3.1 - genetic and evolutionary perspective on behaviour Flashcards
Natural selection
the process by which favourable traits become increasingly common in a population of inter-breeding individuals, while traits that are unfavourable become less common
evolution
the change in the frequency of genes occurring in an interbreeding population over generations (genes of some animals combining to produce traits favourable to that setting)
evolutionary psychology
attempts to explain human behaviours based on the beneficial function(s) they may have served in our species evolutionary history
hunter-gatherer- theory
explicitly links performance on specific tasks to the different roles performed by males and females over the course of our evolutionary history (male=hunter, female= gatherer)
genes
the basic units of heredity: responsible for guiding the process of creating the proteins that make up our physical structures
DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid
a molecule formed in a double-helix shape that contains for nucleotides: adeine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine (AGGCTAATGACT)
genotype
the genetics makeup of an organism - the unique set of genes that compromise that individuals genetic code
phenotype
the physical traits and behavioural
chromosomes
structures in the cellular nucleus that are lined with all of the genes an individual inherits
homozygous
if 2 corresponding genes at a given location on a pair if chromosomes are the same
heterozygous
if 2 corresponding genes at a given location on a pair of chromosomes differ
behavioural genetics
the study of DNA and the ways in which specific genes are related to behaviour
monozygetic twin
come from a single egg-which makes them genetically identical
dizygotic twin (froternal)
come from 2 separate eggs, aprox 50% of their genes in common
heritability
a statistic, expressed as a number between zero and one. that represents the degree to which genetic differences among individuals contribute to individual differences found in a population
