Week 1 - Introduction to Personality and Biological Approaches

Question 1

Definition of Personality

Answer 1

An individual’s unique and relatively consistent pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.
- Someone’s personality determined how they are different from others, and how they behave in different situations.

Question 2

Approaches to Personality (6)

Answer 2

• Biological
• Behavioural
• Social
• Humanistic
• Psychoanalytic
• Trait theory

Question 3

Early Approaches: Hans Eysenck

Answer 3

• Identified 2 primary personality traits (Extraversion-Introversion and Neuroticism)
• Argued that biology influences personality (biological approach)

Question 4

Biological Approach to Personality

Answer 4

• Inherited predispositions determine personality
• Physiological processes explain differences in personality

Question 5

Explain Epigenetics

Answer 5

The influence of environment on gene expression, which alters the structure of DNA

Question 6

Differentiate genotype and phenotype

Answer 6

• Phenotype: Observable expression of genetics (e.g. blood type)
• Kasarnya: Genotype dasarnya kayak your potential from a biological aspect but phenotype are the visible traits that you have. Misalnya warna mata kamu itu contoh phenotype, itu kan gak mungkin berubah.

Question 7

Critiquing Eysenck: Jeffrey Alan Gray

Answer 7

• Proposed the addition of “Sensitivity of Stimulation” to the Extraversion-Introversion model
• Reasoning: Introverts and extroverts differ in how they respond to emotional stimuli (introverts are quickly aroused when exposed to external stimulation)
• Initial illustration: Extraversion -> Sociability
• Proposed illustration: Sensitivity -> Extraversion -> Sociability

Question 8

Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

Answer 8

• The human brain has 2 behavioural systems underlying individual differences in sensitivity to reward, punishment and motivation.
• These two systems are:
  1. Behavioural Approach System (BAS)
  2. Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)
• Individuals vary in strength between these systems

Question 9

Explain Behavioural Approach System (BAS)

Answer 9

• Seek out impulsive, rewarding behaviour
• Engage in emotionally intense situations
• Basically, you seek out stimulation

other names: Approach Motivation

Question 10

Explain Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)

Answer 10

• Avoid emotionally intense situation
• Anxiety
• Avoids punishment

other names: Withdrawal Motivation, Avoidance Motivation

Question 11

Explain high and low BAS

Answer 11

• High BAS (aka ‘Impulsive’): Tendency to seek rewards and view events as having potential for rewards
• Low BAS (aka ‘Not impulsive’): Tendency to not seek rewards and not to view events as having potential for rewards

Question 12

Explain high and low BIS

Answer 12

• High BIS (aka ‘Highly anxious’): Tendency to avoid punishment and to view events as having potential for punishment
• Low BIS (aka ‘Non-anxious): Tendency to not avoid punishment and not to view events as having potential for punishment

Question 13

Phineas Gage

Answer 13

• Railroad foreman
• Explosion sent an iron rod through his skull but he survived
• Damaged the frontal lobe of his brain
• Considered the first case to suggest that different parts of the brain are associated to different functions
• After the accident: He had profound personality changes. He is often reported as having permanently lost his inhibitions -> started to behave inappropriately in social situations.

Question 14

Role of Frontal Lobe

Answer 14

• Personality is located in the frontal lobe
• Important for a lot of things; e.g., planning behaviour, emotional control, behavioural inhibition

Question 15

Measuring Personality: EEG

Answer 15

• Electroencephalography
• Measures the electrical activity of brain’s surface; Can’t go too deep into the brain because there’s skull, skin, hair, etc that blurs the information received if we tried going in deeper

Question 16

Explain the relationship between frontal lobe activations and BAS-BIS

Answer 16

• Higher activation in the LEFT hemisphere -> Higher BAS
• Higher activation in the RIGHT hemisphere -> Higher BIS

Question 17

Explain the relationship between frontal lobe activation and Introversion-Extraversion

Answer 17

• LEFT frontal activation -> EXTRAVERSION
• RIGHT frontal activation -> INTROVERSION

Question 18

Clinical Applications: Left Frontal Cortex

Answer 18

• Depression (inactivation)
• Bipolar (sporadic inactivation)

Question 19

Clinical Applications: Right Frontal Cortex

Answer 19

Anxiety disorders (activation)

Question 20

Role of Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) in Personality

Answer 20

• Processes emotional information
• Associated with decision-making process (damage to the OFC would make a person act more impulsively)
• Assigns value to decisions

Question 21

Functions of Amygdala

Answer 21

• Processes emotional stimuli
• Negative emotions: Fear, disgust, anger

Question 22

Strengths of Biological Approach

Answer 22

• Provides genetic account as source of individual variability
• Empirically supported neural indicators of personality

Question 23

Limitations of Biological Approach

Answer 23

• Assumption that biology is the primary driver of personality
• Assessing personality via biology is not the easiest route

Question 24

Types of Research for Personality

Answer 24

• Cross-sectional Studies
• Longitudinal Studies
• Experimental Studies
• Meta-Analysis

Question 25

Explain cross-sectional studies

Answer 25

- Data across a large group of participants is recorded once (at a single point in time) - More specifically, it is a type of research study in which a group of people is observed, or certain information is collected, at a single point in time or over a short period of time.

Question 26

Explain longitudinal studies

Answer 26

- Data is recorded multiple times, done over a period of time - Track changes in personalities over time

Question 27

Explain experimental studies

Answer 27

- Includes the act of manipulating studies - Aims to establish cause and effect

Question 28

Explain meta analysis

Answer 28

Summarizes multiple studies to come to an overall conclusion

Question 29

What do personality researchers study?

Answer 29

- Broad personality constructs; ex. Extraversion, mood or anxiety disorders, etc. - Specific personality constructs; ex. Smoking, family history of alcohol problems, etc.

Question 30

How is an EEG used to assess personality?

Answer 30

- Activation of left vs right frontal lobe - Approach (BAS) vs. Avoidance (BIS) motivations

Question 31

Alpha Frequencies through EEG

Answer 31

- Wavelengths are picked up through EEG - Assess cortical activation - Red indicates smaller activation - Blue indicates greater activation

Question 32

Alcohol Sensitivity

Answer 32

- An alcohol-related personality trait - Alcohol sensitivity: How much alcohol for the person to feel "drunk", similar to alcohol tolerance - High tolerance (or low sensitivity) is a risk factor for alcohol-use disorders and risky drinking

Question 33

What did Walter Mischel say about behaviour?

Answer 33

- Personality is not always a reliable predictor of behaviour - Long-term consistency; Personality captures "average" behaviour - Our behaviour depends more on the environment we are in

Question 34

Walter Mischel: Three types of scenarios, in the context of personality and behaviour

Answer 34

1. Personality overrides the situation - Strongly held beliefs 2. Situation overrides personality - Overwhelming situation - ex. Groupthink, group polarization 3. Personality interacts with situation - Situation influences impact of personality on behaviour