Neuroticism: Is a personality trait

Neuroticism is a personality trait that causes emotional instability and negative feelings. You may have outbursts of anxiety, irritability, or anger. Studies have found that the mean reaction times will not differ between individuals high in neuroticism and those low in neuroticism, but that, with individuals high in neuroticism, there is considerably more trial-to-trial variability in performance reflected in reaction time standard deviations. Neuroticism is one of the ‘Big Five’ factors in the study of personality in psychology. It is measured on a continuum, ranging from emotional stability (low neuroticism) to emotional instability (high neuroticism). Further, in the context of chronic diseases and cancer, neuroticism is a strong predictor of clinical deterioration and mortality. Taken together, there is accumulating evidence to suggest that neuroticism is associated with the onset, maintenance, and deterioration of a wide range of physical health problems (for review, see Lahey 2009).