title: Memories and traces. From Jewish exilists' authoritarian personality research via Cloninger's psychobiology of personality traits to a neurobiological approach to conflict management.
abstract: Research on personality as a useful construct to understand people's behavior in conflict situations was traced over more than fifty years, and an attempt was made to add neurobiological parameters to psycho-socio-cultural approaches. As a starting point, scientists in exile have been called to mind who had been expelled from Nazi Germany for their Jewish origins. Among them were Adorno and Frenkel-Brunswik whose extensive studies on the authoritarian personality structure were quoted. In their work, personality was defined as a more or less enduring organisation of forces within the individual helping to determine responses in various situations, which is responsible for consistency in behavior. As a next step, Cloninger's psychobiology of personality traits was presented. In his personality concept, four temperamental traits (novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependency and persistence) and three character dimensions are included. Temperamental traits are heritable, developmentally stable, emotionally based, uninfluenced by social learning, and linked to specific brain biological features. The temperaments have a certain neuroendocrinological feature which can be determined. Character dimensions develop in a stagelike process from infancy to adulthood and are influenced by temperament, social learning, genetic factors, and random life events. Personality is still considered a useful theoretical approach to conflict management research and practice. A neurobiological point of view seems to be a useful supplementation in addition to traditional psycho-socio-cultural approaches. Measuring biological compounds can supply the conflict manager with an additional tool of knowledge enhancing the ability to understand and anticipate conflict behavior.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassler
mesh_terms: D001318:Authoritarianism; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000502:physiology; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology; D011574:Psychoanalytic Theory; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents