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Title: The%20Psychology%20of%20the%20Person%20Chapter%209%20Biological%20Approach


1
The Psychology of the PersonChapter 9 Biological
Approach
  • Naomi Wagner, Ph.D
  • Lecture Outlines
  • Based on Burger, 8th edition

2
Background
  • Researchers have recognized that our personality
    cannot be separated from our biology
  • For many years, the Tabula Rasa (blank Slate)
    has been very popular
  • The Blank Slate view of human nature, suggesting
    that we are born empty and void of any
    tendencies, abilities, etc, was espoused by the
    behavioral perspective
  • This approach signifies the decline of
    behaviorism and the tabula rasa idea of human
    nature.

3
Tabula Rasa- Blank Slate (The view of t he mind
as empty)
  • Reflects the approach that we are born blank,
    to be written upon by the environment

4
What is Biology?
  • Physiological differences among individuals that
    translate into differences in behavior,
  • The familial genetic link
  • The evolutionary perspective The understanding
    of the survival value of our tendencies and
    behavioral characteristics.

5
Natural Selection Evolutionary Perspective
  • In prehistoric times, humans who weren't smart
    enough to kill their prey or avoid being eaten by
    them died.
  • Those who survived passed on
  • their survival skills to their
  • offspring.

6
The Pioneering Work of Eysenck
  • In the 1960s Eysenck introduced the idea that
    biological makeup, and not parental child-raising
    methods or other environmental factors determine
    our personality.
  • Using factor-analysis, he identified 3
    personality Super-Traits Extraversion-introversio
    n, neuroticism (emotional instability), and
    psychoticism (egocentric and aggressive,
    impersonal).

7
Structure of Supertraits
  • From a specific response, to a habitual response,
    to a trait, to a Super-Trait.
  • Eysenck noted stability of these dimensions over
    time, their similar cross-cultural
    manifestations, and kinship studies (run in
    families)
  • Environmental factors play a role in the
    expression of the inborn personality tendencies.

8
Extraversion-Introversion
  • Eysenck was especially interested in this
    dimension
  • Originally he suggested that introverts and
    extraverts differ in terms of their cortical
    arousal (extraverted were under-aroused and thus
    seek stimulation)
  • Studies did not find differences between the two
    tendencies while measures of brain activity in a
    resting state were taken
  • Currently, researchers describe the Ex.-Int.
    differences in terms of sensitivity to
    stimulation, introverted being more sensitive.

9
Sensitivity to Stimulation See the difference
between the two little girls?
10
Temperament Your style of responding to the
world
  • Temperaments are inborn (inherited) general
    dispositions that are regarded as the basis for
    later development of more specific traits.
  • Buss and Plomin identified 3 temperamental
    dimensions emotionality, activity, and
    sociability
  • Thomas and Chess identified 9 dimensions
  • Examples quality of mood, intensity of reaction,
    adapting to novel situations, etc
  • Effortful control- emotional self-regulation, is
    currently regarded as an important dimension

11
Plomin and Buss Model Emotionality
  • Intensity of reactivity to life situations

12
Plomin and Buss ModelSociability
13
Plomin and Buss ModelActivity level
14
Temperament and the Environment
  • In a sense, the temperament creates the
    environment
  • We actively search for environments that are
    compatible with our innate tendencies
  • For example, an adventurous child does not wait
    for adventures to come his/her way, but actively
    seek-out/create such situations

15
(cont-d)
  • People react to us on the basis of our
    temperament
  • For example a cheerful, easy-going person
    elicits different responses from the environment
    as compared to a whining, negative child
  • Our early environment is actually created by the
    genes of our parents.

16
Our temperament evokes reaction
  • When you smile the world is smiling back at you

17
The Role of the Environment
  • Environmental factors shape and modify the
    expression of our innate tendencies
  • For example If you are an impulsive person, as
    you go through life you discover that your
    impulsivity only hurts you
  • Eventually you learn to curtail your impulsivity

18
Inhibited vs. Uninhibited Children
  • Inhibited (shy) children were studied extensively
    by Jerome Kagan and Nathan Fox
  • They identified the physiology underlying shyness
    (identified in very young babies)
  • Higher activity in the right hemisphere
  • Higher production of cortisol (the stress
    hormone)
  • High, stable heart rate

19
Will the shy child grow up to become a shy adult?
  • In most cases yet
  • There will be some
  • modifications

20
Inhibited vs. Uninhibited Children (cont-d)
  • Inhibited are gentle, monitored, restrained
  • Anxious in novel (new) situations
  • Uninhibited feel at ease in new situations
  • Inherited biological temperament
  • Differ in body-built, prone to allergies, even
    eye-color (blue)
  • In early infancy- irritability, sleep
    disturbances, constipation, increased heart-rate
    and pupil dilation

21
Cont-d
  • fMRI (neuro-imaging) studies found differences in
    brain reactivity
  • Abnormally high amygdala response when presented
    with new or unclear stimuli
  • Fear of the unfamiliar throughout childhood into
    adulthood
  • Uninhibited children are more likely to show
    disruptive behaviors

22
Shyness
  • Shyness is an inborn tendency but can be modified
    by the environment

23
Goodness of Fit
  • The term refers to the ideal situation, when we,
    social agents around the child, recognize the
    childs temperament and pattern our treatment of
    the child accordingly.
  • For example, if you have ashy child, you
    gradually expose the child to novel situations,
    support the child, not pushing the child.

24
Evolutionary Personality theory
  • This perspective sees human characteristics as
    the result of our evolutionary legacy.
  • Some traits have evolved in us because, in our
    prehistoric past, they were adaptive to our
    survival.
  • The concept of natural selection and its
    application to personality
  • An example is the analysis of anxiety, a shared
    human tendency, and the underlying evolutionary
    basis anxiety may reflect fear of social
    rejection.

25
(cont-d)
  • In our prehistoric past we could not have
    survived the harshness of the environment if we
    did not align ourselves with other people
  • Individuals who were rejected or excluded by the
    group could not survive.
  • Those who were sensitive to social rejection did
    survive, and transmitted this anxiety gene to
    their offspring.

26
Application Childrens Temperament and School
  • Some children come into the world with
    temperaments that may not be compatible with the
    formal demands of school
  • Such children may be misjudged by their teachers
    and may be regarded as lazy or as lacking in
    motivation.
  • The Goodness-of-Fit model is evry applicable
    here.

27
Assessment Cerebral Asymmetry
  • Researchers use physiological measures to
    understand personality functioning.
  • Recent studies using EEG on alpha-wave levels in
    the anterior regions of the cerebral hemisphere
    has proven useful in understanding individual
    differences in emotions.
  • Often, differences are found between the left and
    right anterior regions of a person while in
    resting, non-emotional state

28
(cont-d)
  • Higher activity in the left hemisphere has been
    associated with positive moods, whereas higher
    activity in the right hemisphere has been
    associated with negative moods.
  • These patterns have been found in children less
    than a year old. When in resting state, some
    people tend to have higher activity in the R he.
    Some in the L. is this related to proneness to
    depression? Is it related to thresholds to
    positive or negative experiences

29
Cont-d
  • Differences in cerebral asymmetry were found when
    the participants were is a resting, non-emotional
    state
  • Differences tend to be stable over time
  • When watching movies designed to elicit certain
    emotions, people with higher left hemisphere
    activity were more responsive to the positive
    mood film, and vice versa

30
Current explanation of the relationship between
cerebral asymmetry and emotions
  • Instead of looking at positive and negative
    emotions, researchers now describe the
    differences in terms of approach and withdrawal
    tendencies
  • Left hemisphere activity is related to movement
    toward the source of emotion
  • Right hemisphere activity is related to movement
    away (see next slide)

31
Cont-d
  • Higher left-hemisphere activity is related to joy
    because happiness draws us toward the source of
    emotion
  • Consistent with this analysis, researchers found
    that anger is related toward Left Hemisphere
    activity- angry people tend to approach or even
    attack the source of their distress

32
Higher Activity in the left hemisphere is
associated with positive moods
  • We react positively to a smiling person, further
    rewarding the positive mood

33
Higher activity in the right hemisphere is
associated with negative moods
  • Cerebral asymmetry has been shown in babies as
    you g as 10 months.

34
Is there a connection between cerebral asymmetry
and proneness to depression?
  • Depressed people show more right-hemisphere
    activity than non-depressed
  • People known to have been depressed but currently
    NOT in a depressive state were found to have EEG
    patterns of LESS left-hem activity when is a
    resting state
  • May be vulnerability for depression
  • Anxious people also were found to have higher
    right-hemisphere activity

35
Another Finding Related to cerebral Asymmetry
  • Studies found the right-handed people who tend to
    glance to their left while engaged in reflective
    mental activity are likely to show higher level
    of right- hemisphere activity when resting (e.g.
    prone to negative emotions)
  • Those who glance to the right are higher in
    left-hemisphere activity (positive emotions)

36
Strengths and Criticism
  • Bridge between personality and biology
  • Understanding the role of genetics in human
    behavior and being realistic about the
    feasibility of behavior change
  • Based on research
  • But- Evolutionary concepts cannot be directly
    tested
  • Lack of agreement about the number of temperament
    dimensions and their definition
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