2 - Eysenck's PEN model & Gray's RST model

Flashcards of lecture notes on personality theories and biological bases.

What are the three personality domains in Eysenck's P-E-N theory?

Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), and Neuroticism (N)

What does it mean for domains to be orthogonal in Eysenck's P-E-N theory?

Statistical independence; being high in one trait does not make you more or less likely to be high in another.

What are the four sources of support for Eysenck's P-E-N theory?

Psychometric evidence, biological basis, theoretically plausible, predictive of social issues

How do introverts behave according to Eysenck's description?

Prefer to spend time alone and predictable contexts, are quiet and well-ordered.

How do extraverts behave according to Eysenck's description?

Prefer excitement and stimulation, the company of others, are talkative, outgoing and externally driven, like parties and friends.

How do neurotic individuals behave according to Eysenck's description?

Emotionally unstable, anxious, fearful, tense, moody, irritable, depressed, poor sleep, slow to return to equilibrium after a stressful event

How do emotionally stable individuals behave according to Eysenck's description?

Even-tempered, quick to return to equilibrium after stressful event, calm, slow to reach emotionally

How do psychopaths behave according to Eysenck's description?

Aggressive, cold, and lack empathy (all negative facets, except creativity)

How do sociable individuals behave according to Eysenck's description?

Unselfish, sympathetic, cooperative and conventional - conform to social norms

Which of the P-E-N domains was suggested to exhibit a skewed distribution?

Psychoticism

What is the key assumption regarding personality traits and biology in the P-E-N model?

Personality traits reflect individual differences in brain structure/function.

Which brain regions are key in P-E-N theory?

Reticular formation & ARAS, cortex, and limbic system

Which circuit is related to Extraversion?

Reticulo-cortical circuit

Which circuit is related to Neuroticism?

Limbic system

How does the ARAS impact arousal in introverts according to Eysenck?

Introverts display higher levels of activity in the ARAS, causing them to seek situations with low stimulation.

How does the ARAS impact arousal in extraverts according to Eysenck?

Extraverts display lower levels of activity in the ARAS, which causes them to seek situations with high stimulation.

How can the relations between performance and arousal be represented?

As an inverted U-shape

What is the role of the limbic system in neuroticism?

Regulates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that produces involuntary responses

What is the SNS?

The body's 'Fight or flight' response to threatening situations, but also remains constantly active at a basic level to maintain homeostasis

What did Eysenck believe about people high in neuroticism and their SNS?

People high in neuroticism display hypersensitivity in the SNS which causes them to react more strongly to potentially threatening situations

What is the role of the amygdala?

The brain's fear centre

What two elements are important in measurement of psychological traits?

Reliability and Validity

What is the purpose of the Lie scale questions in the EPQ-R questionnaire?

To measure whether the questionnaire has been answered truthfully (i.e., social desirability)

What is typically found about reliability within scales?

Eysenck et al. (1985) reported 'good' internal consistency for Extraversion (α = ~.85) and Neuroticism (α = ~.85), but 'questionable' internal consistency for Psychoticism (α = ~.6)

What is typically found about the orthogonality of scales?

Three scales were orthogonal: did not correlate with each other (rs ≤ .14)

How is gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory different from Eysenck's P-E-N?

Argued that differences in personality stem from the extent to which people respond to rewards and punishment instead of arousal and reactivity to situations and stimuli

What are the three independent systems that Gray proposed for his RST?

Behavioural Activation System (BAS), Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), Fight-Flight System (FFS)

What behaviours does the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) produce?

Approach and Impulsivity

What are the biological bases of the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)?

Dopamine (but generally under-specified)

What behaviours does the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) produce?

avoidance and Anxiety

What are the biological bases of the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)?

Septo-hippocampal pathway

What behaviours does the Fight-Flight System (FFS) produce?

Unconditioned Responses and fear

What biological bases are related to the Fight-Flight System (FFS)?

Sympathetic nervous system (SNS)

How do the RST and P-E-N theories relate?

Gray proposed impulsivity / anxiety as alternative to E and N at 30-degree rotation. Able to use one theory to predict where person would be located on the other

What is a common method of measuring RST?

Carver & White (1994): BAS/BIS questionnaire

What are the three subscales of the BAS?

Reward Responsiveness, Drive, Fun seeking

What area was modified with the revised RST?

The three systems were modified

What three kinds of evidence can we use to suggest a model has biological basis?

Temporal Stability, Similarity across species, Cross-cultural evidence, Hereditary or genetic contributions

How stable was extraversion and neuroticism within subjects over time?

Extraversion was stable within subjects over time periods ranging from 6 to 30 years, with a median correlation of .64. Neuroticism was also stable over time periods ranging from 6 to 30 years, with a similar median correlation of .64

What did Gosling & John (1999) determine about extraversion and neuroticism across species?

Many but not all species displayed extravert and neurotic behaviour

What challenges are there in determining similarity across different species?

Difficult in observing similarities and some personality traits and some animal species are easier to observe than others

What did Barrett, Petrides, Eysenck and Eysenck (1998) determine about the EPQ-R across cultures?

calculated whether the distribution of the items across the four domains (P-E-N-L) was similar. They found that items were indeed grouped similarly across cultures

What are MZ twins?

Monozygotic twin - Identical - 100% shared DNA and 100% shared environment

What are DZ twins?

Dizygotic (DZ) - Non-identical - 50% shared DNA and 100% shared environment

What did Plomin et al. (1994) find about the heritability of traits?

Heritability accounts for 51% for Extraversion and 46% for Neuroticism - shows that there is a genetic contribution to the traits

How can we identify genes associated with specific traits?

Candidate Gene studies, associations between genetic variation within genes of interest selected a-priori and specific traits

What are Genome-wide association studies?

interrogate hundreds of thousands to millions of SNPs across the entire genome with no assumed prior knowledge

what structural brain measures are used to identify brain measures associated with specific traits?

MRI, PET, CT

What properties of the brain are examined using structural brain measures?

Cortical thickness, volume, gyrification

What type of brain measures are fMRI, EEG, and MEG?

Functional brain measures

What is the difference between resting state and task-related functional brain measures?

Resting state measures are taken while the participant does not engage in a particular task while task-related measures are taken while participant performs a task

What parts of the brain should be activated by appetitive pictures with a letter super-imposed in the discrimination task?

BAS-related regions (i.e., the striatum, the OFC and the mPFC) and regions known to modulate the action of the BAS (i.e., the lateral prefrontal and occipital cortices

What parts of the brain should be activated by aversive pictures with a letter super-imposed in the discrimination task?

BIS-FFFS structures (i.e., hippocampal formation and the amygdala) as well as a regions known to modulate the action of the BIS-FFFS (i.e., the lateral prefrontal and occipital cortices)