Reward Sensitivity

In an attempt to simplify reward sensitivity, it is the measure of our motivation to seek reward such as money, sex, or fame and influence. A highly reward-sensitive person can get so excited by the prospect of the reward that it impairs good judgement and ignore obvious warning signals. While a reward-insensitive person can get too careful that they miss out on opportunities they should have taken. It is the trade-off that separates the #two great personality trait from each other.

Dr. Janice Dorn, who has a PhD in neuroscience specializing brain anatomy, an MD in psychiatry, an active trader, and a “financial psychiatrist” who has counseled about six hundred traders, observed that her extroverted clients, on average, are highly reward-sensitive, while the introverts are more conservative that pay close attention to warning signals. “My introvert traders are much more able to say ‘OK, Janice, I do feel these excited emotions coming up in me, but I understand that I can’t act on them.’ The introverts are much better at making plan, staying with a plan, being very disciplined” said Dr. Dorn, wrote Susan Cain.¹

Our #limbic system, which Dr. Dorn calls the “old brain” that we share with the most primitive animals, is emotional and instinctive. It comprises various structures such as our amygdala, and it’s highly interconnected with the nucleus accumbens, brain’s “pleasure center.” According to Dr. Dorn, it constantly tells us “Yes, yes, yes! Eat more, drink more, have more sex, take lots of risk go for all the gusto you can get, and above all do not think!”. On the other hand, the “new brain” called the #neocortex, a part of our cerebral cortex, that is responsible for thinking, planning, language, and decision-making, some of the very faculties that makes us humans. It’s job, as Dr. Dorn puts, is to tell us “No, no, no! Don’t do that because it’s dangerous, makes no sense, and is not in your best interests, or those of your family, or of society.”

As we now know, extroverts are more sensitive to reward than introverts do. It’s what makes extroverts an extrovert. Richard Depue, a neurobiologist at Cornell University, conducted an experiment where he gave amphetamine, an addictive drug that activates the dopamine system–the “reward chemical”, to groups of introverts and extroverts. His experiments shown that extroverts had stronger response and concluded that “introverts just don’t buzz as easily”. Although the exact relationship between extroversion, dopamine, and the brain’s reward system has not been conclusively established, “extrovert’s dopamine pathway appears to be more active than those of introverts,” wrote Cain.¹

Buzz is sometimes a good thing. It encourage us to work and play hard. But sometimes, it pushes us to take risk that we shouldn’t take. It cause us to ignore warning signs we should be paying attention to. On the other hand, less sensitivity to buzz can sometimes make us too conservative but it also shows discipline for delayed gratification, the unique #advantage of introverts in an extroverted society.

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