In summary, we have provided empirical evidence for the existence of positive and negative urgency, and we have offered a theoretical framework to understand the operation of the trait. We next argue that the facilitative conditions for the emergence of the urgency traits have been identified in brain system, neurotransmitter, and neurogenetic research. Examining evidence relating to urgency at each of these levels is important for two reasons. First, if the theory that there are individual differences in an emotion-based disposition to rash action is correct, there should be identifiable, analogue processes in the brain. Second, to be able to describe an empirically defensible pathway from gene polymorphism to variation in neurotransmitter activity within key brain systems to the emergence of phenotypic personality traits, which themselves influence the likelihood of certain behavioral choices, is to offer something close to an integrated account of the emergence of individual differences in an important category of behavior. One basic goal of psychological inquiry is to provide such accounts. Thus, this analysis of urgency provides one example of the kind of integrative theory that is becoming increasingly possible, given advances in genetic research, neuroscience, and trait theory.
