The role of urgency and its underlying psychological mechanisms in problematic behaviours

Decision making; Impulsivity; Inhibition; Problematic behaviour; Urgency; Adolescent; Adult; Cellular Phone; Chi-Square Distribution; Emotions; Female; Gambling; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Inhibition (Psychology); Internet; Male; Neuropsychological Tests; Questionnaires

Abstract :

[en] The urgency facet of impulsivity, that is, the tendency to act rashly in response to intense emotional contexts [Cyders, M. A., & Smith, G. T. (2008). Emotion-based dispositions to rash action: positive and negative urgency. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 807-828], has been related to a wide range of maladaptive behaviours. The present study further investigates the role of urgency in problematic behaviours by considering distinct psychological mechanisms that may underlie this component of impulsivity. With this aim, 95 volunteer participants were screened with self-reported questionnaires assessing urgency and three problematic behaviours (compulsive buying, excessive mobile phone use, excessive Internet use). They performed two laboratory tasks: a stop-signal task designed to assess the capacity to inhibit prepotent responses in response to both neutral and emotional stimuli; and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) measuring the ability to take into account the future consequences of an action. A poor ability to inhibit prepotent responses in the emotional condition of the stop-signal task was found to predict more disadvantageous choices in the IGT, which ultimately results in higher urgency and more problematic behaviours. These findings shed new light on the construct of urgency, its related psychological mechanisms, and its role in problematic behaviours. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Disciplines :

Neurosciences & behavior

Author, co-author :

Billieux, Joël; Université de Genève - UNIGE

Gay, Philippe; Université de Genève - UNIGE

Rochat, Lucien; Université de Genève - UNIGE

Van der Linden, Martial ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Département de Psychologie

Language :

English

Title :

The role of urgency and its underlying psychological mechanisms in problematic behaviours

Publication date :

2010

Journal title :

Behaviour Research and Therapy

ISSN :

0005-7967

eISSN :

1873-622X

Publisher :

Elsevier, United Kingdom

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

1085-1096

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Available on ORBi :

since 19 January 2020

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Scopus citations^®

199

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145

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173

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