Eysenck's PEN Model / Gray's RST Model Flashcards
what 3 domains make up eyseneck’s PEN theory
psychoticism
extraversion
neuroticism
what does eyseneck’s PEN theory assume
the 3 domains can be used to describe the entire population
domains are not influenced by one another (being high in one does not make you high / low in another)
what 4 sources of evidence support eysenck’s PEN theory
psychometric evidence
biological basis
theoretically plausible
predictive of social issues
how did eysenck describe introverts and extroverts
intro - prefers spending time alone, in predictable contexts and are well-ordered
extro - prefers excitement and stimulation, talkative, externally driven
how did eysenck describe people who are neurotic
emotionally unstable, anxious, fearful, tense, moody, irritable, depressed, poor sleep
how did eysenck describe someone who is emotionally stable
even tempered, quick to return to equilibrium after stressful event, calm
how did eysenck describe psychopaths
aggressive, cold, lacking empathy, creative
how did eysenck describe someone sociable
unselfish, sympathetic, cooperative, conventional
what is the key assumption of the biological basis of PEN
personality traits reflect individual differences in brain function
what 4 brain regions are associated with eysenck’s PEN theory
reticular formation (networks of nuclei in the brainstem)
ARAS (ascending pathways to cortex)
cortex (outermost layer of the brain)
limbic system (deep brain structure)
how does the limbic system relate to neuroticism
it controls response to emotional stimuli
how does the reticulo-cortical circuit relate to extraversion
controls cortical arousal generated by incoming stimuli
this system is more aroused in introverts than extraverts
how does the ARAS relate to extraversion
people low in extraversion display higher levels of activity in ARAS (too much is let in)
people high in extraversion display lower levels of activity in ARAS cause them to seek situations with high stimulation
what is the relationship between performance and arousal
performance improves as arousal increases, but decreases when it becomes too high
arousal has an optimal level which is different for tasks and different people
how does the limbic system relate to neuroticism
it regulates the sympathetic nervous system, which is in charge of fight or flight
according to eysenck, people high in neuroticism display hypersensitivity in the SNS
increased activation of limbic system is needed to regulate this response
what brain areas explain neuroticism
in the original PEN model, underspecified biological basis
in recent years, amygdala
what questionnaires are used to measure eysenck’s PEN theory
EPI
EPQ
EPQ-R
Short-scale EPQ-R
what is contained in the short-scale EPQ-R
12 items for each domain
12 items which measure whether the questionnaire has been answered truthfully
what did eysenck find from his questionnaire
good internal consistency for extraversion and neuroticism
questionable internal consistency for psychoticism
what is gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory
argues that differences in personality stems from the extent to which people respond to rewards and punishment
gray thought PEN lacked support
what are the key principles of gray’s RST
some people are highly sensitive to positive R
some people are highly sensitive to negative R
people learn faster when there are aversive / pleasant stimuli depending on their sensitivity
what are the biological components of gray’s RST
behavioural activation system
(sensitivity to rewards and pleasant stimuli)
dopamine
behavioural inhibition system
(sensitivity to punishment and aversive stimuli)
noradrenaline and serotonin
fight-flight system
unconditioned fear and responses
what are the 3 subscales of BAS in RST
reward responsiveness
drive
fun seeking
what revisions were made to gray’s RST by gray & mcnaughton
BAS largely unchanged
Fight-flight-freeze system
global avoidance and escape system - sensitive to conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
BIS - conflict resolution between FFFS and BAS
what did costa and mccrae find regarding PEN’s temporal stability
extraversion and neuroticism stable over time periods ranging from 6-30 years
did not examine psychoticism
what did srivastava find regarding PEN’s temporal stability
neuroticism showed substantial cross-sectional age differences in women but not in men
what did carver and white find regarding the temporal stability of the RST model
the test-retest reliability of the BIS-BAS questionnaires after 8 weeks was “acceptable” but not “good”
what did gosling and john find regarding similarity across species in Eysneck’s PEN theory
many of 12 animal species showed extravert and neurotic behaviour
what did gray find regarding the similarity of species of Gray’s RST
rats have separate systems controlling their behaviour in reaction to rewarding and punishing stimuli
what are 3 challenges faced when observing similarities across species
inter-rater reliability
are some personality traits easier to observe
are some species easier to observe
what did caruso et al find regarding cross-cultural evidence for eysenck’s PEN theory
median internal consistency was “good” for extraversion
“acceptable for neuroticism
“questionable” for psychoticism
what did plomin et al find regarding support for hereditary contributions to PEN theory
heritability accounts for 51% of extraversion and 46% for neuroticism
psychoticism was not measured
what did takahashi et al find regarding genetic contributions for RST
during childhood and adolescence, stable genetic influences on BIS and BAS
what type of brain structures can be linked to specific behaviours / traits
cortical thickness - gray matter
volume - surface area
gyrification - folding of cortex
what did wright et al find regarding structural brain measures as an explanation for personality traits
extraversion was negatively correlated with cortical thickness in Pre-FC
neuroticism was negatively correlated with cortical thickness in Orbito-FC
what did barros-loscertales et al find regarding functional brain measures explaining personality traits
appetitive pictures would activate BAS related regions
aversive pictures would activate BIS-FFFS structures
