One of the defining characteristics of the human being is that he is an animal with the capacity to reason over his emotional impulses, imposing himself as the base on which his actions are sustained in the world that unfolds before him. This is why we delight in considering ourselves as a rational animal.

This would draw a line of difference with the rest of the creatures that populate the earth, often understood (although not always in this way) as slaves of instinct and the need to survive, feeling as something independent and different from the fabric that makes up the inherent nature of all living beings.

What is really true, in spite of this generalized belief, is that we do not always act in a rational or meditated way ; but in many occasions we allow ourselves to be dragged by the flow of our most primitive instincts. There are even people who, in fact, react this way in almost every situation.

In this article we will deal precisely with the issue of impulsivity , both the way in which it is defined and its possible causes and neurological roots, since it is a feature that holds a certain mystery and conditions the life of the person who presents it and his environment.

What is impulsivity?

Impulsivity is a complex concept, which has tried to be clearly defined many times, but for which there is not yet a clear consensus. Most commonly, a succession of defining features are used, which are presented together in the one who is said to be impulsive, but which do not reach the descriptive level necessary to convince the whole scientific community. In this way, attributes such as impetuousness, thoughtlessness, or haste would be used.

Another difficulty in delimiting its nature is found in the fact that this symptom usually manifests itself in the context of other mental disorders , and rarely in an isolated way. It is common for it to be present in borderline personality disorder (thoughtless behaviour), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (precipitation and interruption), compulsive gambling (irresistible desire to gamble) or binge eating disorder (voracious and irrepressible overeating).

On the other hand, is also a risk factor in many other mental health problems ; such as drug abuse and/or behavioral disorders during childhood; and it is one of the most important reasons why some people abandon the psychological approach or other forms of intervention. Thus, it is diluted with many other physical and psychological disorders, making it difficult to discriminate those that can be attributed to it from those that cannot.

Its facets

Some researchers have attempted to make classifications of the different ways in which impulsivity can be expressed, so that some degree of agreement seems to be emerging with respect to three basic dimensions: cognitive (precipitation in the decision-making process), motor (development of an action devoid of any previous process of reflection) and/or unplanned (total absence of consideration of the future when undertaking an action). In any case, there is a risk of very negative consequences for the person or for third parties.

Even so, an attempt at conceptualization implies the enumeration of expressions that distinguish it as an independent entity. The most essential of these will be detailed below.

1. Difficulty in delaying reward and seeking immediacy

Impulsivity is characterized by problems in stopping the impulses, that is, in inhibiting the behaviors despite some estimated potential negative consequences . This process unfolds in the face of varied appetite stimuli, considered desirable, even though the wait may result in an increase in the intensity or quantity of the reward chosen. Therefore, immediacy in the way of conducting multiple aspects of life prevails. It is also one of the common causes of interpersonal violence.

2. Failure to consider options and risks, and lack of planning

Impulsivity is oriented only towards the present moment, so the person who holds it does not weigh the consequences of the acts on the future. Likewise, he or she does not manage to make structured plans on how to face an event that precipitates a difficult emotional response in him or her, but chooses to face the situation head-on without foreseeing how it will evolve or the unforeseen events or contingencies that may occur. With this , they are hindered from orchestrating some congruent and satisfactory life plan .

3. Urgency to act

Impulsivity can also be expressed in the form of compulsion in stress, so that it seems impossible to sustain the tension that builds up in the case of inhibiting action. All impulse control disorders have the common axis of this “urgency”, in such a way that the “burden” would only be resolved when the behavior is given up (such as a forest fire in pyromania or a new bet in pathological gambling), which ends up maintaining the basic problem over the years by a negative reinforcement .

4. Sensation seeking

Another feature consistently associated with impulsivity is the need for novel stimuli, which is expressed in the search for experiences that may even put physical or emotional integrity at risk.

Thus, there may be situations such as substance abuse or unprotected sexual activity, in which immediate pleasure predominates to the detriment of any guarantee of minimum safety . As a consequence of all this, boredom very often appears when life becomes too regular, this being a feeling that is very difficult to tolerate and manage.

5. Poor perseverance

Impulsivity has the consequence that, in the face of any error or failure resulting from one’s own hasty action, the person feels unable to continue to strive to turn the situation around. This fact is associated with the difficulty to tolerate frustration, which is experienced as a difficult stimulus that is confronted in an accelerated way through active escape behaviour. Thus, this abandonment is nothing more than a new expression of impulsivity in the face of the emotional tension of the mistakes.

6. Emotional regulation problems

Impulsivity also manifests itself as the difficulty in regulating emotions, that is, in exercising deliberate control over them to prevent their unbridled irruption into daily life. Emotional regulation requires internal spaces willing to observe in detail what happens inside , in order to accept it and channel it into behaviours with some adaptive value. When this is not the case, the emotion can become unbearable in its intensity or frequency, and precipitate events that end up making the problem worse.

The influence of education

Impulsivity in children and adolescents has been consistently associated with a number of social factors, especially related to the environment where they spend most time in their lives: the family. There is evidence that certain patterns of parenting, or even particular episodes of relational violence, can persistently shape the way a person learns to regulate what unfolds within them.

Situations of physical, psychological and sexual abuse increase the risk of children and adolescents developing disruptive or antisocial behaviour over the years, with impulsivity rising as a cardinal feature. They may also be the consequence of parental care in which coercion, threats and emotional outbursts of an unpredictable nature are so frequent that the infant is unable to foresee his or her future and the consequences of their actions; selecting impulsivity as a form of coping.

As can be seen, impulsivity is a trait that can be learned in the family, especially when disorganisation is the main factor and the child or adolescent cannot develop more cohesive habits, through which to learn to manage efficiently the resources available to him/her (time, materials, etc.). In the same line, these families may not notice the importance of prosocial behaviours, ignoring their relevant reinforcement and preventing their consolidation in the child’s heritage (basic behavioural repertoire).

This is particularly important insofar as impulsiveness can have profoundly negative consequences for a person’s life in both the short and long term . Thus, it would be associated with drug consumption in adulthood, the diagnosis of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), low educational level, precarious access to the labour market, poor income from the activity performed and even the risk of incurring criminal behaviour or residing in socially depressed areas.

The latter consequences, in general, cannot be explained solely by the fact that they are impulsive, but also depend on the additional problems that often coexist with them (such as those described in one of the preceding paragraphs).

Your neurological bases in the brain

Impulsivity cannot be understood, as inferred from the above, as an isolated behaviour; but rather in the prism of a tendency to act quickly and without any meditation, with the aim of solving a situation (external demand) or an emotion (feeling difficult to manage). All of this can be better understood when investigating the brain activity of those who tend to react in this way, as there is evidence of particularities in a set of neurological structures associated with impulsivity , which we shall now describe.

One of the most important, without a doubt, is found in the prefrontal cortex; where multiple structural and functional differences have been appreciated when comparing impulsive subjects with those who are not. This area is one of the main structures involved in the very reasoning about our acts, as well as in the planning and inhibition of undesired behaviour or thoughts. It is now known that damage to it motivates changes in personality, or even triggers pseudo-psychotic and pseudo-depressive symptoms.

Within the same prefrontal cortex, which brings together many other structures with differentiated functions, the orbitofrontal cortex has a special role with regard to impulsivity . More specifically, it moderates the relationship between emotional responses and motor acts, dealing with the influence of the amygdala (the zone that processes emotional experience) and the prefrontal cortex (where all responses that might be triggered by one’s emotions are elicited or inhibited). Thus, it acts to “stop” or “allow” our actions in the face of some precipitating stimulus.

This connection is made through the role played by two well-known neurotransmitters: serotonin and dopamine . These are responsible for establishing the communication channel between the amygdala (limbic zone located deep in the brain) and the prefrontal cortex (more recent zone from the perspective of evolution and located in the anterior region of the parenchyma); through independent pathways for each of them, although in recent years it has been possible to corroborate that they interact by inhibiting each other.

In general it has been observed that a low level of serotonin is associated with increased impulsivity; including participation in risky activities, acts of heteroaggression, self-aggression, suicide and subjective feelings of laxity in self-control. Dopamine, specularly, is related to impulsivity in its excess; since the increase in its availability in the synaptic cleft is linked to the immediate search for reinforcements . All this contributes to the elementary features of impulsivity, as described throughout this article.

In short, impulsivity is a phenomenon that harbours great complexity, both in its clinical expression and in its aetiology (social, biological and psychological). So much so, that it is difficult to conceptually delimit its reality. It is necessary that in the future research on the issue be continued, since it will be with this that more effective treatments will be achieved to reduce its impact on the life of those who live with it or its close environment.

Bibliographic references:

  • Bakhshani, N.M. (2014). Impulsivity: A Predisposition Toward Risky Behaviors. International journal of high risk behaviors and addiction, 3, e20428. doi: 10.5812/ijhrba.20428.
  • Neto, R. and True, M. (2011). The development and treatment of impulsivity. Psycho, 42, 134.