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“Variability in Psychological Reactivity: Vulnerability, Differential Susceptibility, or Vantage Sensitivity?”
16:30-18:00 Monday 10 June
Venue: Keynes Hall, King’s College Cambridge
The notion that some people are more affected than others by the same experience is widely embraced in most fields of psychology and usually framed in a Diathesis-Stress perspective: some people are more vulnerable to adverse experiences as a function of inherent risk characteristics (e.g., personality, genes). More recently, it has been suggested in the Differential Susceptibility framework (Belsky & Pluess, 2009) that individuals may vary in their psychological reactivity more generally: some are more affected by both negative as well as positive influences. Based on this now empirically well-supported proposition, Dr Pluess will introduce the new concept of Vantage Sensitivity which refers to variation in response to exclusively positive experiences (Pluess & Belsky, 2012). Empirical evidence will be presented and evaluated using data from behavioural, physiological, neuroimaging and genetic studies. Potential mechanisms and practical implications will be discussed.
Michael Pluess is a Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre (SGDP) at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London. Michael’s research deals with questions related to developmental plasticity, the understanding that experiences while growing up shape the course of psychological development. More specifically, Michael investigates individual differences in the capacity for developmental plasticity as a function of different individual characteristics. Michael is particularly interested in the concept of positive development in contrast to developmental psychopathology. This includes empirical evaluation of intervention programmes aimed at fostering positive development and the investigation of genetic and behavioural moderation of such psychological intervention effects.