Chp 5 - Biological Aspect Flashcards
Temperament
* Individual differences in… (4)
Appears so early, therefore it is a stable trait
Temp and personality are DIFF
- Activity (e.g. a child who is active right away, tends to have high emotional reactivity)
- Emotionality
- Sociability
- Impulsivity
Measuring Temperament (Childhood and Adulthood)
Childhood
- Behavioural observation (infants)
- Strange situation test
- Mother’s ratings
Adult
- Self-report
Strange situation test
The child is observed playing for 21 minutes while caregivers and strangers enter and leave the room, recreating the flow of the familiar and unfamiliar presence in most children’s lives. The situation varies in stressfulness and the child’s responses are observed
Attachment
Child and care giver going into a novel environment
- Novelty, mild stress
Measurement:
-With caregiver there, how much does the child explore?
-When cg leaves, how do they react?
-When they return, how do they react?
Genetic Component (Temperament in Twins)
Goldsmith et al.’s (1997) study on temperament in twins (reared together) revealed that monozygotic (identical) twins had much stronger correlations of temperament than dizygotic (fraternal) twins
Monozygotic:
In the womb: same nutrition, genetically identical
Correlation:
Only genetics? May not be the only factor
Importance of Temperament
The Child Effect
- Shapes the course and quality of social development
- Eg. activity level influences style of caregiver engagement
- What does the child bring to social interactions?
- The way you act reinforces the emotional reactivity
- affect how other people reacts towards us
Foundation for personality development
- Continuity with later personality
(If I’m highly social, I will seek out social interactions)
Kagan’s Theory of Temperament
Reaction to novelty at four months of age
- Reaction to the swinging stimuli
- Motor activity, reactivity
Inhibited (20%)
* Fearful of novelty
* Shy
* Greater stress response
Uninhibited – low reactive (40%)
* Quiet; little reaction
* Less fearful; more social
* Weaker stress response
The rest 40% in the middle
Lasting Impact of Temperament (6)
Longitudinal study of 1037 children born in 1972-73 (New Zealand)
*Temperament assessed
- Observed children three years of age
- Children were later given self-report tests at age 21
Childhood temperament classified as:
- Well-adjusted: social, pleasant, self-control, self-confidence (39%)
- Confident: friendly, adaptable, active (27%)
- Reserved: emotional control and persistence but more socially reserved (15%)
- Inhibited: shy, fearful, easily upset (8%)
- Under-controlled: impulsive, irritable, restless (10%)
behaviours at 21 consistent with temperament measured at 3
Amygdala (responsible for…, and example study)
The amygdala is responsible for…
- Fear learning
- Detects danger signals (detects safety signals?)
- Significance of stimuli
- Stress response
Example study
- Children assessed at two years of age
- Classified as inhibited or uninhibited (Kagan)
- When 22 years old, reaction to novel versus familiar faces (fMRI)
-> Response remains somewhat consistent
inhibited ppl generate a mild fear response
- End up being more isolated, due to not wanting to go see people
The Brain and Eysenck’s Dimensions of Personality (extroversion vs introversion)
Optimal arousal level: level of arousal that leads to the best performance of a task
Extroversion
- High optimal arousal, strong inhibitory processes
- Seek stimulation to overcome strong inhibitory controls and increase arousal
Introversion
- Low optimal arousal, weak inhibitory processes
- Avoid stimulation to compensate for weak inhibitory controls and keep arousal low
Optimal arousal level
level of arousal that leads to the best performance of a task
Eysenck Personality Inventory, Extroversion Scale
(noise task)
- 30 high-scoring (extroverts), 30 low-scoring (introverts)
- Rule from paired-associate task
- Examined the effects of noise on learning
- Participants were asked to choose the noise level of their environment, and were instructed to learn tasks in various noise-level environments
Results:
- People high in introversion chose a quieter environment and people high in extroversion chose a noisier environment
- In a quieter environment, introverts learned a task faster; in a noisy environment, extroverts learned a task faster
Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (BAS/BIS)
- Basic division of behaviour is to…
- Approach positive events
- Avoid dangerous events - Differences in sensitivity to rewards and punishments/threats
- I.e., if we are really sensitive to rewards, we will approach positive events rigorously; if we are not very sensitive to punishments/threats, we may not avoid dangerous events
Behavioural Activation System (BAS) (5)
- Approach to incentive stimuli
- Strong link to mesolimbic dopamine (DA)
High reactivity expressed as…
- Impulsivity
- Intensity of emotion on goal attainment
- Mania
Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) (5)
- Withdrawal to aversive stimuli
- BIS is considered to involve the amygdala (unsubstantial evidence for this link)
High activity/reactivity expressed as…
- Anxiety, fearfulness, and shyness
- Attentiveness (constantly scanning for dangerous events)
- Hypervigilance (never lets down guard; never accepts a safety signal)
Sensation Seeking Definition
-Motivation to seek varied, novel, and intense experiences
- Willingness to take risks for intense experiences
