1.1 Heredity and Environment

The predisposed characteristics that influence an individual’s physical, behavioral, and mental traits and processes

Heredity

The external factors that an individual experiences, such as a person’s family, friend groups, school, and other soietal factors

Environment

The evolutionary perspective focuses on:

Natural selection, the passing down of genes, and how many of our behaviors and mental processes come from our ancestors

Examples of behaviors passed on through natural selection:

Fear of spiders or heights, bonding with others, collaborating with others in close friend groups

Avoiding dangerous animals or situations that could cause us harm allows us to:

Stay out of harm’s way

Which behaviors get passed on to future generations?

Avoiding dangerous animals or situations that could cause us harm

Why do behaviors that help us avoid dangerous animals or situations that could cause us harm get passed on to future generations?

They alloy us to stay out of harm’s way and keep us safe

Why was the behavior of cooperating with others in close friend groups passed on through generations?

It increased early humans’ chances of survival

When people are in groups, they are able to:

Be better protected, share resources, and have support systems

Being protected, sharing resources, and having support systems allow humans to:

Thrive and grow

Who heavily influenced the evolutionary perpsective?

Charles Darwin

Darwin published a book titled:

“The Origin of Species”

“The Origin of Species” talked about:

Natural selection and the theory of evolution

The theory of evolution states that:

Evolution happens by natural selection

Theory of natural selection:

Humans and animals pass on specific traits that help them survive to their offspring, while traits that do not help the species survive are not passed on

The theory of natural selection became the foundation for the:

Evolutionary perspective

What is one negative consequence of the evolutionary perspective?

Some people took it and tried to apply it in ways that discriminate against other people

Improving the genetic quality of the human population by promoting the reproduction of individuals with desirable traits and discouraging or preventing reproduction among those with traits deemed undesirable

Eugenics

Who was Henry Geddard?

An American eugenicist

What did Henry Geddard push?

To use intelligence tests to rank people into different mental categories

What did Henry Geddard do with his intelligence tests?

Argued that society should prevent people found to be feeble-minded from having children

Henry Geddard tried to prevent feeble-minded people from having children through:

Sterilization or isolation

Does each psychological perspective have a different view on the nature vs nurture debate?

Yes

A mathematical measure to estimate how much variation there is in a population related to its genes

Heritability

Heritability applies to:

Populations

Does heritability apply to individuals?

No

A heritability value of 0.7 means that:

70% of variations of the trait in a population is caused by genetics and 30% is due to the environment

Heritabilities can range from:

0 to 1

Reciprocal determination relates:

Personal factors, behavior, and the environment

Is it “nature or nurture”?

No

It is nature ______ nurture

And

What does it mean to say that it is “nature and nurture”?

Both heritability and the environment shape individuals’ behaviors and mental processes

Behaviors of toddlers are a result of:

Parenting style, environment, and predisposed characteristics

Epigenetics examines how ______ affect a person’s genes and how they work

The environment and a person’s behaviors

Epigenetics examines how the environment and a person’s behaviors affect:

A person’s genes and how they work

Does epigenetics change DNA?

No

Epigenetics changes how:

The body reads DNA

Epigenetics happens quickly/slowly

Slowly

Sustained environmental pressures cause genes to be:

Turned on or off

Genes are turned on or off due to:

Sustained environmental pressures

Are genes switched on or off because of one situation?

No

When the brain changes and builds new neural pathways in response to a person’s experiences

Plasticity

How have researchers studied the impact of heredity and the environment on behaviors and mental processes?

Through twin studies, adoption studies, and family studies

Example of adoption study:

Swedish adoption twin study on aging

The Swedish adoption twin study focused on how ______ affected aging

Genetics and the environment

The Swedish adoption twin study focused on how genetics and the environment affected:

Aging

The Swedish adoption twin study focused on which people?

Twins separated at birth and raised in different families and twins raised together

Researchers from the Swedish adoption twin study wanted to see how twins separated at birth differed from twins raised together in terms of:

Health, personality, and habits

How did researchers from the Swedish adoption twin study attempt to see how twins separated at birth differed from twins raised together in terms of health, personality, and habits?

Through questionnaires and in-person tests

The questionnaires and in-person tests conducted by the researchers from the Swedish adoption twin study focused on:

Health, memory, and cognitive abilities

The Swedish adoption twin study had ___ rounds of testing

7

The Swedish adoption twin study found that genes and the environment impacted the participants’:

Personality, health, and health-related behaviors

The Swedish adoption twin study found that ______ impacted the participants’ personality, health, and health-related behaviors

Genes and the environment

The Swedish adoption twin study supported the idea that:

It is not nature or nurture, but nature and nurture