Chapter 1 Flashcards
Philosopher Gottfried Leibniz
Why is there something rather than nothing?
Hard Problem
David Chalmers - Given this universe composed of matter and energy, why is there such a thing as consciousness?
Mind-Brain/Body Problem
What is the relationship between mental experience and brain activity?
fundamental property
Property that cannot be attributed to something else (eg. matter has mass but we cannot explain why)
Biological psychology
Study of the physiological, evolutionary, and developmental mechanism of behavior and experience
physiological explanation
relates a behavior to the activity of the brain and other organs - deals with chemistry and machinery of the body “how does this behaviour relate to brain and other organs?”
ontogenetic explanation
Describes how a structure or behavior develops, including the influences of genes, nutrition, experiences, and their interactions “how does this behaviour develop within the individual?”
evolutionary explanation
reconstructs the evolutionary history of a structure or behavior “how did the capacity for this behaviour evolve?”
functional explanation
describes why a structure or behavior evolves as it did - why it was evolutionarily selected “why did the capacity for this behaviour evolve? What funciton does it serve?”
genetic drift
when a gene spreads by accident in a small, isolated population
genes
units of heredity that maintain their structural identity from one generation to another, found on chromosomes (generally paired)
chromosomes
strands of genes that come in pairs
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
genetic material (double stranded)- a strand serves as a template for RNA (single stranded) synthesis. The order of DNA bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine) determines RNA bases.
ribonucleic acid (RNA)
RNA bases determine order of amino acides that compose a protein (adenine, guanine, cytosine, uracil)
enzymes
biological catalysts that regulate chemical reactions in the body
homozygous
identical pair of genes on two chromosomes
heterozygous
unmatched pair of genes (i.e. XY)
dominant gene
shows a strong effect in either homozygous or heterozygous
recessive gene
show its effects only in the homozygous condition
Sex linked gene
genes located on the sex chromosome (X or Y )
sex limited genes
present in both sexes, generally on autosomal chromosomes, but actively mainly in one sex (genes activated by sex hormones)
autosomal genes
a gene located on a chromosome other than a sex chromosome
mutation
heritable change in a DNA molecule - changing one base in a DNA sequnce results in code for a different protein
epigenetics
change in gene expression without modification of DNA/genetic sequence
monozygotic twins
twins from one egg - identical
dizygotic
twins from two eggs - fraternal
duplication/deletion
in DNA replication, part of a chromosome that should appear once might instead appear twice or not at all (when it is a tiny portion it is a micro duplication/deletion)
heritability
measure of how much variations in some characteristics depend on genetic differences - estimates of heritability apply to particular populations at particular times, they are not absolute
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Inability to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine
- if untreated, the amino acid accumulates to toxic levels impairing brain development and resulting in restlessness and irritability
- effects can be modified with a low phenylalanine diet
evolution
change over generations in frequencies of various genes in a population
Lamarckian evolution
theory of evolution based on inheritance of acquired characteristics
- if you use your arm muscles your children will have larger arm muscles
fitness
number of copies of one’s genes that endure in later generations
evolutionary psychology
study of evolution of behaviours
altruistic behavior
action that benefits someone other than the actor
kin selection
selection for a gene that benefits the individuals relatives
reciprocal altruism
idea that individuals help those who will return the favor
group selection
altruistic groups survive better than less cooperative ones
