What is it about?
In this replication study, we found that high reward sensitivity may represent a shared underlying temperamental disposition for both oppositional and conduct problems. However, whereas oppositional problems are characterized by anger, irritability, and reactive aggression, conduct problems involve antisocial behavior, callousness, and proactive aggression. Accordingly, oppositional problems may reflect high reward sensitivity combined with reactive frustration that arises when the pursuit of desired goals is blocked. Conduct problems, in contrast, may represent high reward sensitivity in combination with additional traits, such as callous-unemotional traits, that increase the likelihood of engaging in antisocial behavior and proactive aggression to obtain desired outcomes. We also found that conduct problems, but not oppositional problems, were associated with a subsequent decrease in sensitivity to punishment. This may suggest that when the environment responds to severe conduct problems with punitive measures, adolescents may, over time, become less sensitive to punishment and less motivated by the threat of negative consequences.
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Why is it important?
The findings of this study highlight that differences in approach–avoidance temperament may confer risk for the development of externalizing problems. It is therefore important that parents, teachers, caregivers, and professionals working with children try to adapt to adolescents’ individual temperamental sensitivities. The results also emphasize that trait-like dispositions are not impervious to experience. Specifically, responding to conduct problems with strong punitive measures may, over time, contribute to reduced punishment sensitivity, making adolescents less likely to be motivated by the potential negative consequences of their actions. Accordingly, it is crucial to identify alternatives to punitive approaches when supporting children and adolescents who may be at risk of developing conduct problems.
Perspectives
Whether children’s development is shaped by nature or nurture is a debate as old as psychology itself. To me, this study reinforces that it is not an either/or question. Rather, it highlights the transactional nature of development, in which temperament shapes behavior and elicits reactions from the surrounding environment, and these reactions in turn may influence and even alter trait-like dispositions.
Dr. Andreas Teisner Høstmælingen
The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Externalizing problems and reward–punishment sensitivity: Testing within-person reciprocal associations in an elementary school sample—A replication of Ramer et al. (2024)., Developmental Psychology, February 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/dev0002158.
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