Memories and Traces: Neurobiological personality research and con ict behavior

Research on personality as a useful construct to understand people’s behavior in confl ict situations was traced over more than fi fty years, and an attempt was made to add neurobiological parameters to psycho-socio-culturel 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 who’s extensive studies on the authoritarian personality structure were quoted. In their work, personality was defi ned 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, uninfl uenced by social learning, and linked to specifi c 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 infl uenced by temperament, social learning, genetic factors, and random life events. Personality is still considered a useful theoretical approach to confl ict 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 confl ict manager with an additional tool of knowledge enhancing the ability to understand and anticipate confl ict behavior.