12.4

Question 1

how do temperament and personality relate?

Answer 1

• temperament is biological in origin, but rapidly begins to interact with the social and physical environments (e.g. in a pre-school environment)

Question 2

how is temperament important for adult personality (reactivity)?

reactivity = differences in ppl’s responses to novel or challenging stimuli

Answer 2

Higher reactivity is a characteristic of introversion and neuroticism

reactivity can vary by timing and intensity
=> respond immediately with intense anxiety
=> more slowly
=> don’t even notice the stimuli

Question 3

how is temperament important for adult personality (self-regulation: ability to control attention, inhibit responding to perceived stimuli)?

Answer 3

Self-regulation is associated with later conscientiousness

Question 4

how is genetics related to personality?

Answer 4

• genetics accounts for abt half of the variability seen in the population’s personality
• identical twins, despite growing up tgt or apart, were similar in terms of positive or weak correlation w a characteristic

Question 5

are personalities set in stone by heritability genetics?

Answer 5

no. environment accounts for nearly 60% - shared or non shared experiences
- experiences can influence personality

Question 6

what do genes produce that influence behavior?

Answer 6

proteins => they build the nervous system (this produces behavior)

Question 7

what forms the basis of personality in the brain?

individual differences in approach, avoidance, and inhibition of behavior reflect activity of [names of the 3 brain networks]

Answer 7

activity in brain networks
BAS: behavioral approach systems
FFFS: fight flight freeze system
BIS: behavioral inhibition system

Question 8

what do variations in BAS activity predict?

when is FFFS and BIS active respectively ?

Answer 8

1) predicts a person’s response to reward or impulsivity

2) when an organism unlearned punishment or lack of reward (correlate w/ reactivity)
when organism senses learned signals for punishment or lack of reward (anxiety levels / neurotocism)

Question 9

how to support evolutionary perspective of personality?

Answer 9

• identifying “personality” in other species, e.g. how dogs respond to frustration
• humans and chimpanzees share variations of the Big Five traits, but humans lost a sixth one - dominance - like due to unique selection pressures experienced by the 2 species