{"id":8558,"date":"2019-05-22T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/neuroticism\/"},"modified":"2019-05-22T16:09:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:09:00","slug":"neuroticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/neuroticism\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuroticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A broad factor of temperament or personality, including characteristics of anxiety, fearfulness, jealousy, sadness, shyness, and irritability.  Moreover, individuals who have a relatively high degree of neuroticism appear to react adversely to sources of environmental stress (i.e., they have a proneness to distress or discomfort).  These sorts of associations led Hans Eysenck<\/a> (1916-1997) to propose that neuroticism reflects an overly responsive sympathetic nervous system and thus involvement of the limbic system.  An association also has been reported with symptoms of depression<\/a>, but that neuroticism does not reflect a vulnerability to depression.  This claim  has been challenged<\/a>.  A study in rural Senega<\/a>l of parents of 65 families revealed some relevant, but tentative, findings based on a previous study<\/a> by the same research team.  Women with above-average levels of neuroticism had 12% more children than those with below-average levels. However, offspring aged 0 to 5 years of mothers with high levels of neuroticism had a lower (18%) BMI<\/a> compared to children with mothers who had low neuroticism, a possible sign of malnutrition threatening survival but applying only to families of low social rank in the village.  A third relevant finding is that women with an intermediate level of neuroticism had the greatest reproductive success.  These studies used the Big Five factor model of personality<\/a>, which is available  as a a research tool in the form of an inventory.  Another inventory is one derived from the Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism (PEN) model<\/a>.  Perhaps the most widely used personality test is Eysenck’s Personality Inventory<\/a> (EPI) that takes into account neuroticism relative to stability, as well as extraversion\/introversion,  and psychoticism\/socialization.  Recently, the popular press has latched on to a research finding that neuroticism could be ‘good’ for you, but the study involved has been subject to some trenchant criticism<\/a>.             <\/p>\n

See Extraversion<\/a>, Five Factor model<\/a>, Limbic system<\/a>, Major depressive disorder<\/a>, Personality<\/a>, Social stress<\/a>, Sympathetic nervous system (SNS)<\/a>, Temperament<\/a>, Trait<\/a><\/p>\n

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A broad factor of temperament or personality, including characteristics of anxiety, fearfulness, jealousy, sadness, shyness, and irritability.  Moreover, individuals who have a relatively high degree of neuroticism appear to react adversely to sources of environmental stress (i.e., they have a proneness to distress or discomfort).  These sorts of associations led Hans Eysenck (1916-1997) to propose … <\/p>\n

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