Differential Psychology: Understanding Individual Differences

Differential Psychology Overview

• Psychology centers on the experimental study of behavior and its causes.
• Psychology assumes that humans have universal processes and mechanisms.
• Understanding differences is essential to grasp complete behavior and its causes.
• Differential psychology focuses on measuring these differences, understanding their causes, and their consequences.
• There is debate regarding the ideal strategy for this.
• The variance is differential.
• A Gaussian (normal) distribution centers people's behavior around the mean.
  • Common processes like cognitive, biological, and social aspects represent the typical mean.
  • Abnormal and clinical aspects make up the atypical tails.
• Differential Psychology aims to predict, measure, and understand variation in distribution.
• This module discusses individual differences in 3 areas: abilities, beliefs, and personality/traits.
• Stability is typical in people across these domains. For instance, someone who is anxious, forgiving, sociable, and affectionate.
• This can apply to very intelligent with poor spatial awareness or a liberal, suspicious authority.
• A criminal psychology is often used, the possibility to reoffend is high.
• Predicting individual human is essential.
• Individual differences psychology asks at to what extend their are behavior constraints,

How it compares to other psychological areas

• Other psychological areas are:
  • Group 1: Cognitive, biological, and social domains that share common processes.
  • Group 2: Abnormal, clinical ("when things go wrong"), and developmental (differences due to age).
• Differential psychology shares Group 1 themes because it uses cognitive, biological, social topics.
• Clinical and abnormal psychology are unlike differential psychology; focuses on the majority.

Stability of personality, ability and attitudes

• There is generally some stability in people across all three areas of ability, attitudes, and personality.
• The ability to predict people's behavior is increased by ability/attitude/personality stability because of knowing individual behvaior.
  • Certain events can alter this, such as early abuse or trauma, which can cause view shifts.

Three broad types of individual differences

• Lectures 2 and 3 consider prosocial personality parts, as well as two neuropeptide systems (oxytocin & vasopressin).
• Neuropeptide control qualities include how well you bond with a romantic partner, parent your children, or predict someone's affections.
• Lecture 4 states that the oxycontin and vasopressinergic systems interact with the reward system (BAS) as well as anxiety systems (BIS).
• Key dimensions for quantifying behaviours are:
  • Behavioural Approach System (BAS) - reward.
  • Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) - anxiety.
• Brain regions instantiate motivational systems.

Ability

• Largely be thought of as just extra dimensions of individual differences.
• Abilities are largely independent of personality, they are almost always traced to Hippocampal differences.
• Intelligence is often considered with respects to neural base and heritability.
• Genes determine how good you are at something, also your personality to some degree.

Beliefs and attitudes

• Biological predispositions seem to build upon situational factors.
• Those with higher biological defenses have conservatism.
• Knowledge of personality and ability is essential for understanding beliefs and attitudes because they seem to constrain them.
• E.g., fear/anxiety aspect conservatives in personality, intelligence factor promotes liberalism.

Key Terms & Biological Background Info

• Causal explanation levels:
  • Brain structure and activity.
  • Genetic and socioeconomic influences.
  • Related hormonal, neuropeptide and environmental influences.
• Differential psychology is the study of Individual Differences (terms often substitutable).
• The word "facet" as a subcomponent of a personality factor.

The big five model

• Warmth, assertiveness, gregariousness makes up the facet of extraversion.
• Extraversion and neuroticism is the same as the Eysenck's formulation.
• Someone who scores highly on warmth will tend to score highly on extraversion, for example.

Methodologies and approaches

• Genes code for proteins otherwise involved in signaling.
• Relevant brains workings and nervous systems genes can undergo studies with neugenetics.
• Such behavioural tasks include some that involve coding behaviour like observed parenting and ultimatum game.
• Questionnaires & psychometrics → self-report (or peer report).
• Structure and activity of different brain region undergoes neruoimaging.
• Levels of hormones in assays include Neuropeptides neurotransmitters.

Genetic basics

• Release and store more transmitters are a presynaptic transmission.
• Humans have 20,000 genes.
• Genes present in many neurons of the brain that codes for a protein including the gene for oxytocin receptor..
• Since the DNA differs, protein may also be differ even though everyone has an oxytocin receptor gene.
• Every human shares an oxytocin receptor gene, there will be several polymorphisms of a gene.
• Mutations spring polymorphisms .
• Sequence participant DNA to view polymorphs.
• Alle does not determine/result in phenotype .
• "Risk allele"→ Higher risk of autism or scziophrenia.

Genetics basics: SNPs

• Most common form of genetic differences between different people is (SNPs) single nucleotide polymorphisms.
• SNPs are positions in a genome where some individuals have one nucleotide and others have a different nucleotide.
• Genes control many variables in the nervous system.
• However some genes may affect the brain size and sometimes the region structure.
• Results can be driven by genes through genetic-environment relation with outcomes.
• An allele predisposes neuroticism and boyfriend death in car.

Adult Pair Bonding

• Oxytocin & Vasopressin promote behaviour to each other, can trigger:
  • Young Attatchment
  • The behaviour like
    • Paternal and Maternal
    • Social recognize
    • sexual & social
      • warmfull and trusted
• Theory of mind is empathy (humans)
• Reduces in all level of anxiety(cautious social-distance?)
• Bartels and Zeki (2004) knowledge only be possible with animal research.
• A male from the long lived pair bond animal, typically will after one mating/ cohabitation episode.

Links between parenting and pair bonding

• Links are present that ties the two however sometimes does not.
• Socially it is more accepted for both parents/humans to have an equal role in child raising, however the woman arguably contribute more.
• Successful mammial group lack biparental cares, biparental cares requires the time and sources of energy.
• The monogamous are <5% while the structure involves an intense pair bond.
• Unlike the vole, the montane vole/meadows are very polygamous and Solitary
• Can use prairies and compares to study variances.

Oxytocin and vasopressin in voules social behaviour

• Involve pair bonding to the same: prosocial neuropeptides are vasopressin can be seen as the behaviour.
• More important more of the vasopressin: males or females.
• Greater role because of the variations : Males and test levels.
• Cortex with the part in many systems of : Putamen and nucleus accumbens, also prefontal .

Roles of receptors expression brain and Oxytocin areas

• Brain sites are oxytocin with receptors: shown the ACC is also there.
  • CPF frontal. -NACC Accubens
  • Putamen is also .
• With the higher NACC/CPF the prairie vole is the higher among the monogomous and the RAT and mouse.
• Injection to the receptors is the image done after the histological is from oxytocin binding by an active substrate injecting to the receptor's animal.
• Oly supportive but the rosses can get a direct activity tested this influence by the activity receptors, in the receiving oxy brain.

Blocking and its role for receptors relation with OXY brain

• You can tell the processes by the parts interfering that need for with that have labs with that pair-bonding.
• They reduced the in by antagonizing injections into the these oxytocin with areas
• 18 hr that are the together time pair with the male.
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Oxytocin and vasopressin in mating behaviour

• When the oxytocin releases it is is like during vole , stimulate of the vagina
• Between subjectivity relation there is some released evidence.
• Different will peak for the vassopre and oxt in release.

Male vasopressin/Human

• Arousal have higher Vassporessin however normal level it goes to.
• Suggest the also suggest may may likes ( dOPAMINE)
• signals ACC the and NACC BACK to.

Human release after having peak orgasmic ejaculations with slowly to returns

• signals like after to the ejaculate
• Can block as is of the the orgasm.
• Oxytocin the intimate is great to great form bonds with high is the intimate partner.
• Brain that interact of :opioid vassopressin oxcyton

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