PSYC 2500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Vagal Tone, Tachycardia, Heart Rate Variability

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2500
• Professor: Anne Bowker

Document Summary

Consistent basic dispositions that modulate activity level, reactivity, emotionality and sociability: individual differences in adults and in children, fairly stable trait. There will be consistency across situations and over time. If you say someone is outgoing or can"t sit still, etc, those are temperaments. Genetically based, but influenced by environment: poor diet, stress and anxiety, prematurity, high cortisol levels, abusive or insensitive parenting. Interviewed parents about their infants" specific behaviours. Divided babies into 3 groups: easy, difficult, and slow to warm up. They mix up day and night, difficult to soothe, and just react strongly to the environment. Somewhat more difficult at first in new situations. Become easier over time, after repeated contact with new objects, people, etc. Slow to warm up seem ambivalent when mother comes back or avoidant all together, based on their temperament. Slow to warm up babies = 15%. While childhood temperament can predict later childhood heavier (difficult temperament.