Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
40 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Which are the five domains for explaining personality? |
1. Evolution (human nature) 2. Genetics (human nature) 3. Biology (human nature) 4. Cognition (human nature/nuture?) 5. Social context and culture (nurture) |
|
|
What is phylogenetics? |
The study of evolutionary history, development and relationships among groups of organisms (e.g. species, or populations). Can be mapped using a 'family tree' |
|
|
Why are there hints that phylogenetics might play a role in personality? |
1. From cross cultural studies = e.g., Big Five structure confirmed in 56-nations (Schmitt et al., 2007 - The structure of traits appears universal 2. From cross species studies = Analogues of the Big Five traits found in many non-human animals- All Five traits observed only in Chimpanzees and humans (Gosling & John, 1999) |
|
|
In percentage, how much does genetic variation explain the variation in personality traits? |
40-50% |
|
|
Therefore, does genetic variation reflect evolutionary forces in personality? |
Yes |
|
|
What are the three evolutionary mechanisms? |
1. Adaptation: selected for due to its impact on fitness 2. By-product: trait that is coupled with an adaptation, but was not itself selected for (e.g., belly-button) 3. Noise: traits that are not adaptations or by-products (reflect something useful, but is not useful for survival/reproduction, e.g the ear lobe, as opposed to the ear) |
|
|
Is it plausible that human traits can be adaptive and ‘selected for’? |
Yes. It has been done with dogs (selective dogs for their personality traits depending on the type of work humans want them to do) for hundreds of years. However human data is only today’s data, so this is theoretical framework |
|
|
What are two examples from the lecture of adaptation? (Luke said this will not be on the exam) |
1. Russian Silver Foxes experiment, Dmitri Belyaev 2. ‘labradoodle’ =breed so they had hair of poodle not fur of labradore, good for people with allergies |
|
|
What is one analogy from the lecture that personality traits are adaptive? |
the domestication of the dog: certain types of wolves with traits of fearlessness/placidity, may have adapted their behaviour to domestify themselves and ally themselves with humans |
|
|
From the Big Five, which traits are selected for survival and for reproduction? (theoretically) |
Neuroticism (fear invoking traits), Conscientiousness (survive throughout the winter), Openness - maybe survival Extraversion, Agreeableness (both interpersonal traits) – maybe reproduction |
|
|
What is the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness (EAA)? |
The most recent human evolution occurred during the Pleistocene era (2.5-11 million years ago), so when making inferences about adaptive personality traits, the challenge is to bear in mind the selection pressures that occurred in this era. |
|
|
As seatbelts, locks, insurance, personal alarms were not present during the EAA, what are these associated with in terms of adaptive traits? |
safety and avoiding threats |
|
|
What are the limitations of Adaptive Theory or Natural Selection of personality traits? |
Appears to be a simplistic approach in explaining which traits may have been adaptive, not very good at explaining the variation in personality traits. Tooby & Cosmides (1990):Natural selection drives toward universals, it does not favour systematic variations - they see this a selective neutrality |
|
|
What are three other evolutionary theories for explaining personality traits? |
1. Selective Neutrality 2. Balancing Selection 3. Life History Theory |
|
|
What is Selective Neutrality? |
a theory that personality traits are not selected for, but there is an optimal level (the mean of personality traits) and any deviation from that is the acceptable limitations. Analogy: ‘gut-packing design’(Penke et al., 2007) Fitness-neutral genetic mutations (i.e., random variations that have no impact on fitness) may accumulate over time to increase genetic variance in a trait |
|
|
What are the problems with Selective Neutrality? |
Very simplistic explanation. If genetic variation of personality traits is random and not related to fitness, then then personality variation should not predict fitness-relevant outcomes. However, personality traits do predict fitness-relevant outcomes, eg. Health (agreeableness, [low] neuroticism), Longevity (conscientiousness),Reproductive behaviour (extraversion) |
|
|
So which two theories drive more towards human universals over personality variation? |
Adaptive theory and Selective Neutrality |
|
|
What is Balancing Selection? |
A theory with two sides of the one coin: 1.Antagonistic Pleiotropy: ‘fitness trade-offs’, looks at pros and cons with every trait (Nettle, 2005,2006) 2. Environmental Heterogeneity:Environments may consist of ‘niches’ favour different kinds of behaviour. *A plausible explanation of personality trait variation. |
|
|
What is a problem with Antagonistic Pleiotropy? |
Suggests that scoring high in one trait means you will experience both the benefit and the cost in perfect balance, but this is speculative and there is not data to support this assertion. |
|
|
What is a study that is consistent with Environmental Heterogeneity? (It doesn't directly support the theory, but can be seen as consistent with the theory) |
Camperio et al 2007, looked at personality traits in Italian region = 20 generations had lower extraversion and openness scores, than more recently settled families. Was suggested that environmental niches that favoured these traits (?) But then why do recent inhabitants score higher on E and O? A: Because they came from a different environment/culture that favoured higher E and O.
|
|
|
What is frequency dependent selection with regards to Environmental Heterogeneity? |
if all your neighbours are pursuing one strategy it may pay for you to pursue another, e.g. the Hawk and Dove game, depending on the Context, it is not certain whether it pays to be a dove or a hawk
|
|
|
Are there evolutionary stable strategies with regards to personality traits? |
No. It is not universally better to be a Hawk (Neuroticism) nor a Dove (Agreeableness), but it is highly dependent on the context as to which one with thrive more than the other. |
|
|
What is Life History Theory? |
Metaphorically = an Energy Budget |
|
|
What are the three principles of Life History Theory? |
1) Resources vary in their availability over time and space 2) Fitness maximization is not a one-shot game - long vs. short term strategies 3) Trade-offs must be made: - reproduce now or wait for better circumstances? - quantity or quality of offspring? - focus on mating or rearing? |
|
|
What did Wolf et al, 2007 study in their simulation? |
Exploration intensity |
|
|
What is exploration intensity? |
The theory that exploring for higher quality resources takes more time, so the cost is that this delays reproduction. So thorough foragers have more to lose if they don't get high quality resources because they have not yet reproduced, so they are more risk-adverse and less likely to start a fight (aggressiveness) or fight back (boldness) than superficial foragers (superficial foragers have already reproduced so they will take the risk of fighting for higher quality resources) |
|
|
In percentage, how much do behavioural genetics account for traits? |
40-50% |
|
|
What are the Three Laws of Behavioural Genetics (Turkheimer, 2000)? |
1. All human traits are heritable. 2. The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of genes. 3. A substantial portion of the variation in complex human traits is not accounted for by the effects of genes or families. |
|
|
What is the Fourth Law of Behavioural Genetics? |
A typical human behavioral trait is associated with very many genetic variants, each of which accounts for a very small percentage of the behavioral variability.
i.e., human traits are highly ‘polygenic’- molecular genetics say there is no one gene for trait |
|
|
What has the Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) found? |
GWAS has helped identify several genes implicated in height (Lango Allen et al., 2010) and schizophrenia (Need & Goldstein, 2014) |
|
|
How does biology (ie. brain structure and function) explain personality traits? |
Four out of Big Five: Extraversion – reward processing areas Neuroticism – threat processing and emotion function areas Agreeableness – social information processing areas Conscientiousness – regions associated with planning and self-regulation |
|
|
What is a cognitive explanation of personality traits? |
can explain personality traits with regards to attention, beliefs and memory, rather than genes
(eg. attentional bias, correlations with heightened positive info with Extraversion, and negative info with Neuroticism - these can be manipulation through training, CBT, etc) |
|
|
In percentage, how much does social context and culture play a role in personality variation? (ie. how much does environment impact personality?) |
The remaining 50-60% which is not related to genes. |
|
|
Do mean levels in trait differences vary across cultures? |
Yes. (Schmitt et al., 2007) e.g., Extraversion (North Americans vs. East Asians) NA>EA e.g., Agreeableness (Africans vs. Western Europeans) A>WE |
|
|
Which affects behaviour more, innate personality traits or social context? |
Neither. Both interact and result in behaviour. (see complex model) |
|
|
What bearing does social context have on assortive mating? |
Opposites [on average] do NOT attract, rather like goes with like (Watson, Beer & McDade-Montez, 2013)
|
|
|
What are three dimensions to measure cultural influences on personality? |
Dimensions of culture…e.g.,
1. Complexity (e.g., pre-state vs. information societies) 2. Tightness (the strength with which norms are enforced) 3. Collectivism (strong interdependence, priority to group), vs. Individualism (strong independence, priority to individual) |
|
|
What are three types of studies that have shown a relationship between cultural influences and trait expressions? |
1. Display rules: culturally informed rules for expression of emotionFacial expressionse.g., happiness in public (Japanese vs. North Americans) 2. Speech: Accompanying Gestures (Italians vs British) 3. Silence: undesirable in individualist cultures, desirable in collectivist cultures. |
|
|
Do cultural influences impact on Characteristic Adaptations? |
Yes definitely. This is perhaps why studying culture and personality is so difficult as it seems to spread beyond personality traits. Aspects of personality concerned with time, role and place are, by definition, grounded in social context and culture e.g., self-construals, goals, and values associated with interdependence in collectivist cultures and with independence in individualistic cultures (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) |
|
|
What is the overall summary of this lecture? |
Personality = regularities in behaviour and experience
1. These are the product of :Social context,Cognitive mechanisms, grounded in biological processes, and Genetic influences, shaped by evolution 2. Reciprocal causese.g., culture could influence evolution via migratione.g., social context -> stress -> ‘neuroplastic’ change |
