DOPAMINE AND THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY - RELATION OF AGONIST-INDUCED DOPAMINE ACTIVITY TO POSITIVE EMOTIONALITY

Modern trait theories of personality include a dimension reflecting po sitive emotionality (PE) based on sensitivity to signals of incentive- reward. In animals, responsivity within an emotional system analog of PE is dependent on brain dopamine (DA) activity. To determine whether human PE trait levels are also associated with central DA, effects of a specific DA D2 receptor agonist were assessed in Ss who were widely distributed along the trait dimension of PE. The degree of agonist-ind uced reactivity in two distinct central DA indices was strongly and sp ecifically associated with trait levels of PE, but not with other pers onality traits. The results suggest that the trait structure of person ality may be related to individual differences in brain DA functioning .