Lecture 3: The Biological Basis of Well-Being

Question 1

Is SWB a trait or state?

Answer 1

Both
If it’s a state, it can vary a lot in response to situations in your life. If it’s a trait, it’ll be more stable

50% of variance changes over time, slow, orderly random changes, changes to life circumstances (adaptation)
50% of variance is stable (less stable than personality traits), stable internal factors, unchanging environmental circumstances

Question 2

Do situations contribute to well-being?

Answer 2

small correlations between well-being and situational factors

Question 3

What is a panel study?

Answer 3

longitudinal design, but also collects data from a large representative samples

Question 4

What contributes to well-being? situations

Answer 4

Adaptation - diminished responsiveness to repeated stimuli
Ex. hedonic treadmill theory

Question 5

what is the Hedonic treadmill theory? what is its criticisms?

Answer 5

People adapt rapidly and completely to ALL circumstances
Criticisms:
- adaptations to some events can occur rapidly (unemployment) while to some events slowly (widowhood)
- adaptations to some events may not at all occur (pleasures of eating)
- we may have a positivity offset - model assumes our baseline is neutral 0 so neither satisfied or dissatisfied but most of us are above 0, we’re happy

Question 6

What are stable internal factors that contribute to well-being?

Answer 6

genes and personality traits - they contribute but not completely set them

Question 7

What are non-situational within person, non-measurement error factors?

Answer 7

biological factors (Genes, brain activity, neurochemial, biochemical, physical health, personality traits)

Question 8

What is heritability?

Answer 8

Statistic that refers to the proportion of observed variance in a population of individuals that can be accounted for by genetic variance

Question 9

What is environmentality?

Answer 9

statistic that refers to the proportion of observed variance in a population of individuals that can be accounted for by environmental variance (calculated from heritability estimates)

Question 10

Why do researchers use monozygotic twins to measure heritability vs. environmentality?

Answer 10

Bc identical twins get the same alleles from their parents. If genes play a big role than monozygotic twins should have similar well-being (need to live in the same environmental condition)
So if identical twins adopted into diff families (with similar environments) have similar well-being = genes play a strong role

Question 11

What does heritability assess?

Answer 11

It assess relative contributions
It changes when contributions increase/decrease, non-genetic contributions increase/decrease

Heritability can increase even though genetic influences have not increased. It is NOT fixed

Question 12

What was the emirical evidence for hertabilty of well-being (Tellegen et al)?

Answer 12

Compared MZ & DZ twins reared apart using the multidimensional personality questionnaire.

Found well-being of MZ twins reared apart was more similar than MZ twins reared together or DZ twins reared together or aprat

but they didn’t really measure SWB (pos & neg aspects)

Question 13

What was the emirical evidence for hertabilty of well-being (Lykken et al)?

Answer 13

Compared dispositional cheerfulness of MZ & DZ twins reared together or apart (longitudinal assessment)
- Trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller

Question 14

What were the criticism of Lykken et al?

Answer 14

• Small sample of twins
• Only 2 time points in the longitudinal study (small envrion effect and no genetic effect)
• dispositional measure of cheerfulness is not SWB
• Basically envrion plays a strong role

Question 15

What was the emirical evidence for hertabilty of well-being (Bartel)?

Answer 15

Meta-analysis of 30 twin family studies of well-being
tellus us that genes matter but about 50%, evnvironment still matters

Question 16

What were the general conlcusions of heritability?

Answer 16

• genes contribute to well-being - 50% (likely produce stability in well-being over time)
• environment matters (Can’t completely control environ)

Question 17

what are additive and nonadditive effects?

Answer 17

additive - the more genes u have, the more similar u will be
non-additive - the more interactive genes u have, the more similar u will be

Question 18

What is the Stress-Diathesis Model?

Answer 18

Genotype (diathesis) + Environment (stress) = well-being

Question 19

What is passive gene-environment correlation?

Answer 19

Parents genotype contributes to offspring’s genotype & environment - happiness

Question 20

What is Evocative gene-environment correlation?

Answer 20

Individual’s genotype evokes an environmental response
- PA evokes reactions from us , genes evoke reactions from their environ which reinforces these pos traits and behaviors

Question 21

What is Active gene-environment correlation?

Answer 21

Individual’s genotype predisposes individual toward certain environments
- Makes u seek out other individuals
ex. extroverted choosing the environ they’re exposed too bc of the genes which will reinforce it

Question 22

What does the MAOA gene expression do?

Answer 22

Turns down serotonin

Question 23

What are the systems involved in pleasure and pain in the brain?

Answer 23

Mesolimbic dopamine system
Endogenous Opioid system

Question 24

What is the Mesolimbic dopamine system?

Answer 24

Reward pathway, assigning rewards (desire to approach pos stimuli), producing PA, learning (reinforcement)
May underlie “Wanting”

Question 25

What is the Endogenous Opioid system?

Answer 25

Plays a role in modulation of affective states & motivation, of neuroendocrine & autonomic stress responses (harmone regulation) Pain processing (reducing pain sensation & NA, increasing PA) May underlie "Liking"

Question 26

What does cortisol do? Does it contribute to Well-being?

Answer 26

Hormone regulated by HPA axis & plays an role in our responses to stressorts - correlated with pos and neg states - cortisol dysregulation implicated in psychological disorders (depressive disorder) Promising, But need more evidence linking cortisol to well-being (not just ill-being

Question 27

What does oxytocin do? Does it contribute to Well-being?

Answer 27

Involved in birth & lactation, plays a role in social behavior, motivation & pain responsiveness - can alter dopamine regulation Promising but not enough evidence that it contributes to well-being

Question 28

What does serotonin do? Does it contribute to Well-being?

Answer 28

Modulation of mood, cognition, learning, motivation & memory, role in sex, aggression, cognition - pharmocological studies show evidence for mood regulation Promising, but need more evidence of how it contributes to well-being

Question 29

What does assymetrical activation in the brain tell us?

Answer 29

Asymmetrical hemispheric activation in the prefrontal cortex - Relatively more left hemispheric activation related to pos emotions, PA, PWB but NOT life satisfaction - Relatively more right hemispheric activation related to negative emotions - More right amygdala activity to positive vs. negative pictures correlated with extraversion Research shows more symmetrical activation = higher levels of well-being size of relationships are weak

Question 30

Are PWB and PIB (psychological ill-being) Bipolar opposites?

Answer 30

Bipolar opp (mirror hypothesis) - shuld have similar biological correlates but with opp directional signs - cannot simply assume that ill-being is on the same continuum as well-being - doesn't mean if we treat pathology, automatically well-being increases

Question 31

Are PWB and PIB (psychological ill-being) independent constructs?

Answer 31

Independent constructs (distinct hypothesis) - yes - should have different biological correlates - well-being and ill-being are independent of each other

Question 32

Was there evidence that neorendocrine functioning correlated with PWB & PIB

Answer 32

Yes there was some evidence THere was some evidence that cardiovascular functioning is correlated with PWB & PIB

Question 33

What was the only evidence that PWB and PIB support the mirror hypothesis?

Answer 33

Blood sugar levels and weight were negatively associated with well-being measures and positively related to ill-being measures But it won't replicate in younger samples, with males

Question 34

What did costa & Mccrae show?

Answer 34

Extraversion predicted PA Neuroticism predicted NA Weak coorelations but stable over time

Question 35

What is the Temperamental view?

Answer 35

Certain personality traits represent enduring dispositions that directly lead to swb 2 neurobiologically-based motivational systems (Gray)

Question 36

What are 2 neurologically-based motivational sysyems?

Answer 36

Behavioural activation system (BAS) - when u recive a reward, u experience PA - extroversion reflects how strong behavioral activation is Behavioural Inhibition system (BIS) - People who avoid neg stimuli will experience NA - neuroticism plays a role - lower levels of emotional stability will reflect ppl who experience NA

Question 37

Why are extroversion and neuroticism important?

Answer 37

Evidence that they're important for affect

Question 38

What is the Instrumental view?

Answer 38

Certain personality traits have an indirect or instrumental role in SWB - lead ppl to encounter specific life situations that in turn affects SWB For ex. extraverts spend more time in pos situations

Question 39

What is the dynamic eq theory in regards to extraversion & neuroticism?

Answer 39

Personality traits reflect your tendency to interpret your experiences positively or negatively Personality determines the baseline levels of emotional responses Momentary events move SWB above/below baseline will eventaully return back to baseline set by personality traits

Question 40

What did Denve & Cooper find from the Meta-Analysis?

Answer 40

Weak correlation between SWB and 5 big personality traits, more about how they capture the focus on emotional tendencies SWB strongly correlated with repressive-defensiveness SWB is linked to personality traits that focus on emotional tendencies rather than extraversion & neuroticism and relationship-enhancing traits SWB correlated with the way that people think about happens in their lives

Question 41

How is PWB linked to personalities?

Answer 41

Consistent link between PWB & Extraversion & Neuroticism Agreeableness and extraversion linked to positive relationships Low neuroticism linked to autonomy