Chapter Seven

Question 1

electrodermal activity

Answer 1

1) placing two electrodes on the palm of one hand
2) then a very low voltage of electricity is put through one electrode into the skin
3) then the researcher measures how much electricity is present in the other electrode
4) so the more sympathetic nervous system activity there is, the more water produced by the sweat glands in the skin, and the better electricity conducted

Question 2

electrodermal activity indications

Answer 2

sympathetic nervous system activity

Question 3

how can electrodermal activity responses be elicited

Answer 3

sudden noises, emotional pictures with charged content, mental effort, pain and emotional reactions

Question 4

cardiac reactivity

Answer 4

• can be measured through blood pressure and heart rate
• has been associated with type a personality (characterized by impatience, competitiveness, hostility)

Question 5

electroencephalogram (EEG)

Answer 5

measure small amounts of electricity by electrodes placed on the scalp when participant is asleep, awake or is doing a task

Question 6

evoked potential techniques

Answer 6

the brain EEG measured but the participant is given a stimulus, such as a tone or a flash of light, and the searchers assess the participant’s brain responsiveness to the stimulus

Question 7

fMRI

Answer 7

allows physicians and researchers to look inside of brains to show what portions of the brain are active while a person is performing particular tasks

Question 8

testosterone measures

Answer 8

linked to uninhibited, aggressive and risk-taking behaviour patterns

Question 9

cortisol measures

Answer 9

• byproduct of the hormone noradrenaline
• shy children have high levels of cortisol, so they experience more stress

Question 10

eysenck’s original theory of the essential physiological difference between introverts and extraverts

Answer 10

proposed that introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity in the brain’s ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) than extraverts

Question 11

ARAS

Answer 11

a structure in the brain stem thought to control overall cortical arousal

Question 12

the “optimal level of arousal”

Answer 12

a level of arousal that is just right for any given task (ie. not too sleepy for an exam and not too anxious for it but perfectly focused, attentive and alert)

Question 13

overaroused introverts

Answer 13

more restrained and inhibited so they tend to avoid active social interactions to lower their arousal

Question 14

underaroused extraverts

Answer 14

need their arousal level higher so they seek out stimulating activities and engage in more unrestrained behaviours

Question 15

eysenck’s REVISED theory of the essential physiological difference between introverts and extraverts

Answer 15

the real difference lies in their arousability, or arousal response, NOT their baseline arousal level

Question 16

extraverts choosing more stimulating environments than introverts

Answer 16

• lab studies show that extraverts will press a button at a higher rate than introverts when the button changes in the visual environment
• people studying in noisy study rooms are more extraverted than those who studied in quieter rooms

Question 17

russell green study

Answer 17

• tested the hypothesis that although introverts should choose lower levels of stimulation than extravetrs, these two groups should be equivalent in physiological arousal when performing under their chosen levels of stimulation
• showed that working under the noise levels selected by themselves or by someone from their personality group, there were no differences between introvert and extraverts

Question 18

gray’s original conception of BAS and BIS

Answer 18

based on just the two hypothesized biological systems in the brain (BAS and BIS)

Question 19

behavioural activation system (BAS)

Answer 19

• responsive to incentives, such as cues for reward, and regulates approach behaviour
• when the BAS recognizes a potentially rewarding stimulus, it triggers approach behaviour
• ie. when a child learns that an ice cream truck made deliveries to their neighbourhood while playing music, when they hear the music (cue of reward), the BAS creates the urge to run out onto the street to find the ice cream truck (approach motivation)

Question 20

behavioural inhibition system (BIS)

Answer 20

• responsive to cues for punishment, frustration and uncertainty
• effect of BIS activation is to cease/inhibit behaviour or to bring about avoidance behaviour
• ie. being scolded by your mother for running onto the street, and the street becomes a punishment cue to the BIS, causing you to inhibit your running onto the street behaviour

Question 21

gray’s theory as an alternative to eysenck’s concepts of neuroticism and extraversion

Answer 21

• those highly extraverted and a bit neurotic are the most impulsive
• the other end of the impulsivity dimension, individuals are introverted and emotionally stable
• those who are a bit introverted and highly neurotic are seen as the most prone to anxiety
• at the other end of the anxiety dimension are individuals who are extraverted and emotionally stable
• BAS = extraversion
• BIS = neuroticism

Question 21

gray’s more recent REVISED theory redefining BIS, contrasted with FFFS

Answer 21

• FFFS responds to stimuli that are immediately threatening, associated with fear and triggers avoidance behaviours (fight, fight or freeze)
• BIS is activated in situations where you are unsure how to respond to achieve some goal, associated with anxiety and rumination
• both associated with anxiety/fear

Question 21

association between BAS/BIS and anxiety/impulsivity

Answer 21

• the BIS is responsible for anxiety
• the BAS is responsible for impulsivity (the inability to inhibit responses)

Question 22

BAS association with learning by being rewarded

Answer 22

• high BAS individuals work faster and become more accurate when they work for reward
• high BIS individuals predicted better performance in the punishment condition

Question 23

sensation seeking

Answer 23

the tendency to seek out thrilling and exciting activities, take risks and avoid boredom

Question 24

four aspects of sensation seeking

Answer 24

• thrill and adventure seeking
• experience seeking
• disinhibition
• boredom susceptibility

Question 25

hebb’s theory of optimal level of arousal

Answer 25

• states that people are motivated to reach an optimal level of arousal
• if underaroused relative to the optimal level, an increase in arousal is rewarding
• if overaroused, a decrease in arousal is rewarding

Question 26

zuckerman’s research

Answer 26

• in a sensory deprivation research, zuckerman and haber found that some people were not as distressed as others by the sensory deprivation experience
• in early experiments, some people found sensory deprivation extremely unpleasant
• called them sensation seekers because they appeared to seek out stimulation not just in the experiment but in their everyday lives as well
• low sensation seekers were able to tolerate sensory deprivation for longer periods of time
• there is a moderately strong positive correlation between extraversion and sensation seeking

Question 27

monoamine oxidase (MAO)

Answer 27

• enzymes responsible for maintaining the proper level of neurotransmitters (NTs) that allows nerve impulses to pass
• high sensation seekers tend to have low levels of MAO in their bloodstream compared to low sensation seekers

Question 28

brain symmetry

Answer 28

• the left and right sides of the brain are specialized, with asymmetry in the control of various psychological functions
• constantly produces small amounts of electrical activity, like rythmic and exhibits waves that are fast or slow, depending on neurological activation in the brain

Question 29

alpha waves

Answer 29

• oscilates at 8-12 times a second
• amount of waves present in a given time period is an indicator of brain activity during that time period
• given off when a person is calm, relaxed, sleepy, not attentive
• the less alpha wave activity present, the more we can assume that part of the brain was active

Question 30

the left and right hemisphere emotion associations

Answer 30

• the left hemisphere is associated with pleasant emotions
• the right hemisphere is associated with unpleasant emotions

Question 31

research in individual differences in asymmetry early life

Answer 31

• infants showed relatively more left than right brain activation to a sweet solution than a bitter solution

Question 32

fox and colleagues study on brain stability in early life

Answer 32

• studied a group of infants at 7 months and again at 12 months
• found that EEG measures of hemisphere asymmetry taken at those two time periods were highly correlated
• suggested stability over time in frontal brain asymmetry

Question 33

the influence of mindfulness meditation on brain asymmetry

Answer 33

• before the mindfulness training, subjects tended toward a slightly right-sided asymmetry, suggesting chronic stress
• after the training, subjects showed a significant shift towards the left-sided asymmetry (less stress, feeling more energized, more engaged in their work and less anxiety)