Bilogical Beginnings

Question 1

Evolutionary process by which those individuals of a species that are best adapted to their environment are the ones that are most likely to survive and reproduce

Answer 1

Natural selection

Question 2

evolutionary psychology

Answer 2

A branch of psychology that emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fittest” in shaping behavior.

Question 3

Species heredity

Answer 3

genes that members of a species all have in common

Question 4

Purpose of cells

Answer 4

They provide structure for the body, take in nutrients from food, convert those nutrients into energy, and carry out specialized functions. Cells also contain the body’s hereditary material and can make copies of themselves. Cells have many parts, each with a different function.

Question 5

Center of a cell that contains chromosomes

Answer 5

Nucleus

Question 6

Chromosomes

Answer 6

Threadlike structures made up of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

Question 7

A complex molecule that has a double helix shape and contains genetic information.

Answer 7

DNA

Question 8

Gene

Answer 8

a segment of DNA

Question 9

Cellular reproduction in which the cell’s nucleus duplicates itself; two new cells are formed, each containing the same DNA as the original cell, arranged in the same 23 pairs of chromosomes.

Answer 9

mitosis

Question 10

Gametes

Answer 10

eggs or sperm

Question 11

A specialized form of cell division that occurs to form eggs and sperm (or gametes).

Answer 11

meiosis

Question 12

Fertilization

Answer 12

A stage in reproduction when an egg and a sperm fuse to create a single cell, called a zygote.

Question 13

zygote

Answer 13

A single cell formed through fertilization.

Question 14

________ are produced after a single cell undergoes cell division

Answer 14

Daughter cells

In mitosis, a single cell becomes two identical cells. Daughter cells in this sense are actually closer to clones. In meiosis, a single cell becomes 4 cells, each with reduced DNA.

Question 15

Human Genome Project

Answer 15

20,500 genes in humans

Question 16

Genetic variability

Answer 16

• combining genes of 2 parents
• chromosomes are not exact copies from either parent
• DNA/ mutated genes
• genotypes/phenotypes

Question 17

All of a person’s actual genetic material.

Answer 17

genotype

Question 18

Phenotype

Answer 18

Observable and measurable characteristics of an individual, such as height, hair color, and intelligence.

Question 19

mutated gene

Answer 19

permanently altered segment of DNA

Question 20

T or F: Most mutated genes are recessive

Answer 20

True

Question 21

When a mutated gene is carried on the X chromosome

Answer 21

X linked inheritance

Question 22

Most individuals who have X linked diseases are males: T or F?

Answer 22

True: Males only have one X chromosome so if there’s a mutation they don’t have a 2nd one as a back up like women do.

Question 23

genetic imprinting

Answer 23

when genes have differing effects depending on whether they are inherited from the mother or father.

A chemical process “silences” one member of the gene pair either maternal or paternal.

Question 24

Various combinations of many genes that lead to characteristics: i.e.; schizophrenia

Answer 24

Polygenetic transmission or multifactorial transmission:

Question 25

Epigenetic View

Answer 25

• The interaction of heredity and environment
• Heredity directs the kind of environmental experiences a person has
• There is ongoing bidirectional interchange
• For example, the development of hearing and eyesight
• Critical or sensitive periods of development

Question 26

twin study

Answer 26

A study in which the behavioral similarity of identical twins is compared with the behavioral similarity of fraternal twins.

Question 27

Identical twins

Answer 27

develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into 2 genetically identical organisms

Question 28

Fraternal twins

Answer 28

develop from 2 separate eggs

no more genetically similar than non twin siblings

Question 29

Any agent that can potentially cause a birth defect or negatively alter cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

Answer 29

teratogen

Question 30

Psychological theory that attempts to explain a disorder, or its trajectory, as the result of an interaction between a pre-dispositional vulnerability, the diathesis, and a stress caused by life experiences

Answer 30

The diathesis–stress model, also known as the vulnerability–stress model

Question 31

first applied to behavior by Irving Gottesman and James Shields in their classic twin study of schizophrenia. They postulated that a number of different genes along with a number of environmental variables acted as risk and protective factors for the development of schizophrenia.

Answer 31

Liability threshold model

Question 32

Genie

Answer 32

Famous feral child

the name given to protect her identity – was Genie. Her deranged father had strapped her into a handmade straitjacket and tied her to a chair in a silent room of a suburban house since she was a toddler. He had forbidden her to cry, speak or make noise and had beaten and growled at her, like a dog.

Question 33

Psychoactive drugs

Answer 33

Affects the nervous system

• Changes mood
• Caffeine
• Alcohol

Illegal substances

• Cocaine
• Marijuana

Question 34

Identical vs. fraternal twins

Answer 34

(monozygotic vs dizygotic)

Question 35

Concordance rate

Answer 35

usually means the presence of the same trait in both members of a pair of twins. However, the strict definition is the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic, given that one of the pair has the characteristic.

if one twin shows a disorder what is the probability that the 2nd twin would show the disorder.