AP PSYCH 2.1 Interaction of Heredity and Environment

• Charles Darwin was not a psychologist, but the principles he discovered have influenced the field
• His book “The Origin of Species” was published 20 years before Wundt set up the first psychology laboratory
• His theory of evolution is the basis for a “still-active” approach to psychology
  • AKA the evolutionary approach
• Essentially, human beings evolved certain characteristics to help us, as a species, survive, thrive, and reproduce

The Evolutionary Approach

• All animals have behaviors and traits because they were ‘designed’ that way
• Heredity and environment is NOT the nature vs. nurture debate, but it can contribute to the conversation and the terms are similar to the individual concepts
  • Heredity is known as nature, and is what your genes and body contain
  • Genetics are not destiny
  • Environment is known as nurture, and includes the influence of what’s around you, what you’ve lived through, and what you could potentially achieve

Babies as an Example

• Reciprocal determinism is when an environment affects a person, who reacts, affecting the environment in turn
• A baby’s temperament may be hereditary, like if they are ‘easy,’ ‘difficult,’ slow to calm down, etc.
  • It’s not just what you’re born with, but what you’re conceived with
  • These factors come from the DNA inside you from the moment the two parent cells meet
• Certain aspects of a baby and more evidently, a child/adult, can come from the environment as well
  • Parenting style is very impactful on a person’s final personality
  • They parent’s own personality and skills will influence their child
  • Parents can have one of four styles: Authoritarian, permissive, authoritative, and neglectful
• These terms and concepts will be revisited in Unit 6

Epigenetics

• Epigenetics is the concept that environmental pressures can change the way genes affect someone, but not their structure
  • Those changes can affect metabolic processes and behaviors
  • These changes can also be passed on
  • This means that, in a sense, experiences can be inherited; at least, the effects of them
• Sustained environmental pressure not only affects the current generation experiencing it, wherein genes are turned on or off depending on what is needed in the context…
  • But it also affects the next generation

Helpful Terms

• This vocabulary may help you put some related concepts into words
• Polygenic means relating to many genes; if a behavior or trait is genetic, it is likely caused by many genes, not just one
• Diathesis are related psychological disorders; many disorders might have a genetic predisposition alongside an environmental trigger
• Maturationism relates to child development and the patterns they all (typically) follow; sitting up, crawling, then walking is a genetic progression, but when they do these is environmentally-influenced
• Plasticity is the brain’s ability to change on a cellular level to environmental events
  • Note: epigenetics cause slow changes from genes being applied or not, these changes are for the benefit of the species
  • Plasticity causes quick changes where the brain physical morphs, this is important for learning and therapy