Key Terms:

Personality: The thoughts behaviours and feelings that make an individual unique. It remains fairly
constant throughout life but can develop as a result of experience.
Temperament: in the inherited parts of personality and it describes how a person responds to the
environment. This remains the same throughout life.
Studies of Temperament
Thomas Chess and Birch (1977) Buss and Plomin (1984) Kagan and Snidman (1991)
Aim: To see whether ways of
responding to the environment
remain stable throughout life
Aim: To see whether
temperament in innate (you
are born with it)
Aim: To see whether
temperament is due to biology
Method: 133 children in a
longitudinal study. Children
observed and parents were
asked about the childs routine
and reaction to change
Method: 228 MZ twins and 172
DZ twins studied.
Temperament of the twins was
rated on emotionality, activity
and sociability. The twins were
compared to each other.
Method: hundreds of 4 month
old babies were placed in a new
situation they could not see
their caregiver and were shown
new toys and their reaction to
this measured.
Results: The children fell into
three types; easy (happy)
difficult (cried a lot) or slow to
warm up (did not like change
at first)
Results: MZ twins were more
similar to each other than the
DZ twins
Results: 20% were high reactive
(cried a lot) 40% were low
reactive (showed little
emotion) and the rest were
between the two. The tested
them 11 years later and the
high reactives were shy and the
low reactives were calm.
Conclusion: Temperament is
innate as their way of
responding to the environment
stayed the same
Conclusion: Temperament is
genetic
Conclusion: Temperament is
biological sue to the way the
brain responds
Evaluation:
As this is a longitudinal
study some of the
participants could have
dropped out
The children were from
middle class families in
New York so you cannot
generalise to other
backgrounds
The parents may have given
socially desirable answers
in the interviews
Evaluation:
MZ twins may be treated
more similarly than DZ
twins e.g. dressed the
same, bought the same
presents etc...
Testing twins is the best
way to determine whether
a characteristic is genetic
You cannot generalise
research from twins to non-
twins
Evaluation:
They used a large sample
size so it is easier to
generalise the results
They used an experimental
setting to test the children
and this may have affected
their behaviour so the
study lacks ecological
validity
It is very easy to miss
certain behaviours in
children and also they
cannot explain why they
have behaved in a certain
way
How is personality measured?
Eysencks Type theory of personality
According to type theory our personality is inherited and different people show different traits.
These include:
Extroversion: where people are very sociable and look to others for entertainment
Introversion: a person who is happy with their own company
Neuroticism: a person who is highly emotional and shows a quick, strong reaction to fear

Eysenck believed that these differences are biological and due to the way in which our nervous
system reacts to stress
Key Study: Measurement of Personality
Aim: To investigate the personality of servicemen
Method: Soldiers were given a personality questionnaire and Eysenck analysed the results using
factor analysis
Results: He identified two dimensions of personality: extroversion introversion and neuroticism
stability
Conclusion: Everyone can be placed along these personality scales and most people fall somewhere
in the middle.
Evaluation:
His original research was difficult to generalise beyond soldiers, but since then the research
has been carried out on thousands of people
The questionnaires may be measuring peoples mood rather than their personality and also
people can give socially desirable answers
He ignored environmental factors and did not believe personality could change as a result of
experience


Personality Scales:
1) The Eysenck Personality Inventory
(EPI)
This measures the
dimensions of extroversion-
introversion and
neuroticism-stability. You
answer a series of YES/NO
questions and then your
personality is identified. You
could be either a neurotic
extrovert, a neurotic
introvert, a stable introvert
or an unstable extrovert
2) The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)
This measures extroversion, introversion and neuroticism as well as psychoticism.
Most people score low on this trait, high scorers tend to be aggressive, cruel and
lacking in feelings. The three dimensions are not linked.


What is Anti-Social Personality Disorder?
APD = a condition in which the individual does not use socially acceptable behaviour or consider the
rights of others.
Features of APD:
It affects 3% of males, 1% of females and 75% of the prison
population
Characteristics of APD The DSM manual says you need to suffer
from 3 of the following to be diagnosed with APD and although
you may show symptoms at an earlier age, you cannot be
diagnosed until age 18. The symptoms tend to get better as a person gets older.
Not following norms and laws of society
Aggressive involved in fights and assaults
Irresponsible failure to hold down a job or pay back money
Lacking remorse for actions can lie or steal and feel no guilt


Causes of APD
Biological:
Problems with the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are believed to
cause APD
The amygdala responds to fear and emotion. It is believed that
people with APD have a faulty amygdala so do not recognise fear
and emotion in others and therefore can cause them harm more
easily than others.
The prefrontal cortex is that part of the brain to do with learning
right and wrong and makes us feel guilt if we do something wrong. It
is believed that people with APD have less grey matter in this part of the brain, meaning that
they have lower morals and do not feel guilt for doing things wrong.

Situational:
APD is caused by the environment a child is brought up in.
Risk factors include:
o Socioeconomic factors (low income and poor housing)
o Poor parenting
o Poor school achievement

Studies of APD
Cause: Biological Situational/Environmental
Name: Raine et al (2000) Farrington (1995)
Aim: To investigate whether problems in
the prefrontal cortex causes APD
To study offending and anti-social
behaviour in males from childhood to
age 50
Method: MRI scans given to 21 men with APD
and 34 healthy male volunteers
Longitudinal study of 411 males from a
poor part of London. Parents and
teachers were interviewed. Any crimes
committed by them or family members
were recorded.
Results: APD group had 11% less prefrontal
grey matter than the control group
41% of the males committed at least one
offence. Biggest risk factors were
criminal behaviour in the family, low
school achievement, poverty and poor
parenting.
Conclusion: APD is caused by a reduction is
prefrontal grey matter.
The situation a child is raised in causes
anti-social behaviour
Evaluation: It supports the biological
explanation of APD
Cannot generalise to women or
non-volunteers
The brain is complex and APD may
also be caused by problems in
other areas of the brain
It supports the situational
explanation of APD
It ignores biological factors involved
in APD, such as brain damage
The people who were interviewed
may have given socially desirable
answers


Implications and applications of research into APD
Implications Applications
There is a debate about what causes APD
some research supports a biological link and
other research supports a situational link