Genes

Monogamy

one male mates with one female; equal investment and equal competition; emerges when difficult to raise offspring.

Selective Breeding

mating of individuals that lie toward the same extreme on the measure in question.

Allele

different genes that occupy the same locus on a chromosome pair.

Cooperation

when an individual helps another while helping itself.

Functionalism

attempt to explain behavior in terms of what it accomplishes for the behaving individual.

Genes

exist on long DNA strands in chromosomes, like beads on a string.

Promiscuity

multiple males and multiple females mate with each other.

Altruism

increasing the survival reproductive chances of another at the expense of one's own.

Polygyny

high female investment and high competition for female mates.

Polyandry

high male investment and high competition for male mates.

Epigenetics

examines the "gene-regulating activity" that doesn't involve changes to the DNA code and that can persist through one or more generations.

Polygenic

the gradual, cumulative effect.

Fallacy

a false notion, statement, or argument based on invalid reasoning.

Aggression

behavior intended to harm another member of the same species.

Kin selection theory

altruism came about because it helps close relatives.

Maladaptive outcome

the process of domesticating dogs, humans have inadvertently bred maladaptive features in dogs, such as floppy eats and smaller jaws, because these features are associated with tameness.

Robert Trivers Studies

parental investment correlated with the number of mates.

Homology

similarities are due to common ancestry.

Recessive allele

produces effects in the homozygous condition only.

DNA methylation

a best- understood mechanism for epigenetics.

Dominant allele

produces effects in both homo and heterozygous conditions.

Polygenic characteristics

varies in a continuous fashion.

Proximate Explanations

mechanical, describe the immediate conditions, inside and outside the organism that bring the behavior.