Summary: Differential Psychology

Read the summary and the most important questions on Differential Psychology

• Personality and Basic Motivational systems: GRAY and BIS/BAS

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• Regarding the Behavioural Approach/Activation system, what is the key neurotransmitter and the key brain regions involved?

  Neurotransmitter: dopamine
  Key regions: ventral striatum. nucleus accumbens, amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex 

• Regarding the Behavioural Inhibition system, what are the key brain regions involved?

  Septohippocampal system (Gray later includes the amygdala)

• What happens when you are more sensitive to reward cues?

  Approach: the more sensitive to reward cues you are, the more you want sex, food, money etc 
  i.e. you see food cues, you anticipate food, and experience the anticipation and the consumption as rewarding 

• What happens when you are more sensitive to punishment?

  The more sensitive to punishment you are, the more you avoid potential fights, avoid losing money, avoid disappointing your friends, and avoid potential social humiliation 
  
  You repeatedly imagine different scenarios where e.g. your friend reacts badly to you letting them down, you experience this as worry = keen to avoid feeling like this
  (personal differences: if you are an anxious person, you will imagine these scenarios more than others)

• How can the BAS and BIS system be measured? Who measured them?

  Carver & White, 1994
  
  - produced a 24-item questionnaire of BAS and BIS system (p. 196 differential textbook)

• What shows that success is not only about talent/ability, but also about personality? 

  - some people might achieve more because they are more reward-driven 
  e.g. John is more musically gifted than Bob, but Bob practices more because Bob is more driven by ambitions of fame 
  - some people might achieve more because they are less cautious 
  e.g. Simon is more musically gifted Bob, but Simon is more shy than Bob, and more embarrassed by making mistakes in public 

• According to Gray & McNaughton, 2000 what 3 things does the hippocampus encourage? 

  1. To consider the potential negative outcome associated with a behaviour 
  2. Behavioural inhibition: interruption of ongoing behaviour e.g. walking more softly/slowly, stopping movement, stopping eating. 
  3. Risk assessment and exploration to help resolve conflict i.e. explore the situation around you (included in behavioural inhibition)

• What are the revisions in the Gray & McNaughton, 2000 theory compared to the Gray 1982 theory?

  a) they incorporated the amygdala into anxiety systems
  b) in original theory, BIS mediates avoidance. Later, they re-conceptualise the BIS in terms of conflict 
  
  (don't get too caught up in this revised theory, focus on the 1982 theory)

• What experiment shows the heritability and stability of BIS and BAS? 

  Takahashi et al. 2007 
  
  Identical vs. fraternal twins
  Heritability Results: for both BIS and BAS, correlations across identical twins are higher than across fraternal twins
  
  Stability Results: BIS and BAS are relatively stable over 2/3 year period 

• What does BAS overlap with?

  Extraversion i.e. sociable, talkative, active, spontaneous etc  
  
  Novelty seeking, reward dependence (Cloninger, 1987; Tridimensional Pers Questionnaire)