Impulsivity

Impulsivity (or impulsiveness) is a personality trait characterized by the inclination of an individual to initiate behavior without adequate forethought as to the consequences of their actions, acting on the spur of the moment. Eysenck and Eysenck related impulsivity to risk-taking, lack of planning, and making up one's mind quickly. Impulsivity has been shown to be a major component of various neuropsychiatric disorders such as ADHD, substance abuse disorders and bipolar disorder. Impulsivity has been shown to have a genetic component and may be inheritable. Abnormal patterns of impulsivity may also be an acquired trait as a result of various neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury (TBI), hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, intrauterine hypoxia, bacterial or viral infections or neurotoxicity as a result of chemical exposure. The orbitofrontal cortex and right inferior frontal gyrus have been shown to play a part in impulse control. As a personality trait, impulsivity is part of normal behavior as it contributes to adaptive functioning. To do something and not be aware, especially for young children, is relatively common. Recent psychological research has suggested that there are various facets of impulsivity. Some researchers have proposed a 3-factor model according to impulsivity; attentional ("getting easily bored"), motor ("going into action") and cognitive ("inability to plan") factors. Recent theories have suggested five separate aspects of impulsivity:
 * Positive urgency; the tendency to act rashly while in a positive mood.
 * Negative urgency; the tendency to act rashly while in a negative mood.
 * Lack of premeditation; the inability to anticipate the future consequences of actions.
 * Lack of perseverance; the inability to follow through on a task
 * Sensation-seeking; the experience of positive feelings towards risky actions.

Psychometric tests for impulsivity

 * Lifetime History of Impulsive Behaviors; a self-report questionnaire of the lifetime prevalence of impulsive behavior.
 * UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (Whiteside and Lynam; 2001); a 45-item self-report questionnaire which distinguishes four facets of impulsivity: urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation-seeking. It is scored on a 4-point scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree.
 * UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-P); a revised version of the UPPS is a 59-item self-report questionnaire that adds an additional factor, "positive urgency".
 * UPPS-R Interview (UPPS-R); Semi-structured interview format for UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale.
 * Barratt Impulsiveness Scale; a 30-item self-report questionnaire.