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The Causes And Consequences Of Anxiety

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Anxiety is defined as a condition, or unpleasant emotional state that involves feelings of worry, tension and apprehension (Bekker et al, 2003). To attempt to discover the causes of anxiety, and what areas of the brain are involved, Jeffrey Grays Behavioural Inhibition System (1982) will be discussed. Following this, further exploration of these beliefs by Carver and White (1994) will be explored. In addition to these, it is also suggested that anxiety is correlated to hippocampus and amygdala formation and volume, therefore, this idea will also be explored, other factors that may influence anxiety will also be discussed in order to consider other potential causes and consequences of anxiety. After review and consideration of this evidence, the question “To what extent can individual differences in anxiety be explained by variation in the “Behavioural Inhibition System” will be explained.
Jeffrey Grays (1982) Behavioural Activation System (BAS) and Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) which are now occasionally referred to as Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) (Pickering and Corr, 2008) are theories of personality, which believe that individual differences in personality are due to neurobiological factors (Avila & Barrós-Loscertales, 2008). The Behavioural Activation System is motivated by reward and motivation. Whereas the Behavioural Inhibition System is motivated by sensitivity to punishment and avoidance (Goldberg et al, 2010) To test this theory, Carver and White

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