Concept Quiz 9.2 Flashcards
A child’s _____, which is linked later to personality, is defined as a pattern of mood, activity, or emotional responsiveness.
Temperament
Most efforts to study how genetics affect personality use _____.
The twin study method
The critical finding of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart was that identical twins raised apart and together were _____.
Very similar to one another whether the overall positive correlation for a particular characteristic was strong or weak
Researchers have identified structural correlates in the brain of adults for four of the Big Five personality traits. Which Bug Five personality trait has not yet been correlated with a structure of the brain?
Openness
People who differ in neuroticism show different volumes of area of the prefrontal cortex, anterior conjugate cortex, and hippocampus, areas that have been implicated in _____.
Sensitivity to threat and stress
The relationship between brain structure and the Big Five personality traits is _____, meaning we do not know if they are responsible for personality, the result of personality, or the result of an unknown variable.
Correlational
What two dimensions of temperament appear to be particularly important for adult personality?
Reactivity and self-regulation
A sensitive person who reacts with anxiety to loud noises or unexpected experiences would be described as having a high level of reactivity. Toward which end of the continuum of the Big Five traits would this person likely fall?
Introversion and neuroticism
Genetics accounts for ____ of the variability seen in the population’s personality.
About half
Which of the following statements is true about the heritability ratio of personality traits in humans?
The heritability ratio does not tell us how an individual’s personality actually develops
Twin studies like the Minnesota Study of Twin Reared Apart are commonly used to explore _____.
How genetics affect personality
The text notes that Professor Jennifer Mather tested 44 octopuses systematically for their responses to stimuli such as being touched with a brush. What did she find?
That octopuses seemed to have unique and stable responses, similar to having a “personality”
The ____ dimension of temperament predicts a person’s response to new or challenging stimuli.
Reactivity
What does it mean that a particular personality trait, such as shyness or extroversion, has a heritability factor of .50?
Across the human population, the variations in that personality trait are influenced about equally by genetics and environmental factors
What does the early appearance of temperament in a person’s life suggest?
A possible genetic origin for personality
