M1 biology Flashcards by Gabby Richards

who/what theory first introduced idea of biology’s impact on personality

sheldon’s somatotypes

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what is phrenology? who came up with it?

the pattern of bumps on peoples’ brains correspond to personality

gall and spurzheim late 1790s-early 1800s

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3 basic propositions of phrenology

1) abstract mental qualities come from organ development in the brain

2) overdevelopment of an organ creates a bump

3) analyze bumps to determine personality (psychograph is a machine that measures bumps)

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what was eysenck’s take on biology and personality

believed his big 2 were rooted in biology and linked each to a specific brain region (IE and neuroticism)

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eysenck’s 3 pieces of evidence for the biological basis of personality

1) personality is stable over time within individuals

2) same pattern across different cultures (IE and neuroticism are universal)

3) genetics influence ppls’ levels of the big 2

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5 points of biological basis of IE

1) controlled by ascending reticular activating system - ARAS (connects spinal cord to subcortical brain areas - thalamus)

2) regulates general arousal - high activation –> high arousal/alert; low activation –> low arousal/drowsy

3) introverts have higher baseline arousal

4) optimal level arousal same for IE

5) I –> stimulus shy; E –> stimulus hungry

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regarding stimulation sensitivity: compared to E, I… (6)

1) greater perceptual sensitivity
2) lower pain tolerance
3) prefer less noise
4) harder to sedate
5) quicker pupillary dilation
6) perform better on boring tasks

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how do I and E respond to coffee (3)

E do better than I do after 2 cups

I do worse after having coffee compared to before/without coffee

I should have coffee/stimulants later in the day and not before important things

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4 points of biological basis for stability-instability

1) controlled by the visceral brain (septum, hippocampus, cingulum, amygdala, hypothalamus)

2) responsible for emotional reactivity

3) unstable have low threshold for activation (easy to go over threshold); stable people have high threshold

4) SI magnifies/influences IE (controls how stable/unstable your level of IE is)

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what are Gray’s dimensions of personality? what did he think they represented? are they dependent or independent of each other

1) anxiety proneness
2) impulsivity

each represents a motivational system grounded in the brain

they are independent of each other

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anxiety proneness - what system, where is it located, what is it activated by

behavioral inhibition system (avoidance)

locateted in septo-hippocampal system

activated by punishment stimuli, absence of desired reward, fear/novel stimuli

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impulsivity - what system, where is it located, what is it activated by?

behavioral activation system

located in dopaminergenic pathways

activated by reward stimuli and escepe/safety

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3 implications of BIS activation (ABC)

affect: anxiety/fear

behavior: interruption - stop what you’re doing

cognitive: scan environment for danger

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2 implications of BAS activation (AB, no C)

affect: hope and relief

behavior: approach/go after something

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gray’s BIS/BAS systems and psychopathology

weak BIS, high BAS (low inhibition, high activation) –> antisocial behavior and substance abuse

high BIS and low BAS (high inhibition and low activation) –> anxiety and phobias

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how do eysenck and gray’s big 2s map onto each other? describe eysenck’s big 2 in terms of gray’s big 2

diagonally

IE:
- extraverts: impulsive, low anxiety proneness (high BAS, low BIS)
- introverts: low impulsivity, high anxiety proneness (low BAS, high BIS)
- relative difference between BIS and BAS activation determines if someone is I or E

SI:
- instability: impulsive, high anxiety proneness (high BIS and BAS)
- stable: low impulsivity, low anxiety proneness (low BIS and BAS)
-absolute level of BIS/BAS activation determines stability/instability

who did the initial animal personality research

sam gosling

what 2 traits did sam gosling find in animals

introversion extraversion

neuroticism

what animals did sam gosling find IE and neuroticism in

octopi, yellow bellied marmots, small eared bush babies, rhesus monkeys, hooded rats

sam gosling conducted more animal personality research and found what 4 of the big 5 in most animals?

openness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

what is behavioral genetics, who started the field, and when?

study of genetic influences on behavior

francis galton (wanted to study the inheritance of human behavior)

about 100 years ago

what is the basic task of behavioral genetics

to separate the determinants of behavior into genes and environment

what are the 5 methods to study behavioral genetics

selection method

family method

twin method

adoption method

combined method

what is the selection method? who used it - when and how? what is its weakness?

selectively breeding for a personality characteristic

DeFries in 1978

mated mice based on activity level (mated most active together and and least active together)
- 2 original most active were 2x as active as the 2 original least active –> 30x more active after 30 generations

weakness: can’t be used with humans - unethical

what is the family method? who used it - when and how? do we still use it? what is its weakness?

trace a family tree and compare family members in terms of a personality characteristic - if biological influence, then people who are more closely related should be more similar in terms of that char Goddard 1912 (not used anymore) studied 2 family trees from one man (with a quaker woman and a tavern girl) --> children with quaker woman were respectable (lawyers, drs, etc); children with tavern girl were criminals, prostitutes, etc weakness: the different families have different genes and different environments --> can't tell how much of the difference in personality is from genes vs environment

what is the twin method? who used it - when and how? do we still use it? what is its weakness?

compare personality char correlations for sets of MZ and DZ twins assumption: a set of twins has the same environment if the correlation for MZ > DZ, then there is a biological loading for that char floderus-myrhed 1980 (we still use this) found that correlation is higher for MZ than DZ for IE and neuroticism - this study had very little sampling bias (almost every set of twins born during an interval joined the study) weakness: assumes sets of twins have the same environment but MZ twins have a more similar environment than DZ

what is the adoption method? who used it - when and how? what is its weakness?

compare adopted children to their adoptive and biological parents henderson 1982 - measured correlation for extraversion and neuroticism no correlation with adoptive parents (same environment), 0.15 with biological parents (different environments) weaknesses: hard to tease apart genes and environment - adoption practices: labeling and selective placement (should increase correlation with adoptive parents but we do not see this in the data)

what is labeling in adoption

adoptive parent makes environment similar to biological family's home

what is selective placement in adoption

adoption agency places child with adoptive parents who are similar to biological parents

what percent of our behavior is from genes?

40%

what are the different types of environments? how much does each influence our personalities?

shared: similar environments/experiences - increase similarity; 5% influence nonshared: different environments/experiences (peers, accidents, etc) - decrease similarity; 35% influence

what two methods/studies have shown the small influence of shared experiences?

adoption studies: correlation between adoptive and bio kids in same house (same environment) is almost 0 combined method: corr for MZ twins raised together and raised apart is almost the same (twins with same enviro and twins with dif enviros have the same amount of similarity)

what is the combined method? who did it? do we still do it? what is its weakness?

combine twin method and adoption method compare MZ twins raised together and MZ twins raised apart Rowe (not done anymore - unethical) for both IE and neuroticism, the separated twins had a higher correlation (due to deidentificaiton - want to distinguish self from twin when in same environment) weakness: unethical to separate twins at birth

from the biological methods, where are similarities and differences most likely from?

similarities are from genetics differences are from different environments

2 surprises about behavioral genetics

1) genes are responsible for a large portion of personality 2) nonshared experiences shape personality way more than shared experiences