PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Brainstem, Psychoticism, Amygdala

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jens C Pruessner

Document Summary

Girls have a stronger ability to control their attention, and to resist their impulses. Kagan: 15 20% of newborns react to new situations or strange objects by becoming distressed, they are said to be inhibited, a characteristic that he views as being biologically determined. Inhibited children show greater reactivity in brainstem measures, which are the same when they are 12 as when they are 4 months. Shy people have a much greater activation when showed unfamiliar faces. This development occurs when parents create supportive and calm environment in which children can deal with stress and novelty at their own paces. Extraverts seek continual arousal, and introverts seem to avoid arousal. Each person prefers to operate at some optimal level of arousal. The resting levels of aras are higher for introverts than extraverts. Introverts do appear more sensitive to pain, and to sourness.