This summary includes the Physiological and cultural approaches Lecture, it's a recorded lecture. The lecture covered Chapter 15, 16 The Individual Book (de Bruin, E., 1st Edition)

BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

Time scales:

“To take into account when we consider biological and cultural contexts”

• Phylogeny: evolution of species (ancient age, neolithic, …)
• History: development of life circumstances (agriculture begins, invention of writing, …)
• Ontogeny: individual lifespan development

Personality Traits:

IS THERE A UNIVERSAL STRUCTURE IN PERSONALITY?

• Transport & Text strategy (etic approach)
  • Actually going to different culture and do the study three
• Revisiting the lexical hypothesis (emic approach)
  
  • Replication of all Big Five, except ‘Openness’
  • Sixth factor: honesty-humility
  • In conclusion --> validity of tests vary across culture

Are personality traits hereditary?

• Twin studies: Jim Springer and Jim Lewis
  • Twins that grew up in different families, without any contact for 30-40 years --> they discovered that they had a lot of similarities
• Heritability quotient: a measure of how well differences in people's genes account for differences in their traits.

Hereditary selection of personality traits

• Dog study: similarities/differences genetic material across sample of dogs --> not a lot of genetic material explains their behaviour
• Race study: Race not related to human behaviour --> “race is only skin deep”

From Gene to Personality Trait

WHICH PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES ARE RELATED TO PERSONALITY TRAITS?

Neurophysiology

• Reinforcement sensitivity theory (Gray): presupposes individual differences in the sensitivity of basic brain systems that respond to punishing and reinforcing stimuli
• Need for sensation seeking (Zuckerman)
• Tridimensional personality model (Cloninger): three personality traits that are heritable 
  
  • Harm Avoidance (HA)
  • Reward Dependence (RD)
  • Novelty Seeking (NS)
• Brain asymmetry and affective style (Davidson):
  
  • Stronger activation left frontal brain: stronger positive affective reactions to positive stimuli
  • Stronger activation right frontal brain: stronger negative affective responses to negative stimuli

Relation to Big Five

• Findings of neurophysiology related to different facets (e.g. Neuroticism and anxiety)

Specific genes:

• DRD4 C-521T polymorphism
  • responsible for protein that functions as dopamine receptor --> Dopamine related to extraversion
• 5-HTTPR polymorphism
  
  • gene contributes to less efficient uptake of serotonin --> reuptake of serotonin is related to neuroticism

Characteristics adaptations

IS THERE A UNIVERSAL STRUCTURE IN SELF?

• Cultural historical development (James Cote)
  • Premodern times
    • ‘Ascribed’ identity: social position, loyal to traditions
  • Early modern times
    
    • ‘Achieved’ identity: individualised, personal unity
  • Late modern times
    
    • ‘Managed’ identity: imago-oriented (“I’m not only a single person, I am a husband, I am a cyclists, …” ), expressive and flexible
  • Dilemmas of current times
    
    • Value gap --> we don’t have traditional values, we don’t listen to religious values as much. We need to construct values for ourselves
    • Social media --> used in a lot of ways --> social comparison, show off your lifestyle
    • World problems --> people report to be satisfied with their own lives, but unsatisfied with the world around us

What are the Neurological correlates of self?

• Self as associative cognitive network
• The Embodied self: a phenomenological look --> We use our body to express who we are

Life stories:

WHAT IS THE SOCIAL-CULTURAL CONTEXT OF LIFE STORIES?

• Telling stories about critical incidents
• Understanding other people’s intentions
• Bringing together people in a group
• Life stories have an Evolutionary advantage

Neuroscience:

• Activation of many brain areas, involved in language, memory, emotion
• Brain responds as-if engaged in story
• Neural coupling: coupling between brain of the teller and the brain of the listener