PBSI 330 Alwood Exam 1

Genetics

The DNA inherited from one's biological parents and it is one type of influence on personality.

Environment

The experiences after birth that are both shared and nonshared.

Neurotransmitters

Chemicals that travel across the synapse between neurons where they cause a chemical reaction that has an excitatory or inhibitory effect.

Hormones

Biological substances that affect the body in locations different from where they were produced.

Where are hormones typically produced?

In the pituitary gland and adrenal cortex

The duration of hormones is ______________ than neurotransmitters

longer

Dopamine

Allows the brain to control movement and reward reponse

Which neurotransmitter is related to sociability, general activity level, and novelty seeking (linked to high openness of experience)?

Dopamine

Which neurotransmitter is related to bipolar disorder and impulsivity?

Dopamine

Which neurotransmitter activates the behavioral activation system (BAS)

Dopamine

Serotonin

Plays a role in the control of behavioral impulses and fear and anxiety. It lowers anger, oversensitivity, and worrying too much.

serotonin agonists reduce feelings of fear and anxiety by reducing the degree to which the _____________ reacts to threatening stimuli

amygdala

What are SSRIs

Useful in reducing neuroticism, does not make you happier but makes negative emotions less severe.

What personality traits does serotonin affect?

1. Helps people get work done (conscientiousness)

2. Helps people get along with others (agreeableness)

3. Helps people avoid mood swings and emotional overreactions to life events (neuroticism)

What are the two hormones released in response to stress?

Epinephrine and Norepinephrine

What role do Epinephrine and Norepinephrine play in the body?

They play a central role in brain function.

What response do Epinephrine and Norepinephrine create?

The fight or flight response.

Women might respond differently to stress by these two methods?

1. Tend and Befriend

2. Oxytocin

Tend and befriend

Calm others down and get people to work together to deal with the threat

What hormone promotes nurturant and sociable behaviors?

Oxytocin

What effects does oxytocin have on anxiety?

It can decrease anxiety.

How does oxytocin affect attachment between mothers and children?

It can increase attachment.

What feelings does oxytocin promote besides sociability?

Relaxation and reduced fear.

Testosterone

Hormone present in both women and men, but concentration in men is about 10 times higher.

Testosterone in Men

Related to aggression, behavioral control problems, criminal behaviors, avoidance, dominance, and loneliness

Where is testosterone produced in women?

Adrenal cortex

What is testosterone in women associated with?

Higher levels of self-reported sociability

What personality traits are associated with testosterone in women?

Impulsivity, lack of inhibition, and lack of conformity

Cortisol

Released in response to stress (physical or psychological) and helps body prepare for action

High levels of cortisol

related to severe stress, anxiety, and depression

Low Levels of cortisol

Related to excessive sensation seeking and possibly due to abnormal response to danger signals.

Hypothalamus

Connected to just about everything else; secretes several hormones

Amygdala

Central role in emotion, including learning what objects to fear

Hippocampus

Important in processing memories

Nucleus accumbens

Implicated in responsiveness to reward

Neocortex

Outermost layer of the cortex and the most distinctive parts of the human brain.

Frontal Cortex

Large size, crucial for uniquely human aspects of cognition such as planning ahead, anticipating consequences, and emotional experience

Electroencephologram (EEG)

Electrodes on the scalp pick up electrical signals generated by the brain

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Detects magnetic indications of brain activity

computed tomography (CT)

Create representations of very thin slices of the brain; can examine small structures.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Map brain activity based on blood flow

Functional magnetic resistance imaging (fMRI)

Map brain activity based on magnetic impulses generated by oxygen in the blood.

Difficulties with imaging techniques

1. All parts of the brain are always active to some degree

2. Brain activity in response to a stimulus does not mean the same psychological process occurs every time that area is active

3. Most researchers only look to small areas and they are difficult to detect the neural context effect

There is a ___________ connection between ____________ and response to ________________

strong, extraversion, dopamine

High extraversion: increased __________ activation

amygdala

Extraverts respond to dopamine __________________

more strongly

The dopaminergic system stimulates the release of ______________

endorphins

endorphins produce

pleasure

The brain structure that most research has associated with neuroticism is the __________

amygdala

When the amygdala is aroused by danger

Transmits signals to the hypothalamus causing cortisol to be released in the blood stream.

What is a long term effect of a hyperactive amygdala related to physical health?

A rise in the risk of diabetes and heart disease

How does a hyperactive amygdala affect mental health?

It leads to declines in mental health, especially levels of anxiety and depression

Stressful events and the amygdala

Raises cortisol levels which can increase tendencies toward anxiety and depression

The key structure for planning and self restraint is the _____________________

frontal cortex

Insula

Plays an interesting role in conscientiousness and involved in generating potentially distracting impulses

High impulsivity (low conscientousness)

associated with more activity in the ventral striatum

When actions of the prefrontal cortex are successful in overcoming distractions, people may

Display self control and pursue planned goals

Dorsal striatum =

habit hub

Ventral Striatum =

Reward hub

Intellect

Refers to being interested in abstract thought and theoretical speculations

Openness

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

High openness to experience =

better short term memory (maybe better contemplation of complex ideas)

Mentalizing

Understanding what other people are thinking

Empathy

Understanding other peoples feelings

Two brain processes that appear to be especially important for agreeableness

Mentalizing and Empathy

high agreeableness =

more activation in frontal lobe

__________ causes activation in brain region associated with physical pain

ostracism

The need to belong

People have a universal need to belong and exclusion can lead to bad behavior

Sociometer Theory

Feelings of self-esteem evolved to monitor the degree to which a person is accepted by others

Role of instinct towards aggression

Aggressiveness can help a person to protect territory, property, and mates. May lead to dominance in the social group and higher status. The same tendency can also lead to fighting, murder, and war

Altruism

motivation to help another person out of concern for their well being

Inclusive Fitness

A tendency to aid and protect other people, especially close relatives (kin altruism)

How do behavioral patterns evolve according to evolutionary psychology?

Behavioral patterns evolve as reactions to particular environmental experiences.

What does evolutionary psychology suggest about behavioral strategies?

People may have evolved to have a repertoire of several possible behavioral strategies.

What is a characteristic of some evolved traits in evolutionary psychology?

Some evolved traits may be frequency dependent.

Frequency dependent

Traits that adjust prevalence according to how common they are in the population at large

Challenges to Evolutionary Psychology

1. Ignores culture

2. Argument can be created for any finding

3. Impossible to prove

4. Used to justify bad behavior

What personality traits, behaviors, and attitudes have strong genetic components

Impulsivity 50%

self esteem 40%

traditionalism 50%

(T/F) A constellation of genes are involved in extraversion, neuroticism, sensation seeking, and depression

True

Molecular genetics

Determine whether differences in traits are correlated with differences in a particular gene.

most traits are _____________

polygenic

Genome Wide Association studies (GWAS)

Look for associations between hundreds of thousands of genes or patterns of genes and personality in large samples.

Epigenetics

Explores how nongenetic influences, especially early in life, can determine how or even whether a gene is expressed during development.

Genes are not ___________; they only provide the ___________

causal, design

IN reality its not nature vs nurture it is ________________

nature AND nurture

Evocative person environment transaction example

A child who inherits a genetically based tendency to be easily angered may tend to create and thereby experience hostile social situations

Active person-environment transaction example

Niche picking (ex: attractive and strong may be extraverted or someone who is sensation seeking may take to drugs.

reactive person-environment transaction

A stressful environment may lead a genetically predisposed individual to develop mental illness but leave other individual unscathed.

Freud's Psychoanalysis

controversial approach that placed an emphasis on sex and sexual energy

Objections to Freud's Pyschoanalysis

1. Dislike of emphasis on sex

2. Unscientific theory

3. criticism of psychoanalysis have been mixed with complaints about Freud's ethics, manners, and even personal life

Psychic Determinism

Everything that happens in a persons mind, including everything a person thinks and does, has a specific cause.

Unconscious

Areas and processes of the mind of which a person is not aware

Conscious

What we are aware of

Pre conscious

what we are barely aware of

Unconscious

What we are unaware of

Unconscious mind is governed by the ________________

pleasure principle

Conscious mind is governed by the ___________________________

reality principle

Pleasure-versus-reality conflict is typically about_____________________

sex

The ___________ is made of separate parts that function independently and can conflict with each other

mind

Id

Irrational and emotional