PSYC 4520 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last Lecture I. Achievement MotivationA. The need for achievementB. High achievement motivation characteristicsC. Predicting achievement behaviorD. Gender, culture, and achievementE. AttributionsF. Achievement goalsII. Type A, Hostility, and HealthA. Type A and Type B peopleB. Type A as a personality variableC. Hostility and healthIII. Social AnxietyA. Social anxietyB. Characteristics of socially anxious people C. Explaining social anxietyIV. EmotionsA. Emotion as a personality characteristicB. Emotional affectivityThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.C. Affect intensityD. Emotional expressivenessV. Optimism and PessimismA. Optimism vs. pessimismB. Optimism and cultureC. Dealing with adversityD. Optimism and healthE. Defensive pessimismOutline of Current Lecture I. Hans Eysenck’s Theory of PersonalityA. Who was Hans Eysenck? B. The structure of personalityC. Physiological differences: Stimulation sensitivity and behavioral activation/ inhibition systemsD. A biological basis for personalityII. Heritability of Personality TraitsA. Nature vs. nurtureB. Separating environmental from genetic influencesC. Twin-study methodD. Adoption-study methodE. Problems with genetic researchCurrent LectureI. Hans Eysenck’s Theory of PersonalityA. Who was Hans Eysenck?i. He was a psychologist who maintained that individual differences in personality are based on physiological differences. His claims were initially met with skepticism. B. The structure of personalityi. Eysenck wished to know the underlying structure of personality. He employed factor analysis to identify the basic number of what he called types, or supertraits. Unlike most researchers, his conclusion was that all traits can be subsumed within 3 basic personality dimensions: extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. ii. Eysenck divided the elements of personality into units that are arranged hierarchically. His basic structure is the specific response level (specific behaviors). For example, a man spending the afternoon laughing with friends is a specific response. If this man spends many afternoons with these friends, we have evidence for a habitual response (the 2nd level in Eysenck’s model). If this man also devotes parts of his weekends to his social life with other people and other situations, we may conclude that he exhibits the trait of sociability (a specific trait, Eysenck’s 3rd level). Finally, Eysenck said that traits like sociability are part of an even larger dimension of personality; people who are sociable also tend to be impulsive, active, and lively. All of these traits combine to form the supertrait Eysenck called extraversion. Eysenck’s 3 dimensions are independent, so one score does not say anything about others.iii. Extraversion—An extravert is “outgoing, impulsive, and uninhibited, having many social contacts and taking part in group activities. He/she is sociable, likes parties, has many friends, needs to have people to talk to, and does not like reading/studying by him- or herself.” An introvert is “a quiet, retiring person, introspective, fond of books rather than people; he is reserved and distant except to intimate friends.” Most fall between these two extremes, but each of us is perhaps more one than the other.iv. Neuroticism—High scores on this dimension indicate a tendency to respond emotionally. We refer to these people as unstable/highly emotional. They have strong reactions to minor frustrations and takelonger to recover. They are more easily upset/ depressed. Those low in neuroticism do not fly off the handle or have large swings in emotion.v. Psychoticism—People high in this dimension are “egocentric, aggressive, impersonal, cold, lacking in empathy, impulsive, and unconcerned about others.” They are good candidates for judicial correction/psychotherapy.C. Physiological differences: Stimulation sensitivity and behavioral activation/ inhibition systemsi. Eysenck said that introverts and extroverts have different levels of cerebral cortex arousal in a resting state. He said that extroverts have a lower level of cortical arousal than introverts; the former seek out highly arousing social behavior because their cortical arousal is below their desired level when doing nothing (they try to avoid boredom). Introverts operate at cortical arousal level that is near/above the optimal amount, so they select solitude/non-stimulating environments to keep their already high arousal level from becoming higher. ii. Research does not support this theory; introverts and extroverts show no differences in brain-wave activity when at rest/asleep, but they do differ in how their brains respond to emotional stimuli. Introverts are more sensitive to stimulation than extroverts: the former are more quickly/ strongly aroused when exposed to external stimulation and also more responsive to chemical stimulants. So, due to physiological differences, introverts are more quickly overwhelmed by stimulation.iii. Other researchers tie differences in extraversion/neuroticism to biologicaldifferences in sensitivity to reinforcement. Reinforcement sensitivity theory says that each human brain has a behavioral approach system (BAS) and a behavioral inhibition system (BIS). People with an active BAS are intensely motivated to seek/achieve pleasurable goals; they get more pleasure out of rewards and simply anticipating future rewards. They also experience more anger/frustration when they do not reach anticipated sources of pleasure. On the other hand, people with an active BIS are more apprehensive; they approach new situations warily, look out for danger, and quickly retreat from potentially problematic situations. They are more likely to experience anxiety. Researchers see a connection between the BAS and extraversion/the BIS and neuroticism.D. A biological basis for personalityi. Eysenck used 3 arguments to show that personality is shaped by biology.ii. 1. Consistency of extraversion-introversion over time: people who are more extroverted generally remain this way, and those who are more introverted generally remain this way.iii. 2. Cross-cultural research: researchers find the same 3 dimensions of personality in different countries. This consistency would not be possible if biological factors were not responsible for