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C82PIN 18/19 > Eysenck and the PEN > Flashcards

Eysenck and the PEN Flashcards

1
Q

In what way is Eysenck’s PEN a theoretical approach?

A

It started with a theory (constructs), not data. Used the lexical approach (Klages, 1926/32): the most salient and socially relevant personality factors will be expressed as a single word. He also used Greek typology as a guide.

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2
Q

In what way is Eysenck’s PEN a model of temperament?

A

It assumes a biological basis for traits (polygenic model).

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3
Q

What were Eysenck’s two main initial supertraits?

A

Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N) - 1947

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4
Q

Why was Psychoticism (P) added as a supertrait later (1970)?

A

Because although E and N explained a lot of personality, some individuals who otherwise looked like neurotics didn’t have the anxiety component and extraversion and neuroticism alone didn’t account for variance in personality observed.

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5
Q

What four personality types are outlined by Greek typology?

A

Clockwise from top left:

  • Melancholic e.g. moody, anxious - sadness (introverted)
  • Choleric e.g. touchy, restless - bad-tempered (extraverted)
  • Phlegmatic e.g. passive, careful - unemotional, calm (introverted)
  • Sanguine e.g. sociable, outgoing - optimistic, positive (extraverted)
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6
Q

What pattern does introversion/extraversion follow in normal populations?

A

Standard bell curve.

Factors are bipolar and unimodal

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7
Q

What are introverts like according to Eysenck (1967)?

A
  • Quiet and introspective
  • Prefer to spend time alone
  • Well-ordered and predictable contexts preferred
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8
Q

How did Eysenck & Eysenck (1975) describe extraverts?

A
  • Externally driven
  • Like parties, friends and the company of others
  • Prefer excitement and stimulation
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9
Q

What was the original hypothesis which explained how introverts and extraverts differ?

A

The conditionability hypothesis.

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10
Q

Outline the conditionability hypothesis.

A

Introverts and extraverts differ in terms of readiness to learn. Introverts acquire eye-blink and GSR conditioning more readily (Eysenck, 1965) and generally learn more quickly, especially in response to punishment. However this study ignored some contradictory data.

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11
Q

What hypothesis replaced the conditionability hypothesis as an explanation of the differences between introverts and extraverts?

A

The arousal hypothesis (Eysenck, 1967).

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12
Q

Outline the arousal hypothesis.

A

Extraverts and introverts differ in terms of excitation and inhibition; introverts react more quickly and more strongly to excitation, slower and weaker to inhibition. This accounts for differences in conditionability.

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13
Q

What is the general arousal hypothesis?

A

Part of Eysenck’s theory which describes the different natural frequency or arousal states of the brains of people who are introverted versus people who are extraverted.

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14
Q

What is the notion of the optimal level of arousal (Hebb, 1955)?

A

The idea that there is an optimal level of arousal which is appropriate for the given task (as stated by the Yerkes-Dodson law), and that people’s optimum levels vary. Performance is poor for low and high arousal but good in the middle.

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15
Q

What does Wundt’s hedonic curve and individual differences show?

A

A comparison of hedonic tone with arousal potential of situation for introverts and extraverts. Shows that introverts need less stimulation and find stimuli pleasant (compared to boring) earlier than extraverts.

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16
Q

What biological basis for extraversion was outlined by Eysenck?

A

Ascending Reticular Activating System (ARAS) activity.

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17
Q

What is the ARAS?

A

A structure in the brainstem connected to thalamus, hypothalamus and cortex
Controls overall cortical arousal, regulates wakefulness, alertness, vigilance and response to sensory input
Acts as a gateway to arousal.
Consists of the reticulo-cortical and reticulo-limbic systems

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18
Q

What did Eysenck propose about introverts’ reticulo-cortical system?

A

Higher levels of activity in the reticulo-cortical system, which allows too much arousal in. Consequently they seek out contexts with low stimulation.

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19
Q

What did Eysenck propose about extraverts’ reticulo-cortical system?

A

Lower levels of activity in the reticulo-cortical system, which allows too little arousal in. Consequently they seek out contexts with high stimulation.

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20
Q

What are the implications of the arousal hypothesis?

A

Sensory thresholds (sound, pain etc.) are lower in introverts and they seek reduction so they should show:

  • Higher levels of cortical activity than extraverts (EEG)
  • More autonomic nervous system activity
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21
Q

What was originally predicted about arousal differences between introverts and extraverts?

A

That they should be visible at baseline, but this was later revised to predict differences in reactivity, as the real differences between introverts and extraverts lies in arousability - baseline is the same but introverts react faster and to a greater extent.

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22
Q

What pattern does stability/neuroticism follow in normal populations?

A

Normal bell curve, where the clinical sample is the high end of curve.

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23
Q

Describe neurotics.

A

Emotionally unstable - they are anxious, stressed, tearful and depressed.
Slow to return to ‘even keel’ after stress

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24
Q

How did Eysenck (1965) describe emotionally stable people?

A

Even tempered, quick to return to equilibrium after stress, calm, slow to react emotionally.

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25
Q

Outline the biological basis for neuroticism.

A

Neuroticism is characterised by hypersensitivity in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates emotions, especially fear. Neurotics consequently react more to threatening environments.
ANS controls emotional responsiveness to emergency - fight or flight

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26
Q

How does the trait of psychoticism appear in the general population?

A

A highly skewed curve towards low P (normality).

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27
Q

Describe people high in psychoticism.

A

Cruel, risk-taking, impulsive and sensation seeking

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28
Q

What did Eysenck suggest as the biological basis for psychoticism?

A

Differences in testosterone and enzymes like monoamine oxidase
Patients with psychotic episodes have low levels of MAO

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29
Q

What biological properties is psychoticism linked to?

A 
Dopaminergic activity (Lester, 1989), specifically D2/D3 binding in basal ganglia (Gray, Pickering & Gray, 1994), as well as spontaneous eye-blink rate as biomarker for DA production in striatum (Colzato et al., 2005).
Also linked to other biological correlates (e.g. low levels of monoamine oxidase, cortisol, noradrenaline)
30
Q

Describe the hierarchical structure of Eysenck’s PEN model.

A

Super trait - factor made up of several inter-related traits
Facet level - semi permanent personality dispositions
Habitual response level - behaviours that continue to reoccur under certain circumstances
Specific response level - low level behaviours

31
Q

What was Eysenck’s opinion on exploratory factor analysis?

A

He saw it as useful (invaluable under certain circumstances) but believed it must be abandoned as soon as possible in order to gain a more causal understanding of the factors and what they mean.

32
Q

What methods of measuring traits are used?

A
  • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975)
  • EPQ-R (Eysenck et al., 1985) – 100 items
  • EPQ-RS (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1997) – 48 items/12 per superfactor + Lie scale (social desirability)
  • Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1991) – commercial
33
Q

What are the five main factors which support the biological underpinning of traits?

A
  1. Physiological substrates
  2. Hereditary or genetic contribution
  3. Temporal stability
  4. Cross-cultural evidence
  5. Cross -species evidence (similar traits in non-humans)
34
Q

What evidence do physiological substrates provide for Eysenck’s PEN?

A

Good evidence for extraversion and neuroticism.

35
Q

Outline the evidence from physiological substrates supporting the idea of extraversion.

A

Extraversion is linked to reward processing centres (Clark & Watson, 2008) and increased volume of medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (DeYoung et al., 2010). - medial OFC linked to approach behaviours
There’s also structural evidence - Wright et al. (2006) found a negative correlation between extraversion and cortical thickness in lateral prefrontal cortex and fusiform cortex even after controlling for age and sex.

36
Q

Outline the evidence from physiological substrates supporting the idea of neuroticism.

A

Structural evidence by Wright et al. (2006) who found a negative correlation between neuroticism and cortical thickness in the orbitofrontal cortex. Neuroticism is also linked to threat processing (Depue & Collins, 1999), decreased volume in right dorsomedial PFC and posterior hippocampus (emotion regulation) and portions of basal ganglia and midbrain, and increased volume in mid-cingulate cortex (threat detection), extending into the white matter of the cingulate gyrus and the caudate.

37
Q

What did Bouchard & Loehlin (2001) state about genetic contribution and Eysenck’s PEN?

A

That there’s good evidence for genetic contribution.

38
Q

What have twin studies shown about E and N?

A 
MZ twins correlation: 
.43 for E, .42 for N
DZ twins correlation:
.14 for E and .08 for N
Suggests genetic influence - Read et al. 2006
39
Q

What evidence is there for high genetic involvement in PEN supertraits?

A

Shared environment offers little additional explanation (Keller et al., 2005).
E and N scores over 4yrs best explained by zygosity (Read et al., 2006), with diminishing influence of NS environment.
High levels of explanation from genetic sources maintain even when peer report from individuals who only know one twin (Wolf et al., 2004)

40
Q

What is a problem with the idea of genetic contribution to Eysenck’s PEN?

A

No genes of major effect have been found (Gillespie et al., 2008) yet.

41
Q

How temporally stable are the supertraits of the PEN?

A

Neuroticism and extraversion via variety measures (6-30yrs) median r=.64
Psychoticism less stable and reliable - impulsivity peaks during adolescence, which could suggest a hormone hypothesis. (See Larsen and Buss (2005) for overview)

42
Q

What does cross-cultural evidence show about PEN?

A

Caruso et al. (2001): good overall reliability for E and N (less so for P).
- But reliability is affected by standard deviation of scores: as SD increases, reliability can reduce
- Reliability also affected by skew (cf. P)
Barrett et al. (1998): 34 countries factor structure of EPQ-R robust compared to UK.

43
Q

What methods are used to research traits in non-humans?

A
  • Behavioural coding (recording animal response in different situations)
  • Trait ratings (subjective, but perhaps more resource effective rather than behavioural coding)
44
Q

What issues are there with measurement when studying traits in non-humans?

A

Inter-observer rating:

  • Problem of shared stereotypes
  • Are some species easier to judge?, Difficult to track or inaccessible, behaviours limited by environment
  • Test-retest reliability
45
Q

What are issues of validity when measuring traits in non-humans?

A

Some good support that animals described as extraverted do engage in more exploratory behaviours, for example.
However, danger of using the same criteria to judge the personality trait as is used for criterion
Problem of jingle fallacy in much animal personality research makes it difficult to evaluate the extent to which E, N and P are truly seen.

46
Q

What did Gosling & John (1999) do?

A

19 factorial studies of personality and behaviour codings in 12 non-human species. Found that classification of behavioural factors resemble trait rating factors.

47
Q

What is the problem with anthropomorphism (Griffin, 1992)?

A
  • Humans are just too different from animals so any personality viewed is projection
  • Striking consistency in judgments of many animals’ personality across species (Gosling and John, 1999)
  • Different factor structures for personality in animals (Gosling and John, 1998)
  • Behaviours identified fit the trait descriptions (Wemelsfelder et al., 2000)
48
Q

Outline the evolutionary approach to traits in non-humans.

A

Assumes evolution of physical traits and behaviours by natural selection, but it is reluctant to ascribe traits, emotions and cognitions to animals. Also there’s the problem of domestication of animals (Darwin, 1871) – selection no longer natural. However evolution from wolves to dogs may have been adaptive rather than humans consciously breeding (Morey, 1994).

49
Q

What are the advantages of animal models for studying biological and genetic underpinnings?

A
  • Experimental control, resources/time constraints
  • Specific biological measures that unethical/impractical in humans
  • Behaviour-genetic studies in inbred/knock-out rats/mice e.g. behavioural genomics and gene mapping
  • Comprehensive neurobiological model of E derived from human and animal research (Depue & Collins, 1999)
50
Q

What are some general evaluation points for Eysenck’s PEN?

A

A theory of personality should be more than descriptive, which it is - Eysenck’s model is also ‘causal’.
A theory of personality needs a neuro-psychology of traits, and Eysenck’s model has biological basis relating to cortical and limbic sensitivity.

51
Q

Outline social behaviour evidence for extraversion.

A

Hergenhahn & Olson, 2003:

  • E earlier and more frequent sexual activity
  • I better academic achievement
52
Q

Outline conditioning evidence for extraversion.

A

Introverts condition better

53
Q

Outline perception evidence for extraversion.

A
  • E adjust to louder tones better

- E have higher pain threshold

54
Q

What did Revelle, Amaral and Turiff (1976) do?

A

Investigated how extraverts and introverts react to time pressure and caffeine. Found that introverts’ performance fell by .63 SD and extraverts by .44.

55
Q

What evidence is there to support the arousal hypothesis regarding those low in E (introverts)?

A

Drug effects:
- require more sedation
EEG:
- Show greater psychophysiological arousal and are more reactive (Gale, 1987)
- Show greater cortical arousal in marginal arousing tasks using EEG (Hagemann et al., 2009)

56
Q

What evidence is there for neuroticism regarding those high in N?

A
  • Avoidance of ambiguous stimuli - they avoid stimuli associated with punishment (Lomm et al., 2010)
  • Social anxiety - they experience more anxiety after a face to face compared to computer mediated encounter (Rice and Markey, 2009)
  • Stress response - they show greater reactivity (BP and total peripheral resistance) in social rather than maths task (Jonassaint et al., 1009).
57
Q

What evidence is there for psychoticism regarding those high in P?

A
  • Aggression - they show a preference for and enjoyment of violent films (Bruggeman & Barry, 2002)
  • Face processing - they have reduced attention capture by angry faces (Miskovic et al., 2010)
  • Antisocial behaviour - they’re at greater risk of antisocial behaviour across the lifespan (Klinteberg et al., 2008).
58
Q

What challenges are there for Eysenck’s PEN model?

A
  1. Costa and McCrae: Five Factor Model
    - P = unstable and made of 2 constructs (Agreeableness and Conscientiousness)
  2. Digman – developmental approach
    - Alpha and beta superfactors (cf. Markon et al., 2005)
    - Four factor model
    - Clinical and excludes openness
  3. Hampson – ignores social constructionism
    - Personality driven by self-observer and observer
    - Ignores the significance of society and social interaction
  4. Mischel –ignores interaction with situation
    - Proposes underlying meta-theory
    - Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) framework
  5. Revelle et al., (1980)
    - Stress may enhance performance of under-aroused extraverts.
59
Q

What constitutes a factor?

A

There must be psychometric evidence - must be reliable and replicable
There must be a biological basis to the factor - heritability and lead to physiological changes
Theoretically plausible
Socially relevant - a factor must predict real world outcomes

60
Q

What property do the three super traits have?

A

They are orthogonal - have little to no correlation between each other

61
Q

What is extraversion?

A

Tendency to be outgoing, social and energetic

62
Q

Gale (1984)

A

Participnts choose level of music playing whilst completing demanding cognitive task
Introverts choose low leves and perform better under these conditions, extraverts prefer louder, noisier environments

63
Q

Gale (1983)

A

Summarised 33 studies using EEG looking at activity levels in extraverts and introverts.
22 out of 33 studies - extraverts had greater cortical arousal

64
Q

What are the two components of the ARAS?

A

Reticulo-cortical system

Reticulo-limbic system

65
Q

Where is the reticulo-limbic system located?

A

Visceral area and consists of the amygdala, hippocampus, septum, cingulum and hypothalamus

66
Q

How is the reticulo-limbic system responsible for neuroticism?

A

Levels of arousability are induced by emotinal stimuli and the arousing activity in the brain can be translated into intense emotions

67
Q

What is psychoticism?

A

An individual’s level of conformity, aggression and feelings for others

68
Q

What is the Barnum effect?

A

Phenomenon where the description of someone’s personality is made in a broad way yet still feels tailored to the individual

69
Q

What is faking good?

A

Instances where participants modify their responses in order to appear in a more positive light - can skew results from personality questionnaires

70
Q

How does factor analysis work?

A

Series of observations
Categorises into clusters relting to latent variable
Examines joint variation across items and establishes pattern of relation to each other

71
Q

Why is factor analysis useful?

A

Useful for data reduction
Determining which variables or observations fit most with the components
Number of components should be less than original number of observations and account for high proportion of variance

C82PIN 18/19 (11 decks)

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