the cybernetic system and to invalidate one or more characteristic adaptations. Such an event can plunge the individual into chaos, which is equivalent to a sharp increase in psychological entropy and is accompanied by some amount of emotional, motivational, cognitive, and behavioral dysregulation. (The larger the span of time and the amount of cognition and behavior that a particular characteristic adaptation organizes, the more psychological entropy is released when it is invalidated, and the worse the ensuing dysregulation.) At this juncture, the personality system has, to some degree, disintegrated, in the literal sense of losing integration. Its characteristic adaptations are no longer providing coherent, non-conflicting answers to the questions of what is happening and what should be done. ... New characteristic adaptations must be generated ... Once exploration has led to suitable new adaptations, the personality system will be reintegrated, emotional dysregulation will subside, and the individual will have emerged from chaos with a reconfigured personality. If the episode of disintegration was particularly severe, successful adaptation may constitute posttraumatic growth (Jayawickreme & Blackie, in press)."

"Such changes allow people to become better adapted to their life circumstances over time. They also tend to encourage alignment between traits and characteristic adaptations, as individuals adapt not only to their external circumstances, but also to their own proclivities. Any adaptation is less likely to lead to increased psychological entropy, and thus more likely to be retained over time, if it is consistent with the general functional tendencies associated with the individual’s traits."

"For people very low in Stability, even seemingly minor anomalies may plunge them into chaos, dysregulating their goal-directed functioning and leaving them distressed and at a loss."

"Low Stability appears to cause difficulty in developing and maintaining effective characteristic adaptations, presumably due to frequent disruption. In the language of dynamical systems, people low in Stability have trouble forming characteristic adaptations that are strong attractors (Nowak et al., 2005). High Stability, in contrast, is associated with having characteristic adaptations that are strong attractors and offer effective protection from unwilling encounters with chaos and the unpleasant dysregulation that comes with such encounters."

"heightened exploratory tendency will cause engagement with novel and potentially rewarding possibilities (DeYoung, 2010c)."

"When asked to describe memorable life events, people high in Plasticity tended to describe episodes of exploration (Wilt et al., 2011). Because exploration can create new characteristic adaptations even in the absence of a crisis of instability (in which old characteristic adaptations are eliminated and replaced), people high in Plasticity will tend to have larger behavioral repertoires than those low in Plasticity[.]"