Anatomy and Physiology of Personality

Flashcards covering the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of personality, including brain structures, neurotransmitters, hormones, and the Big Five traits.

What are the main theoretical approaches in Personality Psychology?

Trait, Biological, Psychodynamic, Phenomenological, and Learning/cognitive approaches

What are the assumptions of the Biological Approach to personality?

Personality traits reflect physiological differences, are strongly influenced by genetics, and are rooted in our evolutionary history.

Name some major brain structures relating to personality.

Hypothalamus, Amygdala, Hippocampus, Nucleus accumbens, Cortex (Neocortex, Frontal cortex)

What roles do the Amygdala, Hippocampus, and Nucleus accumbens play?

Amygdala: Emotion, including learning what objects to fear. Hippocampus: Processing memories. Nucleus accumbens: Responsiveness to reward.

Name 3 research methods for studying the brain.

Study of brain damage, experiments using brain stimulation, brain activity and imaging

What does 'Psychosurgery' involve?

Altering personality, emotions, or behavior, such as with a prefrontal lobotomy removing sectors of the frontal lobes.

What are EEG and MEG used for in brain activity and imaging?

Detecting temporal patterns; i.e., WHEN the brain is working.

What are CT scans, PET, and fMRI used for in brain activity and imaging?

Detecting locational patterns; i.e., WHERE the brain is working.

What are the two main categories of biochemicals influencing personality?

Neurotransmitters and Hormones

What are neurotransmitters?

Chemicals that transmit signals across a chemical synapse from one neuron to another target neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell (e.g. Dopamine, Serotonin)

What is dopamine associated with?

Control of body movements, response to reward, tendencies to approach appealing objects and people, exploratory behavior, positive emotion, sociability, novelty-seeking

What is serotonin associated with?

Stopping from reacting too quickly, avoiding mood swings and emotional overreactions, ability to organize behavior and get work done, getting along with others.

What is Oxytocin associated with?

Mother-child bonding, romantic attachment, sexual response, calming others down and getting people to work together to deal with threats.

What is Testosterone associated with?

Aggression, dominance, and competitiveness but also an effect rather than just a cause for behavior. Unknown causal directions for lots of research!

What is cortisol associated with?

Response to stress/threat (fight-flight); chronically high levels are linked to anxiety & depression, while chronically low levels are linked to a failure to respond to danger.

What are the two metatraits associated with the Big Five traits?

Stability and Plasticity

Which Big Five traits are included in Stability?

Emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and the abilities to control impulses, moderate emotions, and compromise with others

Which Big Five traits are included in Plasticity?

Extraversion and openness, exploration, activity, and emotional expression and dopamine

Match the Big Five traits to their relate system:

Extraversion: Approach system (sensitivity to reward); Agreeableness: Care system (long-term bonds); Conscientiousness: Self-regulation system (standards/control); Neuroticism: Avoidance/vigilance system (sensitivity to punishment); Openness to Experience: Explore system (interests)

How does the brain relate to extraversion?

A strong connection between extraversion and response to dopamine; extraverts respond to dopamine more strongly & enjoy rewards, therefore, they are extra motivated to seek out

Which brain structure has the most research associated with neuroticism?

Amygdala

What roles do Conscientiousness play in the human brain?

The key structure for planning and self-restraint is the frontal cortex and insula involved in generating potentially distracting impulses

What roles do Agreeableness play in the human brain?

Two brain processes that appear to be especially important for Agreeableness are Mentalizing: Understanding what other people are thinking and Empathy: Understanding other people’s feelings

What is 'Intellect' correlated to?

Refers to being interested in abstract thought and theoretical speculations

What is 'Openness' correlated to?

Refers to responding to aesthetic stimuli including art, music, natural beauty, and even private fantasies

Explain the difficulties of studying Personality in the Brain

Compares between mean levels of activation, not precise patterns of activation, all parts of the brain are always active to some degree, multiple comparisons lead to false positives, the technology is very expensive, lack of precision = difficult to make inferences about individual cases

Why is it a mistake to map a single brain area, a single biochemical, or a single gene onto behavioral tendencies?

Shown to be a mistake because the physical basis of psychological function is complex!