Bio and personality Flashcards
How does the chemistry of the mind work?
Neurons communicate with neurotransmitters
Hormones stimulate or inhibit neural activity
About 60 chemicals transmit information in the brain and body
People differ in average levels; but remember that it is impossible to measure neurotransmitters in a living human brain (most data are inferential)
What do dendrites do?
projections on nerve cells that typically receive stimulation
What do Axons do?
pass on stimulation from the nerve cell
What do Afferent nerves do?
messages travel along these nerves from the body to the brain
What do Efferent nerves do?
messages travel along these nerves from the brain to the body (muscles, glands, organs)
What do Interneurons do?
: organize and regulate transmission between nerve cells; the biggest bundle of these is the brain
What is the neurotransmitter dopamine related to?
Possible relation with bipolar disorder, extraversion, impulsivity, and schizophrenia
Involved in responding to reward and approaching attractive objects and people
Related to sociability, general activity level, and novelty-seeking
What does dopamine activate?
Activates the behavioral activation system: reward seeking; strong BAS related to being energetic and impulsive
What is the Reward- Deficiency Syndrome Theory?
related to problems with processing dopamine (alcoholism, drug abuse, smoking, compulsive overeating, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, pathological gambling)
What are the Individual differences in development of nerve cells that produce and are responsive to dopamine?
related to motivation to seek rewards and enjoy them; related to extraversion (esp. the assertive, dominant, and outgoing facets)
How is dopamine related to plasticity?
extraversion and openness
What is serotonin?
- Role in inhibition of behavioral impulses, particularly emotional impulses; “soothing/smoothing”
- benefits of avoiding excessive worrying, being too quick to anger, and being oversensitive
What is Serotonin depletion syndrome?
Dangerous criminals, arsonists, and violent, suicidal individuals
Irrational anger, hypersensitivity to rejection, chronic pessimism, obsessive worry, and fear of risk taking
What is Prozac?
a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
What are the physical and psychological effects of prozac?
Physical effect: increases serotonin effectiveness
Psychological effects: controversial
Makes negative emotions less severe and doesn’t affect positive emotions
What are Hormones?
biological chemicals that affects the body in a location different from where the chemical is produced
What are the hormones; Epinephrine and norepinephrine (used to be called adrenaline and noradrenaline)?
Norepinephrine functions as both a neurotransmitter (in the CNS) and as a hormone in the body
Released in respond to stress; create the fight-or-flight response
Anxiety, neuroticism (think amphetamine effects)
Low levels implicated in some depression
Fact about Testosterone?
-About 10 times higher concentration in men (regulated by the hypothalamus)
Is testosterone linked with aggression?
Link with aggression is complex: some studies have found that high levels of testosterone (T) are related to aggression and behavioral control problems and criminal behaviors such as assault and drug use, but men with high T are not always aggressive
What behaviors is testosterone related to for men?
(sociability, self-acceptance, dominance, frustration when things don’t get done, sexual experience) and women (unprovoked violent crime, sexual interest and desire, sociability, impulsivity, lower inhibition and conformity)
Is there a causal direction between behavior and testosterone?
Unknown causal direction between T and behavior: T increased among fans of winning soccer team and decreased among fans of losing team; sexual activity may increase T, not the other way around
What is Cortisol?
Released in response to stress (fight or flight response)
Chronically high levels in people with severe stress, anxiety, and depression
Low levels related sensation seeking
In PTSD, levels are low, despite high arousal in “stress circuits” in the brain (e.g., the amygdala and norepinephrine systems)
What is Oxytocin?
The “love hormone”
Role in mother-child bonding—and father-child bonding, romantic attachment, and sexual response
Decreases fearfulness, increases sociability and relaxation
What are research methods used for in studying the brain?
make it possible to observe which parts of the brain are most active.
Frontal lobes and neocortex seem to play a role in:
social understanding and self-control.
emotions and decision making.
how people respond to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli
The chemical that is released in response to stress and prepares the body for fight-or-flight is?
epinephrine
