Name of Student: SHIELA S.

BADIANG
Course: ADVANCED THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Activity: CRITIQUE PAPER #4

Title: The Personality and the Brain: An Inevitable Encounter

Introduction:

The study of personality has always been the center of psychology but had not been
attracted much in the field of neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, and neuropsychology in the
early foundation of psychology until it thrived to study the biological bases of personality and
behaviors where genetic make-up and brain structure research are its points of measures to study
behavior. Studies have increased that seek brain, structural and functional correlates of
personality traits proposed by different theories. Behavioral neuroscience is the subfield of
psychology that mainly examines how the brain and the nervous system—but other biological
processes as well—determine behavior (Feldman, 2011). Neuropsychology is the subspecialty of
psychology that studies brain-behavior relationships (Goetz, 2007). Psychology now yielded the
approach of neuroscience to provide sufficient explanation in studying human behavior through a
more scientific investigation.

Article Summary:
The article is entitled “The Personality and the Brain: An Inevitable Encounter.” This
article aims to present accumulated empirical evidence from numerous studies about the fact that
the five traits are related to specific brain locations, this is to draw a brain map associated with
each trait. Its viewpoint is that the field of neuroscience should be recognized consonant with the
other models in studying both normal and pathological behavior as there is no single model that
could describe and explain the complex development of personality and behavior. Neuroscience
has aimed to describe the more pragmatic aspects of behavior, with direct repercussions in
pathologies or different manifestations of brain functioning. From various personality theories, it
was Pavlov who was acknowledged to be the first reference of the study of personality
characteristics associated with the functioning of the central nervous system, known in his
classical conditioning (Strelau, 1997). Eysenck was the first researcher to deal with the study of
human personality from the knowledge of the functioning of neuroendocrine structures and the
application of mathematical methods, such as factor analysis, to determine the grouping of
elements in higher-order factors, which he called traits. However, the Big Five Factor theory of
McCrae and Costa who at the same time heavily based their personality traits on biological bases
became more well recognized as they have been able to accumulate empirical evidence of their
studies and became a prevalent theory in recent decades on the structure of the human
personality (Perez, et al., 2015). It is in this light that the Big Five Factor traits have become the
basis in various research in associating it to different displayed behaviors, including also in
associating these traits based on different patterns of global cerebral which is the main context of
this article. The article also acknowledged that there yet remained to be confirmed that
personality traits were reflected in the structure and functioning of the brain. Nonetheless, the
very objective of the authors of this article is to provide a guide to the interested practitioners and
researchers a tour from the formulation of the theories of personality to the latest neurological
and neuropsychological findings linking the theories with the observable functioning of the
central nervous system. Studies published in prestigious journals with strong linked structural
findings in the brain with the constructs such as the Big-Five Factor traits were selected to serve
as references of this study to establish the current state of knowledge and proposed a solid
starting point for the future study of this issue. A process where personality traits are being
studied with the use of neuroimaging (see Table 1 in the article). Lewis et.al. (2014), state that
there appears to be evidence that the volume of different brain areas is related, at least in part, to
the personality traits, and this has some genetic basis. Sosic-Vasic et al. (2012), supports also
which personality traits of the Five-Factor Theory reflect more than merely descriptive
taxonomies through solid evidence of external validity that links these traits to the structural and
functional variables of the brain. The general assumption of this article has confirmed that the
study of personality traits has left the notion of theoretical formulations to link itself definitively
to brain structure and functioning. (Perez, et al., 2015).

Critical Analysis:

The field of neuroscience has now become part of the interest of psychology to further provide
strong evidence in explaining personality and other components of behaviors through the study
of the structure of the brain. As a result of this interest, the field of neuropsychology has become
substantial which aims to understand the relationships between the brain, personality traits, the
mind, and other behavioral control. At first, I must be honest that I was a bit hesitant and
cautious about making a critique paper to this article since the study of neuropsychology is for
me a difficult one. It discusses the parts, functions, and locations of each part of the brain that is
most likely responsible for our behavior. Nevertheless, I pursued this paper review as this
challenge me to take an initial step in how this specific field and discipline conduct their method
of study. The authors of this article have not conducted a new experimental study but conducted
an immense investigation using the collected body of related literature about the study of the
brain structure and personality traits, the Big Five Factory of McCrae and Costa. This
investigation may now serve interested researchers to draw from this assumption about a brain
map associated with each trait for further research. This is what strikes my interest to read this
article and examine the works of medical science in their laboratory facility providing us their
model in explaining the biological basis such as the brain structure of our personality traits,
which eradicates some of the hypothetical thoughts about theories in personality. Hence, the
work of science proves and speaks so that cannot be denied. While there is empirical evidence
about the correlations of traits from the Big Five Factor theory, it was reflected that those traits
such as agreeableness and conscientiousness have fewer data on the relationship and the markers
of brain functioning. (Perez, et al., 2015). In relation, this finding is consistent with what
Eysenck contended that the additional traits of McCrae and Costa such as agreeableness and
conscientiousness do not have an underlying biological foundation (Feist, et al., 2018). This now
serves as a point for further investigation to strengthen its premise.
The effort of this transdisciplinary research, such as the disciplines of neuroscience and
psychology, particularly in studying the relationship of the personality traits and brain structure
would possibly generate a new model about the development of personality traits, in as much as
this can also help various practitioners in the field of psychology in making a paradigm shift of
their services in counseling and psychotherapy dealing with normal and pathological behaviors.
REFERENCES:

Feist, J., Gregory J Feist, D., & Roberts, T. (2018). Theories of personality. McGraw-Hill

Perez, E., Llanero M., & De Leon, R., (2015). The Personality and the Brain: An Inevitable Encounter retrieved
fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/272506755_THE_PERSONALITY_AND_THE_BRAIN_
AN_INEVITABLE_ENCOUNTER