PSY-310 Unit 1 (chapters 1 through 3)

Gene-Environment Correlation

The genetic variation among people that influences the environments to which they are exposed

Active gene-environment correlations

Occur when an individual seeks out or creates environments based on genetic predispositions

Passive gene-environment correlations

Children inherit genotypes correlated with their family environment

Evocative gene-environment correlation

Individuals evoke reactions on the basis of their predispositions

Twin design

Research design in which the contribution of genes and environment to variation in traits is teased apart by comparing identical and fraternal twins

Behavior genetics

A field in which scientists study genetic and environmental contributions to psychological and physical traits

Heritability

An estimate of the amount of variability in a trait that is due to genetic variation

Segregating genes

Genes that have different alleles and therefore can be inherited in different patterns from one person to another

Adoption design

Research design in which bio parents, their adopted away children, and the adoptive parents/siblings are compared

Shared environment behavioral genetics

An estimate of the amount of variability in a trait that is due to experiences shared by individuals who are living together

Non-shared environment behavioral genetics

Influences that make children and adults, raised in the same environment, different from one another

Alleles

Alternate version of a specific gene

How many chromosomes are inherited from each parent?

23 chromosomes

Sex-linked inheritance

Traits influences by genes carried on the sex chromosome

Polygenic Inheritance

Influences by two or more genes

Chromosomal Abnormalities

Alteration that causes a disorder affection chromosomes

Epigenisis

Chemical processes that control where and when genes get expressed without altering the DNA code

Reaction Range

Range of all possible phenotypes that can result from a given genotype

Fragile X Syndrome

Occurs when a gene on the X chromosome is silenced due to mutation and fails to instruct mRNA to assemble amino acids into proteins and leads to:

• brain deficiency

• Decreased neuronal activity

• Cognitive impairments (Memory, speech, language, numbers, and spatial)

• Different responses to environmental stimuli

• Behavioral problems and social anxiety

Positive development

A perspective in développement science that focuses on the process by which adolescents can become physically and psychologically healthy

PKU

Phenylalanine buildup

Chromosomes

Structures that contain the DNA strands

Mitosis

A process in which a cell duplicates the DNA strand and divides into two cells.

The two coiled strands that make up each DNA molecule separate, and each one makes a copy of itself.

Meiosis

The division of the reproductive cells into daughter cells containing only one strand of DNA.

Occurs in mens and women’s reproductive cells.

Gametes

Reproductive cells.

(Sperm/Ovum)

Zygote

The fertilized ovum, containing the full complement of chromosomes from mother and father

4 functions of genes

1. Making proteins in the body

2. Make reproduction possible (meiosis)

3. Replicate itself (mitosis)

4. Regulate other genes (98% of all genes enhance/constrain other genes and their protein making activities)

Dominant-recessive inheritance

Chromosome pairs 1-22 have 2 forms of each gene that occur at identical locations along the DNA strand called alleles.

One from mom, one from dad.

Homozygous

If the alleles from each parents are alike, the child is homozygous for that gene, and the genotype will be expressed in the phenotype

Heterozygous

Inheriting two different alleles from the two parents

Genotype

A person’s unique sequence of DNA

Phenotype

The observable expression of genotypes.

Ex: hair color, eye color

Trait carrier

A person with a recessive allele but does not display the trait it represents. (Can pass to offspring)

Gene expression

The extent to which a gene can perform its function (whether it be regulating other genes or making proteins)

Development

Refers to pattern of growth and change in behavior, thinking, or emotions over time

Developmental thinking

A set of rules or statements that describes, explains, and predicts various aspects of development.

“Diverse behaviors are all manifestations of the underlying concept of attachment.”

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

A 4-stage theory about how early bonds formed by children and their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues through life.

• pre-attachment (0-6 weeks)

• Indiscriminate (6 weeks - 7 months)

• Discriminate (7+ months)

• Multiple (10+ months)

Maturation

A primarily biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level.

Piaget’s theory

Learning is proceeded by the interplay of assimilation and accommodation.

• complex interactions

Continuity vs Discontinuity

Reflects theorists issue and effort to describe the matter in which development occurs.

• slow and steady like a tree (quantitative)

• Abrupt and in stages like a butterfly (any theory with stages is discontinuous)

Plasticity

The degree to which behavior, emotions, thoughts, or brain functions can be modified by experience.

Extent to how much someone can learn.

Decreases with age.

Vulnerability

the extent to which biological or environmental factors create a higher than average risk of poor developmental outcomes

Resilience

Maintaining or exceeding typical development despite the presence of risk factors in the environment

Ethology

Science of animal behavior

Sensitive Period

Coined by Konrad Lorenz

Imprinting - a range of time when the development of the organism is the most sensitive to environmental stimulation

Nature vs Nurture

Genetics vs how you are treated by what is around you (and yourself)

Early vs Later experiences

Plasticity, developmental cascade, vulnerability and resistance

Developmental cascade

Exposure to environmental risks that decrease over time and spread to other areas of development.

Snowball effect

Active vs Passive Influences

A: determining your own traits, decisions, etc

P: characteristics are molded by social influences or by biological changes

Psychosocial Stages

Coined by Erik Erikson.

8 Stages in lifespan

• trust vs mistrust

• Autonomy vs shame & doubt

• Initiative vs guilt

• Industry vs inferiority

• Identity vs identity confusion

• Generativity vs stagnation

• Integrity vs despair

Albert Bandura

Believes: change through cognitive and observational learning but also through influence by their environment

Bailey Scales of Infant Development (BSID)

Measures motor and mental abilities

Norms

Data on how a large number of individuals performs on a given test

Reliability vs validity

The consistency of measurements across test occasions VS the extent to which a test measure what it was intended/created to measure

Ethnographic methods

Recording of children’s behavior while the researching is a member of the group to which the child belongs

Ex. Participant observation

Structured observation

An observation in which children’s behavior is recorded in structured situatiions

Naturalistic observation

The recording of behavior in natural, unaltered settings

Germinal Stage

• fertilization

• Cell division

• Moving down the fallopian tube to implant in the uterine wall

• Takes about 2 weeks

Embryonic Stage

• implantation through 8th week

• Major organ systems are formed

• Most vulnerable to teratogens (alcohol and drugs)

When does the first cell division occur in pregnancy?

30 hours after comception

When is conception?

When the sperm and egg meet in the fallopian tube

What would happen in the egg embedded in the fallopian tube instead of the uterine wall?

Ectopic Pregnancy

When does the blastocyst hatch?

6 days post conception

When does implantation occur?

2 weeks after conception

Cephalocaudal Pattern

Growth from head to toe.

Growth begins in the brain because it is a more util organ than toes

Proximodistal pattern

Growth begins from the inside, out

Ex. Heart to fingers

Amniotic sac

Regulates temperature and absorbs shock

Ex. If mom fell the baby would be ok because shock is absorbed by the amniotic fluid in the sac

Placenta

Filters blood that enters baby from mom and filters out waste from baby

Umbilical cord

Delivers nutrients

Fetal Stage

8th week through birth

Vernix

Moisturizing skin covering that comes from amniotic fluid. Lubes up passage for delivery and protects skin.

Baby experiences squeezing

Makes the head smaller to fit through pelvis, squeezes amniotic fluid out of the lungs and prevents aspirating in the birth canal.