Reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) is a major neuropsychological personality theory. However, a detailed introduction is lacking in Japanese. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of RST and discusses future perspectives. First, this paper introduces the original form of RST, a personality theory that introduced punishment sensitivity and rewards sensitivity. Second, this paper describes RST and Gray and McNaughton’s (2000) revised version of the RST. Third, this paper summarizes the relationship between RST and emotional disorders. Fourth, review of the Japanese literature in this study revealed that a comparison of the changes made by the revised RST with descriptions of the current RST aimed at Japanese speakers tended to show a lack of explanation of the major changes in the revised RST. Based on these findings, the author proposed a Japanese-translation of the key concepts in RST. Finally, future directions for RST research are discussed.(PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)