Interaction of heredity and environment

Heredity

transmission of traits from parents to their offspring

environment/”nurture” idea

every non genetic influence from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us

nature/nurture issue

the controversy over the relative importance of contributions of genes or experience

genetic predisposition

a tendency for certain traits to be inherited, including physical and mental conditions and disorders

evolutionary perspective

the approach to psychology that focuses on the study of the roots of behavior and mental processes

natural selection

the principle that the inherited traits enabling an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will most likely be passed on to succeeding organisms

adoption studies

a research design that investigates the relationships among genetic and environmental factors in the development of personality, behavior, or disorder by comparing the similarities of biological parent—child pairs with those of adoptive parent—child pairs

eugenics

a social and political philosophy, based loosely on Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory and Francis Galtons research that seeks to improve the genetic makeup of populations through selective human breeding

twin studies

research utilizing twin, assess the contributions of genetic vs environment