LECTURE NOTES 4

Neuroticism:
Volatility &
Withdrawal
Lecture Notes 4

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

In this lecture, Dr. Peterson introduces the personality dimension of neuroticism, which is also
known as negative emotion.

In general, people are more sensitive to negative emotions than they are to positive emotions.
We know this because people are hurt more by a loss of any given magnitude than they are
made happy by a gain of the same magn​itude. ​This lecture covers the consequences of
excessive negative emotion, how negative emotion manifests in childhood, and
strategies for overcoming depression and anxiety.

What is neuroticism?

Neuroticism is the personality trait associated with negative emotion.​ Negative emotion covers
a wide range of traits, including frustration, disappointment, grief, pain, threat,
uncertainty, and anxiety. ​The trait is composed of two aspects: withdrawal and volatility.

● Withdrawal​: ​People who are high in withdrawal can be described as anxiety-prone,

self-conscious, depressive, and easily overwhelmed. People who are low in this trait can
be described as calm, reasonably happy, and self-confident.
○ Withdrawal measures the freeze response, which causes physiological
hyper-preparation coupled with paralyzing fear. When a person is “frozen”, their
heart rate goes up and their muscles prepare to move.

● Volatility​: ​People who are high in volatility can be described as touchy, easily irritated,
and unstable. People who are low in this trait can be described as stable, easygoing,
and slow to anger.
○ Volatile behavior is exemplified by a driver cursing while stuck in bad traffic.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

What is the purpose of negative emotion?

Defensive aggression functions as protection against injury.​ Negative emotion helps us

avoid pain and suffering by motivating us to act carefully. However, some people have so much
negative emotion that they can become overwhelmed and even incapacitated by it. These
people are more likely to suffer from psychiatric illnesses like depression and anxiety, although
they can often learn to overcome their negative emotion with treatment.

Depression

Depression is a neuropsychiatric illness that causes a person to feel sad, empty, hopeless, and
guilty, among other negative emotions. Depression is commonly treated with antidepressant
medications such as SSRIs, a type of medication that helps to relieve the emotional pain of
someone who is depressed. SSRI medications are also used as painkillers, which illustrates
how deeply the emotional and physical pain systems are intertwined.

When treating depression, it’s important to look at a person’s life situation as a whole:
● Do they have a meaningful job?
● Have they received enough education?
● How fulfilling is their social life? (Do they have friends and/or an intimate
relationship?)
● Are they in good physical health?
● Do they use their free time in a meaningful way?

Dr. Peterson’s clinical experience has shown that if a person answers yes to all of these
questions and still experiences depression, they’re likely to benefit from antidepressant
medications. However, if the patient is unfulfilled in these basic life areas, medication is unlikely
to make a difference in their depression. Instead, they may greatly benefit from lifestyle
improvement.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are another common group of mental illnesses that stem from excessive
negative emotion. Symptoms include excessive worry, feelings of panic, and intense
physiological arousal.

Like depression, anxiety can be treated by finding manageable yet challenging tasks and
building confidence over time. Anxiety is best cured by a voluntary confrontation with the
fearsome things. People with anxiety disorders also benefit from routines--such as waking up
and going to bed at the same time every day and eating at the same times of the day. The
routines scaffold their lives with comfort such that they can handle more chaos in other areas of
their lives and confront their fears.

Negative Emotion in Childhood

Similar to the sweet and bitter taste tests to detect positive and negative emotion systems in
newborns (mentioned in lecture 3), an American psychologist named Jerome Kagan studied
temperament in toddlers by assessing the behavior of 21-month-old children as they were
introduced to new adults. His findings indicated that more reactive babies showed a lot of
negative emotion and distress and took longer to warm up to new individuals. When Dr. Kagan
followed up with these children at ages 4, 5 ½ and 7 ½ , the groupings persisted, which
showcases the long-term temporal stability of negative emotion.

Additionally, Dr. Kagan found that voluntarily active exploration normalized anxious
children’s behavior.​ This is similarly true for anxious adults. There are three possible ways to
deal with anxiety as an adult:
1. Have a plan.​ Finding a simple yet motivating plan of action can reduce anxiety.
2. Don’t underestimate the utility of routine​. Even simple routines like going to bed and
eating at the same time each day can help reduce anxiety.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

3. Expose yourself to unfamiliar situations voluntarily​. Like the children in Dr. Kagan’s
assessment, increasing your proclivity for dealing with new “threats” or situations can
reduce anxiety as you become more familiar with those situations.

Key Takeaways

1. Neuroticism is the Big Five personality trait associated with negative emotion. It is
separated into two aspects: withdrawal and volatility.
a. Withdrawal reflects a person’s sensitivity to physiological preparedness and the
“freeze” tendency. An example of this is the expression “deer in headlights”,
when a person is frozen by fear and anxiety.
i. Traits associated with withdrawal
1. Often feel blue
2. Filled with doubts about things.
3. Feel threatened easily.
4. Feel depressed
5. Worry about things
6. Easily discouraged
7. Become overwhelmed by events
8. Afraid of many things
b. Volatility reflects a person’s sensitivity to defensive aggression. People who are
volatile are touchy and are more likely to hyper-respond to negative situations.
An example of this might be someone who curses while driving or stuck in traffic.
i. Traits associated with volatility (8:45):
1. Associated with defensive or predatory aggression
2. Get angry easily
3. Get upset easily
4. Can’t keep emotions under control
5. Change mood frequently

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

6. Moods go up and down easily

7. Easily annoyed
8. Getting easily agitated
9. Can be stirred up easily
10. Hyper-reactive to frustration, disappointment, and pain
2. Depression and anxiety disorders are more common in people with high levels of
negative emotion. Both disorders can be treated by encouraging the person to take on
manageable tasks that improve their lives.
a. The body experiences anxiety before pain as a defense mechanism.
3. Negative emotion appears in infants and remains fairly stable over time. Dr. Jerome
Kagan (a Harvard psychologist) found that voluntary active exploration normalized
anxious children’s behavior. This is similarly true for anxious adults.

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson 

 LECTURE NOTES 4

Additional Reading & Mentions

This is a list of additional resources mentioned by Dr. Peterson in this lecture, as well as reading
materials, studies, and videos to enhance your learning experience.
● Jerome Kagan on temperament:
○ Studies​:
■ Temperamental Factors in Human Development​ (free)
■ Temperament and the Reactions to Unfamiliarity​ (free)
○ Video​:
■ On Temperament by Jerome Kagan​ (free)
● Anxiety Disorders:
○ Studies​:
■ Brain Imaging Studies in Mood and Anxiety Disorders​ (free)
■ Current Diagnosis and Treatment of Anxiety Disorders​ (free)
● Depression Disorders:
○ Studies​:
■ Can depression be de-medicalized in the 21st century: scientific
revolutions, counter-revolutions and the magnetic field of normal science
(free)
■ Core symptoms of major depressive disorder: relevance to diagnosis and
treatment​ (free)
■ Depression: The Disorder and the Burden​ (free)
■ A systematic review of research findings on the efficacy of interpersonal
therapy for depressive disorders​ (free)
● The Gods Must Be Crazy II​ ​Movie (mentioned 36:31)
○ Watch on ​Netflix
○ Buy from ​Amazon

Discovering Personality​ with​ Dr. Jordan B. Peterson