Final Exam Flashcards
Can temperament change across the lifetime?
no, temperament remains relatively stable over time
How does Dr. Goff define temperament?
- individual differences in quality and intensity of our internal & external environment
- emerges early in life
- shows some stability over time
- is pervasive across a wide range of situations
What is personality? How does it relate to temperament?
- the typical behavioral patterns (including emotions and thoughts) that characterize a person’s adaptation to the events of life
- its an emergent property made up of temperament & the environment where we develop
How do Thomas & Chess define temperament?
- the tendency to respond in characteristic and predictable ways to environmental events
Describe the temperament study conducted by Thomas & Chess (1977).
- longitudinal study interviewing mothers of 2-3 month olds & continued interviewing children through young adulthood
- the questions were about 9 dimensions… activity level, biological rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal, adaptability, intensity of reaction, quality of mood, persistence/attention span, distractibility, sensory threshold
- the dimensions clustered into 3 temperament profiles… flexible, fearful, feisty
Describe the temperament profiles proposed by Thomas and Chess.
Flexible (“easy,” 40%)
- regular rhythms (ex: eats at same time each day, follows sleep schedule)
- positive mood
- adaptability
- low intensity
- low sensitivity
Fearful (cautious/slow to learn, 15%):
- adapts slowly
- withdraws
Feisty (“difficult,” 10%)
- active
- intense
- distractible
- sensitive
- irregular
- moody
How does Kagan (1987) define temperament?
- behavioral inhibition = a temperament that reflects one’s tendency to withdraw from unfamiliar, people, situations, or things
- can be classified as inhibited (withdrawing from novel stimuli/shy/fearful) or uninhibited (no negative reaction to novelty/little fear of new situations)
What evidence is there for Kagan’s perspective on temperament?
- his study waved a single toy and then multiple toys/balloons in front of babies’ faces
- the uninhibited girl in infancy was totally unfazed by them
- the inhibited boy didn’t really like just the 1 but then cried a ton for the 3 with balloons
- then these kids at age 10 still showed these traits when brought in to wait by a researcher
- the uninhibited girl talked a lot, was smiley, and oriented herself toward the researcher she didn’t know
- the inhibited boy gave short answers to her questions, looked down the whole time, was fidgeting with his bands, way shy, and seemed very nervous/uncomfortable
- extremes showed the most stability over time
What is heterotypic continuity in relation to temperament?
- phenotypes in infancy lead to different phenotypes in adulthood (but they still represent the same trait)
- ex: inhibited temperament in infancy could lead to anxiety in childhood/adolescence/adulthood
- amygdala identified as long-term mediator of this continuity
What does Kagan say determines inhibited vs uninhibited temperament?
- the amygdala
Describe amygdala development
- basic neuroanatomical architecture is present at birth
- amygdala volumetric growth is complete by age 4 in girls & 6 in boys (so sensitive period is somewhere before age 4)
- the most rapid rate of development is within the early postnatal period (right after birth)
Which level of inhibition shows more activation of the amygdala to novel (and familiar) stimuli?
- inhibited shows more activations
- uninhibited shows less inhibition (less likely to see novel things as threatening)
What is the function of the amygdala?
- emotional responses
- autonomic responses to fear
- plays role in emotional reactivity
How does Fox define temperament?
- the tendency to express particular emotions with a certain intensity that is unique to each individual
What is emotion?
- reflects a kind of motion outward (calling us to action to do something)
- inferred
- emotions can only be deducted from particular types of evidence (that’s how we measure them)
- reactive
- brought on in response to stimuli, not random
- includes subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action, and behavior
- functional
- it serves a functional purpose, not irrational (ex: fear keeps us safe)
- essential for survival & helps us navigate the world
- rapid system
- usually works faster than cognitive processes
Emotion processing includes both _________ and _________.
- emotional processing includes both REACTIVITY and REGULATION
How does Rothbart (2011) define temperament?
- temperament is a spectra of reactivity & regulation…
- reactivity refers to individual differences in the emotional arousability of the child… how easily the child is moved to action
- regulation refers to individual differences in managing these reactive emotional tendencies
- focused on both positive and negative emotionality
- more emphasis on development (ex: neuro-cortical maturation)
- 4 temperament styles
What are Rothbart’s temperament styles?
-On 2 dimensions of reactivity and regulation
1) low reactivity, high regulation:
- more fearful & controlled children
- not easily impressed by positive or negative events
- maintain high levels of regulation
2) low reactivity, low regulation:
- appear to be withdrawn
- not excited by their surroundings
- not directed into any intentional program of action
3) high reactivity, high regulation:
- many consider the optimal profile
- children easily impressed by events in their environment
- but can self-regulate and use their excitement toward goal-directed behavior
4) high reactivity, low regulation:
- children run the risk of developing attention or hyperactivity problems
- can be easily excited/thrown off balance by stimulation
- lack self-regulation to use excitement toward adaptive goals (playing, learning, mastery of skills)
What does the developmental perspective on temperament say?
part of developmental change involves…
- reactivity: learning about safety and danger in the environment (impacted by amygdala)
- regulation: learning how to manage our emotions to achieve our goals (related to prefrontal cortex)
Describe the development of self-regulation
- with age comes an increasing ability to regulate one’s own emotions…
- in first months of life, caregivers help infants regulate emotional arousal by controlling their exposure to stimulation events (ex: covering from sun, moving away from loud noises, called coregulation)
- by 6 months, infants can reduce their distress by averting their gaze and sometimes by self-soothing (learning how to regulate)
- between ages 1 and 2, infants increasingly turn their attention to non-distressing objects of people to distract themselves from sources of distress (ex: looking to mom & seeing her smiling after falling off monkey bars)
Which neural region is implicated in emotional regulation?
- prefrontal cortex
- can facilitate or attenuate the amygdala during affect regulation in adults
- not fully developed until age 25
Compare top-down regulation and bottom-up regulation.
Top-Down regulation:
- prefrontal cortex activated
- decreasing negative emotions
- amygdala telling you that you’re okay
- ex: newscaster trying to calm down after the lizard jumped on him
Bottom-up regulation:
- reflexive/automatic process
- increasing negative emotions
- amygdala is screaming & louder here
- bottom-up is ALWAYS easier than top-down
- ex: the newscaster falling when the lizard jumped on him
the amygdala and prefrontal cortex connect them
Is it easier to decrease or increase negative emotions?
Easier to increase (bottom-up) than decrease (bottom-down)
Is temperament a nature or nurture phenomenon?
- both
- traditionally viewed as genetic (nature)
- but we know the genes impact with the environment b/c its an emergent property of the brain (nurture)
- temperament is susceptible to the same influence as anything else discussed in class… enivronment can affect brain so it can also affect temperament
Which is more damaging: physical or relational aggression?
Relational
How does Schneider’s rhesus monkeys study relate to temperament?
- monkeys were expose to noise stressors once a day while pregnant
- the offspring were highly stress reactive, had little exploration, and were clingy
- this shows that the prenatal environment can influence temperament
- reinforces that environmental stimuli has an impact
When is the most rapid rate of development of the amygdala?
within the early postnatal period
Define attachment
- a close emotional relationship between 2 persons
- characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity
- it is enduring across space and time
Describe Harry Harlow’s work
- monkeys were deprived of all early social interactions
- were presented with wire mom w/ bottle & cloth mom w/ out bottle
- overall they preferred the cloth mother and were choosing nurturing over sustenance
- some other monkeys were raised totally alone w/ no fake moms & when they got scared they didn’t run to either mom (just isolated) and had social deficits (some even died)
- strongly supported the view that healthy social and emotional development is rooted in children’s early social interactions with adults
Describe John Bowbly’s attachment theory?
- posits that children are predisposed to develop attachments with caregivers as a means of increasing the chances of their own survival
- evolutionary theory says…
- they’re born w/ tendencies that promote survival of the species
- attachment behaviors are adaptive b/c they help protect infant
- attachment behavior ex: secure base
What is the meaning of secure base?
- Bowbly’s term for an attachment figure’s presence that provides and infant or toddler with a sense of security that makes it possible for the infant to explore the environment
- they will explore but keep checking in with caregivers as they do so
- they feel safe to explore as long as they know their caregiver is there with them
Describe the development of attachment behavior
- asocial phase (0-6 weeks): no particular preference for social stimuli
- indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks-6 months): enjoy all people
- specific attachment (7-9 months): only want one person; wary of strangers
- multiple attachments (soon after attachment phase): attached to multiple familiar people (i.e. dad, grandparents, siblings)
When does stranger anxiety emerge?
- emerges around 6-7 months
- intensifies over next several months
When does separation anxiety emerge?
around 8 months
Describe Mary Ainsworth’s attachment episodes study?
used series of separation/reunion episodes & determined quality of infants’ attachments…
1) experimenter introduces CG/baby to room & leaves
2) parent sits while baby plays (parents as secure base)
3) Stranger enter, sits, & talks to parent (stranger anxiety)
4) parent leaves, stranger offers comfort if baby is upset (separation anxiety)
5) Parent returns, greets baby, comforts if needed. Stranger leaves. (reunion)
6) Parent leaves (separation anxiety)
7) Stranger enters & comforts if needed (stranger anxiety)
8) parent returns, greets baby, comforts if needed, tries to interest baby in toys (reunion)
Describe the attachment classification types
Secure attachment:
- bond where child welcomes contact w/ CG & used CG as secure based from which to explore the world (65%)
- explores while CG is present
- becomes highly upset when CG is absent
- warmly greets CG upon reunion & is soothed by CG
Insecure attachment:
- anxious resistant:
- characterized by separation protest & tendency for child to remain near CG (not explore) yet resist contact from CG (10%)
- resist contact especially during reunion
- not soothed by CG
- still want CG to be there, just not comforted by them
- anxious-avoidant:
- characterized by little protest & child largely ignores CG (20%)
- can be sociable with other adults
- doesn’t cry when CG leaves or care when CG returns
- disorganized:
- characterized by confused approach to CG (5-10%)
- approach CG then abruptly avoid CG
- highly represented in abused population
- no clear patterns so unable to make sense of behaviors
What contributes to each insecure attachment style?
anxious-resistant:
- CG unpredictable in caregiving
- child’s displays of anger or helplessness towards CG on reunion can be regarded as a conditional strategy for maintaining the availability of the CG by preemptively taking control of the interaction
anxious-avoidant:
- CG demonstrated history of rebuffing attachment behavior/consistently insensitive to child’s needs
- child’s needs frequently not met
- child comes to believe that communicating needs has no influence on CG
disorganized:
- the homes of these infants often had physical or sexual abuse histories, psychologically disturbed parents, and/or parents with substance abuse
What determines an infant’s attachment style?
the quality of attachment is determined by the caregiver (caregiver sensitivity)
Is attachment style determined by temperament?
- no, determined by caregiver
- (but there is a correlation between temperament & attachment style)
Which is worse: a CG being unpredictable in caregiving or being consistently insensitive to their child’s needs?
being unpredictable (leading to anxious resistant) is worse
Why do most attachment classifications remain stable & have the ability to affect a variety of life outcomes?
- early attachments result in internal working models (cognitive representations of self and others, and relationships that infants construct from their interactions with CG)
- ex: if you had secure attachment, you’re more likely to have healthy romantic relationships b/c thats ur definition of love
Describe the internal working model of attachment for each style
- secure: their needs will be known and met, so they are free to express feelings and safely explore the environment
- insecure (anxious-resistant): their needs may or may not be met, so they will use behavior strategies (i.e. anger, clinging, or passivity) to control the interaction
- insecure (anxious-avoidant): their needs are not often met so they will shut down their needs and try to become independent
Describe memory biases for events due to internal working models
- those with secure attachment styles have greater memory of positive events than negative
- those with insecure attachment styles have greater memory of negative events than positive
Do attachment styles stay the same over time?
- they can change (ex: secure could switch to insecure if CG develops depression)
- but can also stay the same
What are long-term effects of attachment?
- children who were securely attached as infants seem to have…
- closer & better relationships with peers than insecure
- more positive romantic relationships/emotional health in adolescence
- earn higher grades/more involved in school
Does security of attachment have a direct effect on later development?
- its unclear
- likely that children’s development can be better predicted by combination of early attachment status AND the quality of subsequent parenting
- probably not either factor alone
Differentiate precocial and altricial
- precocial = born “mature” (ex: many birds or turtles)
- altricial = born immobile & need help being kept alive (ex: humans, monkeys)
Describe “hospitalism” (Rene Spitz)
- wasting disease characterized by retarded physical development, and disruption of perceptual-motor skills and language due to lack of social contact
- babies cared for in institutions commonly suffered from a condition called hospitalism and failed to thrive
- ex: kids w/ tuberculosis sent to hospitals had issues but kids just kept at home didn’t b/c they’re totally deprived love/social contact
Describe the study with presence or absence of caregivers and stress (shocks)
- children shocked when mother was absent released more cortisol than those shocked with mother present
- the mother’s presence mitigated the effects of stress
- shows how presence or absence of caregiver moderates the effects of stress hormones
What are some effects of stress?
- emotional reactivity (stress, fearful behavior, sensitivity to negative info, anxious behavior)
- odd social behavior (in intimate relationships, poorer peer friendships)
- effects persist into adulthood
What does stress activate?
- stress activates HPA axis
- results in release of cortisol
- if HPA axis is activated too often, eventually the negative feedback loops responsible for turning the system off can become habituate (break) causing unregulated levels of cortisol
Describe the previously institutionalized youth study
- internationally adopted children from institutional care & now living with families
- placed in orphanage w/ in 1st year
- 80% adopted within 1st 2 years
- mean time in orphanage = 15.3
months, SD = 10.6 - avg ~ 1 CG per 20 babies
- comparison group was children of same sex/age who grew up with their parents
- we know exact day they got to orphanage & exact day they left (when the stressor was removed) so if we see consequences in the PI group we can attribute it to when they were young
- measured cortisol levels before/after MRI scanner
- no change for comparison group but PI kids cortisol spiked b/c the amygdala saw it as more stressful
- also more anxiety/hyperactive amygdala & larger amygdala size