 22. The Approach System as a Component of Personality 495
(S. Gable, 2006; for a broader perspective, 
see Fitzsimons, Finkel, & vanDellen, 2015). 
Within this framework, an individual with 
underactive approach motivation might tend 
to be seen as cold or distant by others and 
to be disinterested in engaging in affiliative 
behaviors. On the other hand, overactive ap -
proach motivation might result in behaviors 
deemed to be overly intrusive or abrasive. 
Empirical findings support the notion that 
BAS sensitivity is linked to meaningful re -
lationship outcomes, such as closer friend -
ships (Berry, Willingham, & Thayer, 2000), 
greater satisfaction with family and friend -
ship relationships (Gutierrez, Garriz, Peri, 
Vall, & Torrubia, 2016), secure adult at -
tachment (Carver, 1997), and the tendency 
to respond actively to potential threats to 
romantic relationships (B. Meyer, Olivier, & 
Roth, 2005). Less information is available 
regarding potential negative effects of high 
BAS.
A question to which we alluded at the be -
ginning of the chapter is whether BAS sen -
sitivity is best conceptualized exclusively 
as a domain-  general tendency to approach 
rewards, or whether there is a distinct or 
partially distinct subsystem involved in re -
sponding specifically to social reward cues. 
A series of studies conducted by Laurenceau, 
Kleinman, Kaczynski, and Carver (2010) 
supported the incremental validity of rela -
tionship incentive sensitivity (a relationship- 
specific analogue of BAS) in predicting cou -
ples’ perceptions of relationship quality and 
situational positive affect when couples were 
instructed to have a conversation focused 
on their positive feelings for one another. 
These findings further support the utility 
of thinking about the BAS in understand -
ing functional outcomes in the domain of 
close relationships, and also suggest that it 
may be important to understand and mea -
sure domain-  specific facets of BAS, such as 
relationship incentive sensitivity, in order 
to more effectively predict outcomes within 
specific domains of functioning.
Psychopathology
The BAS has been linked repeatedly to a 
range of psychopathologies, including both 
internalizing and externalizing outcomes. 
Across both cross-  sectional and prospective studies, underactivity of the BAS has been 
consistently identified as a correlate of and 
risk factor for internalizing syndromes, in -
cluding major depressive disorder (MDD), 
generalized anxiety disorder, and obsessive– 
compulsive disorder (e.g., Brown, 2007; 
Kasch, Rottenberg, Arnow, & Gotlib, 2002; 
Kim, Kang, & Kim, 2009). The relationship 
between MDD and blunted approach mo -
tivation has received particular attention. 
This is unsurprising given that hallmarks 
of an underactive approach system might 
include apathy and amotivation, low posi -
tive affect, passivity, and low energy, all of 
which are characteristic symptoms of major 
depressive episodes.
At the opposite end of the approach mo -
tivation spectrum, overactive approach 
motivation has been linked to problems of 
risk taking and impulsivity (e.g., Braddock 
et al., 2011); anger and aggression (e.g., 
Harmon-  Jones, 2003); antisocial behavior 
and psychopathy (e.g., J. E. Morgan, Bowen, 
Moore, & Van Goozen, 2014; Pujara, Motz -
kin, Newman, Kiehl, & Koenigs, 2014); and 
substance use (e.g., Hamilton, Sinha, & Po -
tenza, 2012). These findings suggest that 
BAS hyperactivity may be relevant to under -
standing a wide range of externalizing be -
haviors and syndromes, a notion for which 
there is considerable support overall (e.g., 
Bjork, Chen, Smith, & Hommer, 2010; see 
Johnson et al., 2003).
Hypersensitivity of the BAS has also 
emerged as a leading candidate etiological 
model for the bipolar spectrum disorders 
and mania. These disorders are character -
ized by intensely elevated or irritable mood, 
increased goal pursuit, and impulsive pur -
suit of rewarding activities, among other 
symptoms (see Johnson, Carver, & Gotlib, 
2012, for a review). In the sections that fol -
low, we discuss evidence that low levels of 
approach motivation are associated with 
depression and that high levels of approach 
motivation are associated with externalizing 
syndromes and mania.
Underactive Approach Motivation 
and Depression
Multiple lines of research, including neuro -
physiology, behavior, and self-  report, con -
verge on the conclusion that hypoactivity of 
the approach system is implicated in the eti -