Physiological Approaches to Personality Flashcards
core assumption of the biological domain regarding personality
- humans = collections of biological systems
- these systems provide the building blocs for A B C
Phineas Gage
- prior to his accident - highly agreeable and conscientious
- after his accident, obstinate and capricious
physiological approach
connections among:
- environmental conditions
- personality traits
- responses
links personality to specific situations in terms of evoking a certain psychological response
- can be identified and measured using specific physiological measures
refer to graph in notebook page _____
physiological measures
- electrodermal activity
- cardiovascular activity
- brain activity
- other - biochemical analyses of blood and saliva
EDA
most obtained by electrodes or sensors placed on the skin surface
- due to increase in sweat with arousal, skin conductance of electricity increases
can measure responses to various stimuli
- sudden noise, emotionally charged, pictures, pain, anxiety, fear, guilt, etc
some people display EDA in absence of external stimuli
- associated with anxiety and neuroticism
EDA advantages
non-invasive
no discomfort
EDA disadvantages
movement constrained
cardiovascular activity
BP (blood pressure)
- can measure stress reactivity
HR (heart rate)
- increases with anxiety, fear, arousal, cognitive effort
cardiac reactivity
- better than normal increase in BP and HR when performing
serial subtraction
- associated with Type A personality
- impatience, competitiveness, hostility
- cardiac reactivity + type A associated with coronary heart disease
brain activity
brain imaging techniques
- computerized methods of detecting metabolic or chemical changes in the brain
- map structure and function of the brain
types:
- PET - we use radioactive traers
- fMRI - tracks brain activity by monitoring glucose metabolism in brain; higher resolution than PET
Big 5 and the brain
- high in agreeableness: more activation in frontal lobe
- high neuroticism: more responsive amygdala
- high extraversion: increase activation of amygdala
- low conscientiousness (increase in impulsivity): more activity in ventral striatum
- high openness: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
extraversion - introversion: Eysenck’s theory
- measured by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
- introverts have higher level than extraverts of activity in the brain’s ascending reticular activation system (ARAS)
- people strive to keep ARAS activity at optimal level
- introverts work to decrease and avoid stimulation; extraverts work to increase and seek out stimulation
sensitivity to reward and punishment (refer to page 12 of notebook)
personality based on 2 hypothesized brain systems
1. Behavioural activation system (BAS)
- responsive to incentives (cues to reward) and regulates approach B
- like an accelerator that motivates approach behaviour
2. Behavioural inhibition system (BIS)
- responsive to cues to punishment, frustration, uncertainty
- like brakes that inhibit behaviour or help people stop what they are doing
- motivates ceasing, inhibitory, avoidance B
sensation seeking
- seeking out thrilling exciting activities, takes risks, avoid boredom
- early sensory deprivation research
- Hebb’s theory of optimal level of arousal
- Zuckerman
Hebb’s theory of optimal level of arousal
each person possesses an ideal level of arousal, which fosters supreme performance and optimal well-being
Zuckerman: sensation seeking
- increase sensation seekers = less tolerant of of sensory deprivation
- require much stimulation to get to optimal level of arousal
- Zuckerman’s sensation seeking scale
- moderate + correlation between extraversion + sensation seeking
sensation seeking: physiology
monoamineoxidase (MAO)
- enzyme that maintains a proper level of some NT
- too little MAO = too much NT, too much MAO = too little NT
- high sensation seekers have low levels of MAO
NT + personality
dopamine
- associated with motivation towards reward
- low conscientiousness and high openness linked to higher levels of DA
serotonin
- associated with depression and other mood disorders
- lowers impulsivity
norepinephrine
- associated with fight or flight response
Cloninger’s Tridimensional Personality Model (1993)
refer to notebook page 13
morningness vs eveningness
- circadian rhythm is a stable characteristic (e.g. body temperature, endocrine secretion rates)
- individual differences of circadian rhythm identified through temporal isolation studies
- ways to identify:
1. morningness - evening questionnaire
2. cross-cultural replication and documentation of stability of characteristics
morningness vs eveningness: findings
- morning people = higher conscientiousness + agreeableness
- evening people = higher extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience
- circadian rhythm change with age
brain asymmetry and affective style
- L+R sides of brain = specialized with asymetry in control of psychological functions
- an EEG can be used to measure brain waves
- L hemisphere more active than R when person is experiencing pleasant emotion
- R hemisphere more active than L with unpleasant emotions
- patterns replicated in adults children and infants
- research indicates the tendency to exhibit asymmetry is a stable individual characteristics
1. disposionally + persons greater left frontal EGG activity
2. dispositionally - persons show greater right frontal EEG activity
parsimony in explaining behaviour
- simple, does not require many steps
- some theories state that a physiological difference results in a given personality difference or a difference in an important
behaviour pattern
using electrodes and sensors
- one of the more common methods in obtaining data
- limitation: movement is restrained
telemetry
physiological signals are sent by waves instead of needing electrodes and sensors on the skin
what health issue is Type A personality associated with?
cardiac arrest
physiological measure: electrodermal activity
physiological system:
- sweat gland activity controlled by sympathetic nervous system
psychological response system:
- anxiety, startle, guilt, effort, pain
examples of stimuli used in research:
- noise, mental effort, emotional stimuli,
painful stimuli
physiological measure: cardiovascular activity
physiological system:
- blood pressure and heart rate controlled
by autonomic nervous system
psychological response system:
- fight-or-flight response, mental
effort, stress
examples of stimuli used in research:
- stress, social anxiety, effort, high cognitive
load
physiological measure: EEG
physiological system:
- brain’s spontaneous electrical activity
psychological response system:
- brain activation, alertness
examples of stimuli used in research:
- resting with eyes closed, reading
physiological measures: evoked EEG
physiological system:
- brain’s electrical activity in response to specific stimuli
psychological response system:
- attention, recognition, cognitive
processing
examples of stimuli used in research
- brief sensory stimuli
physiological measures: neuroimaging
physiological system:
- brain’s energy metabolism
psychological response system:
- specific brain areas responsible for cognitive control, emotion, memory, pain, decision-making, sensory processing
examples of stimuli used in research:
- wide variety of tasks that activate these
psychological response systems
physiological measures: antibodies
physiological system:
- immune system
psychological response system:
- immune response to infection, stress
examples of stimuli used in research:
- virus, bacteria, stress
physiological measures: testosterone
physiological system:
- hormone system (steroid)
psychological response system:
- aggression, competitiveness, psychological drive and libido, muscle bulk
examples of stimuli used in research:
- tasks involving competition, aggression, attraction
physiological measures: cortisol
physiological system:
- hormone system (adrenal)
psychological response system:
- stress response
examples of stimuli used in research:
- life events, stress, anxiety stimuli
physiological measures: Serotonin, dopamine,
MAO
physiological system:
- neurotransmitters
psychological response system:
- transmission of specific nerve signals
examples of stimuli used in research:
- rewarding stimuli, emotions
Effects of ARAS of introverts on their behaviour
- introverts would have higher resting levels of
cortical arousal because their ARAS lets in too much stimulation - introverts engage in introverted behaviours (are quiet and seek low-stimulation settings) because they need to keep their already heightened level of arousal in check
arousability: the difference between introverts and extraverts
- real difference between introverts and
extraverts lies in their arousability, or arousal response, not in their baseline arousal level - do not differ in level of brain activity while sleeping or while lying quietly in a
darkened room with eyes shut - when presented with moderate levels of stimulation, introverts show enhanced physiological reactivity
reinforcement sensitivity theory
- BAS
- BIS
