Blogs
Genetic Sensitivity to Stress During Pregnancy
Genetic sensitivity moderates the effects of maternal stress during pregnancy on child behaviour with children that are genetically more sensitive being more affected by the quality of their prenatal environment.
Vantage Sensitivity Theory: Sensitive People Benefit More from Positive Experiences
Sensitive people are more strongly affected by both negative and positive experiences.
Identical Twins provide Clues to Sensitivity Genes
We conducted a genetic study of environmental sensitivity using a novel approach involving identical twins. Using these findings, we were able to estimate the genetic propensity to environmental sensitivity in two further samples and showed findings that were consistent with theories of sensitivity.
Prenatal Stress Promotes the Development of Sensitivity
Our study examined whether prenatal stress increases sensitivity to parental care in an animal model.
Results showed that prairie voles that were prenatally stressed were more sensitive to the quality of care they received in terms of their later anxious behaviour and physiological reactivity.
Practical Advice for the Highly Sensitive Brain
Sensitivity is associated with enhanced activation of brain regions implicated in awareness, memory, and empathy. However, this comes with a cost such as greater risk for over-arousal and overstimulation.
Preliminary evidence suggests that for highly sensitive individuals “rest” may be especially critical for information integration and return to a well-balanced state.
How Reliable is Genetic Sensitivity Research for Application in Practice?
Intervention research has recently started to focus on genetic differences in order to explain why interventions work better for some than others. However, establishing the reliability of such genetic research is fundamental.
The Relation between Sensitivity and Common Personality Traits
Research has shown that sensitivity is related to common personality traits, such as Neuroticism and Openness to Experiences.
The association with Neuroticism reflects the tendency of sensitive people to experience stress more easily.
In contrast, Openness to Experiences seems to capture sensitive people’s aesthetic sensitivity and their deep processing of information.
Sensitivity is in Our Genes (but not only!)
Our study investigated the heritability of sensitivity.
Results showed that 47 percent of the differences in sensitivity between individuals are genetically determined, whereas the remaining 53 percent are accounted for by environmental factors.
The Good and Bad of Sensitivity in Teachers
As part of my doctoral research, I investigated sensitivity among teachers. Results show that being highly sensitivity has strengths as well as weaknesses for teachers.
Sensitive teachers reported having more empathy towards their students, but also experienced more difficulties with the challenging aspects of the teaching profession.
People Fall into Different Sensitivity Groups: Orchids, Tulips and Dandelions
Should we understand sensitivity as a continuous dimension that ranges from low to high or as a category, with some people being highly sensitive and others not?