Biological Theory of Personality

12 Key excerpts on "Biological Theory of Personality"

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  Biological Psychiatry

  • Edward Bittar(Author)
  • 1999(Publication Date)
  • Elsevier Science

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 4 The Biologyof Personality ROGER T. MULDER Introduction Definition Models of Personality The Biology of Personality Genetics Temperament Neurobiology Sociocultural The Current Era Neurophysiological Studies Neurochemical Studies Models of Temperament The Tridimensional Model of Temperament Research Using the TPQ Which Model of Temperament The Importance of the Biology of Temperament 88 88 88 90 90 91 91 91 92 92 92 94 95 97 98 99 Biological Psychiatry,pages 87-101. Copyright 9 2000 by JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISBN: 1-55938-819-6 87 88 ROGER T. MULDER Concluding Remarks 100 Summary 100 INTRODUCTION The relative importance given to environmental and biological factors in determin-ing personality has fluctuated throughout history. The western medical tradition has tended to emphasize biological factors in explaining human behavior. Many of the theories presented a simplistic and even prejudiced view of human behavior. How-ever, there now exists an extensive body of data from disparate fields of research that supports the concept that biology contributes significantly to personality. This chapter will briefly review the history linking biology to personality. It will then discuss the evidence for the importance of biological factors influencing behavior. Current biological theories will be examined and research on these the-odes presented. Finally, an attempt will be made to link biology of personality with current medical and psychiatric practice. DEFINITION The word personality has been described as one of the most abstract words in our language. Its exact meaning generally varies within the context in which it is used. The concept of personality discussed in this chapter might be more properly labeled temperament. Temperament may be seen as simple, nonmotivational, noncognitive, stylistic characteristics.

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  The Causes and Cures of Neurosis (Psychology Revivals)

  An introduction to modern behaviour therapy based on learning theory and the principles of conditioning

  • H. J. Eysenck, S Rachman(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 3

  THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF PERSONALITY

  BEHAVIOUR of human beings is determined by biological as well as by social factors. It is notable that during the last twenty or thirty years, the attention of clinical psychologists has been largely attracted by social factors, to the virtual exclusion of biological ones. This is unfortunate, because any tendency to over-stress one aspect of human personality must lead to a disregard for important and relevant factors. It is not the purpose of the book to deny the importance of social factors and to over-stress in turn the influence of biological ones; what we are trying to do in this Chapter is to adduce some evidence to show that biological factors are indeed important and should not be dismissed out of hand in a discussion of the causes and cures of neurosis; it will become apparent that only by using these factors appropriately will it be possible to work out a proper scheme of treatment which shall be less one-sided and perhaps more successful than those currently in favour.

  Any proof for the existence of a biological basis of personality must begin with a discussion of the influence of hereditary factors. Most of the work done in this field has, of course, made use of the convenient appearance of certain types of twins (identical or monozygotic twins) who share completely identical heredity, and whose similarities and dissimilarities may be compared with those appearing in fraternal or dizygotic twins, i.e. twins who share heredity only to the extent of 50 per cent, which is, of course, not different from that shown by ordinary siblings. The notion underlying all work with twins may be simply put in the following way. If individual differences in a particular trait or ability are due entirely to environmental causes, then the fact that identical twins show more common heredity than do fraternal ones will not affect degree of similarity or dissimilarity between twins, and consequently identical twins will be no more alike with respect to this trait or ability than will fraternal twins. If, on the other hand, heredity plays a part in producing individual differences in this trait or ability, then identical twins will be more alike than fraternal ones. The early studies of Eysenck and Prell (1951) and Eysenck (1956), using objective tests as well as questionnaires, showed that identical twins were much more alike, both with respect to neuroticism and with respect to introversion, than were fraternal twins, and it was argued that the degree of heredity of these personality traits was probably not far different from that shown by abilities such as intelligence. Later work by Wilde (1962) and Gottesman (1963) supported this view, as did work along rather different lines of familial descent by Lienert and Reisse (1961). No systematic review will be made of all the studies carried out in this field, because the results tend to be rather similar. We will note, however, certain objections which have been made to work with twins. In particular, it has been suggested that identical twins may perhaps be treated more alike, because of their greater similarity, than will be fraternal twins whose lack of outward similarity may lead to their being treated rather differently. Thus, there may be a kind of interaction effect which may falsely suggest the greater hereditary determination of personality variables in identical twins as compared with fraternal twins.

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  Handbook of Personality Psychology

  • Robert Hogan, John Johnson, Stephen Briggs(Authors)
  • 1997(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  C. A Theory of Personality Development To advance social science knowledge, the findings in this chapter must be placed into a general theory of personality development. Behavior genetics is part of a general theory of personality development that requires an integration of behavior genetics with other psychological subdiscipUnes. This theory attributes trait variation to variation in the biology of the human nervous and endocrine systems. An analytic layer between the genes and measured traits is being investigated through a whole range of new brain imaging systems. Hypotheses about physiological bases of per-sonality variation are currently becoming more refined (see Geen, this volume, chap. 16). Behavior genetics also explains the intergenerational transmission of traits: in the absence of strong biological selection and given large population sizes (certainly true of humans), genetic variation in one generation will be reliably transmitted to the next. Both within-population variation in personality, and some 384 DAVID CRowE population mean differences (Kagan, Arcus, & Snidman, 1993), may thus possess a basis in genetic variation. Despite scientific progress, many interesting and unresolved questions remain to complete a general theory of personality. Some fundamental questions are. Why do family environments have so little effect on personality development? What maintains genetic variability in personality over many generations? Is genetic varia-tion related to human adaptive traits, or is it merely genetic junk? How does environmental transmission occur? Can the specific environmental causes of non-shared environmental variation be found? With regard to the first question posed above, behavior genetics gives the metaphor of niche picking (Scarr & McCartney, 1983).

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  Advances in Personality Psychology

  Volume II

  • Andrzej Eliasz, Sarah E. Hampson, Boele de Raad, Andrzej Eliasz, Sarah E. Hampson, Boele de Raad(Authors)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  In particular it has been suggested that trait research should place more emphasis on the social-cognitive bases of personality (Matthews and Gilliland, 1999). A more systematic ordering of the diverse conditions underlying personality has been proposed in Zuckerman's (1993) seven turtles model. According to this model personality traits are based on social behaviour that, in turn, is the fruit of learning. Physiological conditions underlie learning but are based on biochemical processes that rest on neurological conditions themselves. Finally, the major foundations of neurology are genes, controlling the production of proteins, which in turn exert profound effects on behavioural structures and processes via the nervous system and production of behaviourally relevant hormones and neurotransmitters. Thus, summarizing, traits, social behaviour, learning, physiology, biochemistry, neurology and genes are the stations along which genotypes are translated into phenotypes. To explore the ways in which the different levels exert their influence is a major task for current personality psychology. Recent attempts to study personality from a biosocial multilevel perspective may be noted in different domains like sexuality (Jansen et al., 2000), criminality (Magnusson, 1988), sensation seeking (Zuckerman, 1993), stress (Lensvelt-Mulders and Hettema, 2001) and depression (Kenrick, et al., 1985 ; Hettema, 1995). For instance, Kenrick et al. (1985) have pointed out a number of different conditions that have to be fulfilled before a person will become depressed. They argued that a person would not become depressed unless he or she has an unpleasant experience of some kind. However, not everyone who has an argument with his or her spouse becomes clinically depressed. Unless a person devotes cognitive attention to that unpleasant experience, it will not bother him or her

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  Theoretical Approaches in Psychology

  • Matt Jarvis(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  8 Biological psychology 1: genetic influences on behaviour

  Key assumptions of the approach Behavioural genetics: the genetics of individual differences Evolutionary psychology: the genetics of human similarity Contemporary issue: does behavioural genetics pose a threat to other psychological approaches? Contributions and limitations of genetically based approaches Summary

  Key assumptions of the approach

  Have you ever wondered why a particular characteristic like high IQ or perhaps a bad temper seems to run in your family? Thinking about people more generally, have you ever considered why people prefer to go to the toilet alone, or why a young man going out with an older woman raises eyebrows whereas no one looks twice at an older man partnered with a young woman? Although there are many possible explanations for these patterns, there has recently been an upsurge of interest in biological explanations for these and many other psychological phenomena. Over the next two chapters we shall look at three major concepts from biology that have proved useful in explaining human psychology—genetics, evolution and neurophysiology.

  Genetics is the study of inheritance, and has been applied to psychology in looking at the extent to which psychological characteristics are affected by inheritance from parents. Evolution

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  Psychology Applied to Modern Life

  Adjustment in the 21st Century

  • Wayne Weiten, Dana Dunn, Elizabeth Hammer(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  The study uncov- ered some interesting findings. For example, participants’ extraversion correlated with the volume of brain regions known to process reward. Variations in neuroticism corre- lated with the volume of brain areas known to be activated by threat, punishment, and negative emotions. And the size of brain areas thought to regulate planning and voluntary control correlated with subjects’ degree of conscientious- ness. This line of research is brand new, but the promising initial results suggest that it may be fruitful to explore the neurological bases of personality traits. The Evolutionary Approach to Personality In the realm of biological approaches to personality, the most recent development has been the emergence of an evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary psychologists as- sert that the patterns of behavior seen in a species are products of evolution in the same way that anatomical characteristics are. Evolutionary psychology examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many gen- erations. The basic premise of evolutionary psychology is that natural selection favors behaviors that enhance organ- isms’ reproductive success—that is, passing on genes to the next generation. Evolutionary theorists assert that per- sonality has a biological basis because natural selection has favored certain personality traits over the course of human history (Figueredo et al., 2005, 2009). Thus, evolu- tionary analyses of personality focus on how various traits—and the ability to recognize these traits in others— may have contributed to reproductive fitness in ancestral human populations. For example, David Buss (1991, 1995) has argued that the Big Five personality traits stand out as important di- mensions of personality across a variety of cultures be- cause those traits have had significant adaptive implica- tions.

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  Psychology of Personality

  Viewpoints, Research, and Applications

  • Bernardo J. Carducci(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  physiognomy An early attempt to understand personality by relating it to physical features of the person. sanguine personality A tendency to be cheerful. selective breeding experiment The systematic breeding of organisms to study the genetic transmission of certain characteristics. selective placement Certain biases in the placement of children during the adoption process. temperament An inherited dimension of personality. twin studies The investigation of twins to study the genetic contribution to various individual charac- teristics. 9 The Psychophysiological Viewpoint Neurological and Cortical Considerations in the Study of Personality Chapter Overview Linking Biological Processes to Personality Psychophysiological Assessment Assessment of Brain Activity Assessment of Bodily Responses Assessment of Biochemical Activity The Study of the Sensation-Seeking Personality Defining the Sensation-Seeking Personality The Sensation Seeking Scale Behavioral and Psychophysiological Correlates of Sensation Seeking The Study of Cortical Influences on Personality Neurological Basis of Extraversion and Introversion Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Linking Brain Sensitivity Systems to Personality Dimensions The Application of the Psychophysiological Viewpoint Elevating Emotional Distress from the Psychophysiological Viewpoint Work and the Psychophysiological Viewpoint Chapter Summary Glossary Chapter Overview: A Preview of Coming Attractions I n this chapter we will examine the psychophysiological view- point of personality. The psychophysiological viewpoint rep- resents the examination of the extent to which differences in the expression of personality are determined by various neurolog- ical processes and brain structures.

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  The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Individual Differences

  • Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Sophie von Stumm, Adrian Furnham, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Sophie von Stumm, Adrian Furnham(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Alternative Five , describing the personality factors of sociability, neuroticism–anxiety, aggression–hostility, impulsive sensation-seeking, and activity (Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, & Kraft, 1993). Starting in the 1960s and later on in parallel with work on his correlational model, Zuckerman developed a biosocial theory as a basis for his model, and primarily for sensation-seeking (Zuckerman, 2005). Contrary to Cloninger’s approach, his biosocial theory is characterized by the assumption that neurobiological traits are mediated by multiple biological systems, rather than by individual neurotransmitter systems. Impulsive sensation-seeking is for example modulated by dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, as well as by gonadal hormones and further mechanisms. A second characteristic of his approach is the view that only those personality traits which have a biological basis and substantial heritability can be seen as basic personality dimensions (Zuckerman, 2005, 1993). A third important feature of his approach is the hierarchical structure of the theory (Zuckerman, 1990; Brocke, 2004), a multi-level approach encompassing seven levels from genes to behavior.

  Among further biopsychological theories of personality, two more approaches should be mentioned. Jaak Panksepp developed a neurobiological personality theory comprising six traits. He labeled them playfulness, seeking, caring, fear, anger, and sadness, and he postulated that they were influenced by six neurally based networks or emotional systems (Panksepp, 1998). Additionally, he developed an inventory for the psychometric operationalization of his neurobiological traits (Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales, ANPS; Davis, Panksepp & Normansell, 2003). Thus his model exhibits the same structure as the other neurobiological theories, containing a descriptive, psychometric, and mostly correlational component and an hypothetically causal biopsychological component.

  On the basis of neuropsychological and psychophysiological findings, Richard J. Davidson postulated two separate brain systems, located in the right and left hemisphere, respectively, which are basically involved in behavior regulation (Davidson, 1992). The system located in the left prefrontal area is part of a motivational system and is responsible for approach behavior (see Amelang, Bartussek, Stemmler, & Hagemann, 2006). Apart from the left prefrontal cortex, this system comprises subcortical structures, especially the nucleus accumbens, and dopamine is involved in the modulation of approach behavior. Davidson postulated a complementary motivational system, located in the right prefrontal cortex and in limbic structures like the amygdala and hypothalamus, which is responsible for retreat behavior. Davidson assumes that not all individuals show a symmetric activity of both systems, but rather tend to exhibit either a left or right prefrontal base activity of the cortex. This frontal asymmetry is assumed to be a stable disposition and to be ascertainable by indicators of the spontaneous EEG. Individuals with a relatively left frontal asymmetry show a greater sensitivity to approach behavior and exhibit a marked positive emotionality. Individuals with a relatively right frontal asymmetry are predisposed to exhibiting retreat behavior and marked negative emotionality. The emotional traits of positive and negative emotionality corresponding to the respective frontal asymmetry are often measured with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

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  The Handbook of Life-Span Development, Volume 1

  Cognition, Biology, and Methods

  • Richard M. Lerner, Willis F. Overton, Richard M. Lerner, Willis F. Overton(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 5

  Biology, Evolution, and Psychological Development

  GARY GREENBERG and TY PARTRIDGE

  WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

  Taking a cue from Alice in Wonderland, we always believe it is best to start at the beginning. Thus, we start this discussion of the relation of biology to psychology with an understanding of the nature of the science of psychology. Succinctly, Psychology is the biopsychosocial science of animal behavior. Animal behavior is included to avoid references to other uses of the term, such as the physicist’s description of the behavior of particles. Furthermore, the implication here is that only animals behave in the psychological sense; in addition, we believe that behavior requires a nervous system, again restricting psychological behavior to animals. The idea that plants can behave in the psychological sense rears its head every so often and is quickly dismissed: “The past three years have witnessed the birth and propagation of a provocative idea in the plant sciences. Its proponents have suggested that higher plants have nerves, synapses, the equivalent of a brain localized somewhere in the roots, and an intelligence” (Alpi et al., 2007, p. 135; see also Dudley & File, 2007). This same sentiment can be extended to recent developments in the realm of artificial intelligence and naturalistic theologies such as the Gaia hypothesis (Lovelock, 1979). The adaptive behavior of complex systems and neural network computing systems are qualitatively different than psychology.

  Implied by the perspective that psychology is the biopsychosocial science of behavior is the assumption that behavior is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors, among others. In this context, it is critical to understand the significance of the important organizing principle of integrative levels: “a view of the universe as a family of hierarchies in which natural phenomena exist in levels of increasing organization and complexity” (Aronson, 1984, p. 66). This is a refutation of atomistic/ reductionistic principles and an affirmation of holism—that wholes cannot be reduced to their parts; that “more is different” (Anderson, 1972; Kauffman, 2007; Overton, 2006). Indeed, “hierarchy is a central phenomenon of life. Yet it does not feature as such in traditional biological theory” (Vrba & Eldredge, 1984, p. 146). Psychology is one of a growing number of areas of study falling under the metasciences of holism and complexity.

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  The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment

  Personality Theories and Models (Volume 1)

  • Gregory J Boyle, Gerald Matthews, Donald H Saklofske, Gregory J Boyle, Gerald Matthews, Donald H Saklofske(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  8

  Evolutionary Perspectives on Personality Psychology

  Richard L. Michalski and Todd K. Shackelford  

  INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

  In this chapter, we argue that the development, structure, and processes of human personality have been crafted over hundreds of thousands of generations by natural and sexual selection. We argue that there is no scientifically viable alternative framework for understanding the historical origins of human personality and that human personality is thus best conceptualized with the theoretical tools developed in the evolutionary sciences. Personality, from this perspective, represents a meta-category of the output of a suite of species-typical, relatively domain-specific, evolved psychological mechanisms designed in response to the social adaptive problems recurrently faced by our ancestors throughout human evolutionary history. This conceptualization of human personality provides for a novel and valuable reinterpretation of several areas of personality psychology including personality consistency, individual differences in personality, sex differences and similarities, and contextual determinants of personality. The reconceptualization of personality from an evolutionary perspective already has led to novel predictions about personality, including the function of social information conveyed through standings on the Big Five personality dimensions and in topics such as social anxiety, jealousy, altruism, aggression, psychopathology, mate preferences, desire for sexual variety, and father presence versus father absence in the development of sexual strategies. We argue that the limitations of the application of evolutionary theory to personality science are surmountable and that, despite these limitations, large strides have been made in anchoring personality science to the biological sciences by evolutionary scientists.

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  Personality

  Theory and Research

  • Daniel Cervone, Lawrence A. Pervin(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  E, Emotionality; A, Activity; S, Sociability; I, Impulsivity. Sources: Bouchard et al., 1990; Dunn & Plomin, 1990; Loehlin, 1992; McGue et al., 1993; Pedersen et al., 1998; Pedersen et al., 1992; Plomin, 1990; Plomin et al., 1990; Plomin & Rende, 1991; Tellegen et al., 1998; Tesser, 1993; Zuckerman, 1991. Genes and Personality 261 psychological traits commonly involve such an interplay of biology and experience that it is not meaningful to say that “X%” of an individual’s trait is due to one factor or another. (See discus- sions of gene–environment interaction and biological plasticity below.) A second inappropriate conclusion would be that, because a characteristic has an inherited component, it cannot change. In reality, environmental experiences can alter even highly herita- ble qualities. Height is significantly determined by genes but can be influenced by environmental nutrition in childhood. Individual differences in weight are influenced by genes, yet your weight can vary greatly depending on your diet. Molecular Genetic Paradigms Researchers have moved beyond the traditional behavior-genetic paradigm. Instead of merely comparing different types of twins, they have turned to a direct examination of the underlying biology. This work employs molecular genetic techniques in an effort to identify specific genes that are linked with personality traits (Canli, 2008; Plomin & Caspi, 1999). By examining the genetic material of different individuals, researchers hope to show how genetic variations, or alleles, relate to individual differences in personality functioning. Ideally, one might be able to show how a genetic variation codes for alternative forms of a biological substance or system that, in turn, has psychological effects. Initial research reported the discovery of a gene linked to the trait of novelty seeking, similar to Eysenck’s P factor, and to low C on the Big Five (Benjamin et al., 1996; Ebstein et al., 1996).

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  The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology

  • Philip J. Corr, Gerald Matthews(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Studies of personality using structural and functional MRI and PET are appear- ing at a rapid rate; over fifty have been published since 2003, almost tripling the existing number (see Turhan Canli, Chapter 19). Molecular genetics has seen a similar explosion of personality research since the first studies of the effects of genetic variation on normal personality traits appeared in 1996 (Marcus R. Munafò, Chapter 18, this volume). Electrophysiological research was the primary tool for investigating the biology of personality, prior to the advent of neuro- imaging and molecular genetics; with a few exceptions, however, associations of electrophysiological variables with personality have been inconsistent (Zuckerman 2005). Excellent reviews of research on the influence of neurotransmitters and hormones on personality have been written by Netter (2004), Hennig (2004) and Zuckerman (2005). Many inferences about personality can be drawn from the study of non-human animals (see Samuel D. Gosling and B. Austin Healey, Personality neuroscience: explaining individual differences 325 Chapter 17), and consistency with non-human analogs is a hallmark of good theory in personality neuroscience, but we limit our review to human methods. Influential theories in personality neuroscience We briefly describe the influential models of Eysenck, Gray, Zuckerman, Cloninger, Depue and Panksepp and relate each model to the Big Five, with the aim of translating results from different systems into a single common language. This approach is readily justified by the fact that these models have been demon- strated to fall within the same factor structure as the Big Five (e.g., Markon, Krueger and Watson 2005; Angleitner, Riemann and Spinath 2004). Most of the theorists have revised their models substantially over time; in the interest of space we discuss only the latest version of each.

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