(michaelchen5)
Kagan study focus - correct answers Focus on approach and withdrawal to discrepant events. Find
biological basis of temperament.
Kagan hypothesis - correct answers Inherited physiological mechanisms underlie individual differences
in this dimension of temperament
Hippocampus - correct answers Detects discrepant (unfamiliar) events
Amygdala - correct answers Emotional response to discrepant events; autonomic changes
Kagan: Role of biology in temperament - correct answers Extent to which the amygdala, other limbic
structures, and the right frontal lobe are easily excited by novelty underlie temperamental differences in
infants, children, and adults.
Kagan experimental design - correct answers-N=462
-Longitudinal design (4 months to adulthood)
Kagan study: procedure at 4 months - correct answers-response to three novel tasks
---visual: moving object
---auditory
---olfactory, dab alcohol on nose
At 4 months of age, why is Kagan missing 40% of his sample in his categorization? - correct answers By
looking at the extremes, differences may be more easily observed
,Kagan study: 4 months findings for infants - correct answers-20% High reactive (high motor activity,
distressed, easily upset by novelty)
-40% Low reactive (relaxed, no distress, comfortable with novelty)
Kagan study: 14-21 months Tasks - correct answers-reaction to large mask
-interact with stranger
-reaction to loud alarm
-reaction to robot
Kagan study: 14-21 months findings for infants - correct answers-1/3 of high reactive infants were highly
fearful (inhibited) toddlers
-1/3 of low reactive infants showed minimal fear; (uninhibited)
At 14-21 months of age, why don't all infants who were highly reactive at 4 months stay highly reactive?
- correct answers-As kids get older, they are better able to cope with new stimuli
-Parenting helps children cope
-Social referencing
Kagan study: re-assessed at 4-5 years, findings - correct answersReaction to an unfamiliar adult
---> preschoolers who had been high-reactive infants showed less extreme fear to an unfamiliar adult,
but still less sociable and less spontaneous
Kagan study: re-assessed at 14-17 years - correct answersWere asked what things made them worry,
anxious, or nervous.
---61% of LOW reactive infants: quality of performance in school/extracurriculars
---61% of HIGH reactive infants: uncertainty of encounters with unfamiliar people, places, situations, or
the inability to know the future
Kagan study: results: High reactive infants became __________children and adults, meaning they were: -
correct answers-Excessively cautious
-Socially withdrawn and lonely
, -Anxiety disorders (generalized and social phobia)
Kagan study: results: Low reactive infants who became very uninhibited children and adults - correct
answers-Low levels of anticipatory anxiety, shame, guilt
-Less restrained
-Conduct disorders and antisocial behaviors
Implications of Kagan study - correct answersShows the importance of parenting and other's influence
as a buffer or mediating factor
Kagan: Evidence for Physiological Explanation - correct answers-Heart rate-more variability in high
reactivity
-Cortisol (stress hormone) high levels even in non stress situations
-Muscle tension: higher in high reactive
-Pupil Dilation: greater in high reactive
-Blood Pressure: greater in high reactive
-Skin temp: high reactive have cooler
-'Weird' markers: blue eyes, narrow face, hay fever
-Adult MRI data: amygdala activation for adults who had been classified as inhibited vs. uninhibited
children when exposed to familiar vs. unfamiliar faces.
Kagan: Evidence for Physiological Explanation: conclusion - correct answersWe inherit a physiology that
biases us towards a specific result
Schwartz, Wright, Shin, Kagan, Rauch study procedure - correct answers-"Familiarize" subjects with
novel faces
-Test: alternate images with novel faces and recently familiarized faces
Schwartz, Wright, Shin, Kagan, Rauch study results - correct answers-Inhibited: larger response to novel
faces than familiar faces; amygdala more active when seeing novel faces
-Uninhibited: no difference in amygdala activity between novel and familiar faces