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BIS/BAS Systems

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Appetitive/aversive motivation; Approach/avoidance systems; Anxiety and impulsivity dimension; Behavioral engagement and facilitation system; Impulsivity/anxiety system; Punishment/reward sensitivity system

Definition

Behavioral activation system (Fowles 1980; Cloninger 1987), behavioral approach system (Gray 1981), behavioral engagement system or behavioral facilitation system (Depue and Collins 1999) together with behavioral inhibition system (Cloninger 1987; Gray 1981) or withdrawal system (Davidson 1998) represents two separate conceptual nervous and motivational systems. Each system activates in response to different sets of stimuli and has different neural substrates.

Following Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory (Gray 1981), behavioral approach or activation system (BAS) reacts to cues of reward, that is, conditioned positive stimuli, but also non-punishment, and escape from punishment. It serves to initiate approach and incentive-motivated and goal-directed...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland

    Joanna Rajchert

  2. Institute of Applied Psychology, Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Warsaw, Poland

    Joanna Rajchert

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  1. Joanna Rajchert
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Correspondence to Joanna Rajchert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Schermer

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Rajchert, J. (2017). BIS/BAS Systems. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_736-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_736-1

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