AP Psychology Topic 1.1 - Interaction of Heredity and Environment

Topic 1.1 Key Terms

Environment

Everything around you that isn’t in your genes, like your family, friends, culture, and where you live.

Eugenics

A (now discredited and harmful) idea that humans could be improved by controlling who has children, based on traits like intelligence or health.

Evolutionary Psychology

A field of psychology that looks at how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors may have developed to help our ancestors survive and reproduce.

Heredity

The passing of traits (like eye color or certain talents) from parents to their children through genes.

Natural Selection

The process in nature where traits that help a living thing survive and have babies get passed on more often, so over time those traits become more common.