The human mind. Pt. 2, Personality.

In the second of this 3-part series Professor Robert Winston looks at how our minds shape our personalities. An experiment to measure the saliva of a group of extroverts (holiday camp redcoats) and a group of introverts (physicists from Imperial College, London) proves that the brain of an introvert reacts more to stimulation than that of an extrovert. This characteristic is formed before we are born. Childhood is the most important phase in the development of personality and parents can influence the physical development of the brain by the way they play with and teach their children. Characteristics developed in childhood are most likely to stay with us for the rest of our life. Family man Shaun Carroll is seen embarking on a Rage Management Course in an effort to control his outbursts of anger. The frontal lobes act as a control centre in the brain. In young children this control is very weak, which explains the tantrums and rages of toddlers. An experiment involving primary school children and sweets shows that their brains are not yet mature enough to control impulse and resist temptation. In puberty the brain sprouts a vast number of new connections and pathways in the mind become confused; this could explain the frustrated, awkward and moody phase that teenagers experience. In another test, identical twins Charmaigne and Genevieve Charles are given differing mood-enhancing music to listen to, films to watch and words to read, then sent out shopping. Genevieve, who got the uplifting 'treatment' feels much happier and has a more successful shopping trip than Charmaigne, who feels low and lacking in self-confidence after her depressing treatment. However, mood manipulation can't change the brain in the long term. Shaun is seen to be much more in control after his anger management therapy. The programme concludes that the brain can transform itself and we can use our mind to change and improve our mind.