Psychophysiological individuality: A pattern analytic approach to personality research and psychosomatic medicine

Abstract

A recent series of studies in the laboratory of the Forschungsgruppe Psychophysiologie, University of Freiburg i.Br., was designed to differentiate activation processes by employing a comprehensive analysis of the threefold patterning of stimulus-specific, SSR, individual-specific, ISR and motivation-specific, MSR, response patterns. The results of this research, as yet not fully accessible to the English-speaking scientific community, is reviewed together with related findings from the literature. SSR, ISR and MSR patterns account for large proportions of variance in activation processes and, thus, should not be neglected. For example, about one third of our subjects exhibit a significant ISR-pattern and many subjects do so in a reproducible manner after intervals of three and twelve months. Possible biological and psychological bases of individual-specific response patterns are discussed, for example genetic and developmental determinants of the emerging psycho-physio-morphological individuality. This constitutional perspective is related to vulnerability and weak-link theories in the etiology of psychosomatic disorders. ISR-mechanisms may thus be essential predispositions leading to symptom formation and susceptibility to a particular disease. It is concluded that the research strategy used in specificity analyses and the conceptual as well as methodological progress in four-modal (subjects, variables, situations, replications) analyses in the psychophysiological laboratory is not necessarily restricted to psychophysiology but, as a pattern analytic approach, can be applied to many kinds of behavioral data and issues in personality research.