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Chapter 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What is Evolution?

A

Evolution is the gradual change over time in organic life from one form into another

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2
Q

What did Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’ suggest (1859) suggest?

A

That life on Earth had been subject to a slow process of change

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3
Q

What did Charles Darwin call biological evolution?

A

Natural Selection

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4
Q

What is Natural Selection?

A

Natural selection is an undirected or ‘blind’ process based upon three factors:
1. Biological variation
2. High reproduction rate
3. Competition over limited resources

A.k.a. Survival of the fittest

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5
Q

What does Natural selection affect?

A
  1. External physiological features
  2. Behavioural traits
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6
Q

How do new traits emerge in a population?

A

Genetic mutations

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7
Q

What are genetic mutations?

A

Random events and accidents in general reproduction during the division of cells

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8
Q

What are genes?

A
  • The means by which we inherit not only physiological, but also certain behavioural, perceptual, and temperament or personality traits
  • Functional segments DNA, that code for proteins
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9
Q

What are dominant alleles?

A

The particular characteristic that it controls will be displayed

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10
Q

What are recessive alleles?

A

The characteristic will not show up unless the partner gene inherited from the other parent is also recessive

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11
Q

What are alleles?

A

Alternative forms of a gene that produce different characteristics

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12
Q

What is PKU?

A
  • Associated with developmental delay and severe learning difficulties
  • Due to an inability yo metabolise the essential amino acid phenylalanine
  • Based upon the inheritance of a double dose of recessive alleles
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13
Q

What is Huntington’s Disease?

A
  • A degenerative disorder in which the sufferer experiences personality changes along with declines in mental, memory and movement functioning over time
  • Based upon the inheritance of a dominant allele
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14
Q

What is polygenic transmission?

A

When a number of gene pairs combine their influences to create a single phenotypic trait

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15
Q

What is a genotype?

A

The specific and complete genetic makeup of-up of the individual

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16
Q

What is a phenotype?

A

The individual’s outward observable characteristics

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17
Q

What about genotypes and phenotypes in identical twins?

A

They have the same genes but they can differ in phenotypes

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18
Q

What is Eugenics?

A

The practice of improving the human race by encouraging ‘desirable’ human traits through selective breeding

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19
Q

What are adaptations?

A

Physical or behavioural changes that allow organisms to meet recurring environmental challenges to their survival, thereby increasing their reproductive ability

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20
Q

How many genes do humans possess?

A

20,000

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21
Q

What are chromosomes?

A

A single or double stranded structure comprising proteins and DNA

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22
Q

What are somatic cells?

A

Any cell forming the body of an organism; they do not contain reproductive cells

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23
Q

What are gametes?

A

Sex cells (eggs and sperm)

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24
Q

What is a haploid?

A

The number of chromosomes carried by a gamete cell, which is half the number of chromosomes carried in a typical cell (23 pairs)

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25
What is a zygote?
A fertilised egg containing 46 pairs of chromosomes
26
How many times is each gene represented?
Twice at the same locus
27
What are nucleotides?
Nitrogenous base, phosphate and sugar groups
28
How does DNA transcription work?
- Begins in the nucleus of the cell - Section of DNA unzips itself - Exposed the nitrogenous bases of a gene - Series of molecular interactions become transcribed into proteins
29
What dies behaviourism assume?
That there are laws of learning from the environment that apply to virtually all organisms
30
What is the tabula rasa?
- Blank slate - Learning experiences are inscribed
31
What do ethnologists focus on?
Animal behaviour in the natural environment
32
What are inherited behavioural adaptations?
Traits that organisms are born with that help promote their chances of survival and reproductive success
33
What is a fixed action pattern?
An unlearned response automatically triggered by a particular stimulus
34
What are releasing stimuli?
External stimuli that trigger fixed action patterns
35
What is rigid behaviour subject to?
Refinement by learning
36
What is behavioural genetics?
A field of psychological science dedicated to investigating how genes and the environmental factors interact during the course of development so as to affect behaviour
37
What is the degree of relatedness?
The proportion of genes we inherit from others by direct common descent
38
How much DNA do we inherit from our parents?
50% from each side HOWEVER This doesn’t mean that we only have 50% in common We typically have 99.9% similar DNA with those we’re not related to
39
What is a shared environment?
The environmental factors that certain individuals share in common
40
What is a non-shared environment?
The environmental factors that certain individuals do not share with each other
41
Why are twin studies useful?
They can be used to estimate the extent to which genotype, shared environment and unshared environment contribute to group variance on a particular characteristic
42
What is a single nucleotide polymorphism?
The units of variation in the genetic code of our DNA
43
What are venom-wide association studies?
Studies that scan the whole genome of many individuals in order to identify genetic markers for behavioural traits or diseases
44
What is the/a gene chip?
A microarray that can sample DNA from an individual to identify the expression of. Wide range of genes across the genome
45
What is the mist clear message to come from GWA studies?
Almost all genetic influences on psychological traits are explained by a large number of SNPs that show very small but significant associations with traits
46
What are adoption studies?
They make use of the fact that adopted children share a greater proportion of their genes with their biological parents and siblings than their adopted parents or siblings, to draw conclusions about the relative role of genes and the environment in psychological and behavioural traits
47
What are concordance rates?
Statistical expression of the probability that two individuals with shared genes will share a particular trait to the same degree
48
What is a heritability coefficient?
estimates the extent to which the differences, or variation, in a specific phenotypic characteristic within a group of people can be attributed to their differing genes
49
What is intelligence?
The ability to plan, reason, solve problems and learn from experience
50
Is there a single ‘intelligence’ gene?
No
51
What contributes to individual differences in intelligence?
- genetic factors - shared environment - unique experiences
52
Where is hereditary potential carried?
In the genes, whose commands trigger the production of proteins that control body structures and processes
53
Are genotypes and phenotypes identical?
No
54
What are behavioural characteristics typically?
- Polygenic in origin - Influenced by the interactions of multiple genes
55
What do behavioural geneticists study?
How generic and environmental factors contribute to the development of psychological traits and behaviours
56
Does personality have a strong genetic contribution?
- Some but not as strong as intelligence - Shared family environment seems to have no impact on the development of personality traits - Unshared individual experiences are far more important environmental determinants
57
What is the reaction range?
The range of possibilities that the genetic code allows
58
What is passive gene-environment correlation?
An association between the child’s genetic inheritance and the environment in which they are raised
59
What is evocative gene-environment correlation?
Where a child’s genetically influenced behaviours evoke certain responses from others in their environment
60
What is active gene-environment correlation?
An association between genotype and the environments that genotype leads someone to seek out
61
What have technological advances enabled scientists to do
- Map the human genome - Duplicate and modify structures of genes themselves
62
How can gene manipulation be achieved?
- Gene therapies can be developed to insert gene alleles into cells in order to compensate for defective ones
63
What are the potential benefits of genetic screening?
- Can save lives - Reduces the probability of having children affected by a genetic disease
64
How accurate are genetic screenings?
- Exceeds 90% accuracy - Still possible that there can be a false positive result
65
How should people be educated and counselled about test results?
- By specially trained counsellors
66
What is Evolutionary psychology?
a growing discipline that seeks to explain how evolution shaped modern human behaviour
67
68
What does natural selection not work for?
‘The good of the species’ or ‘the good of the group’
69
What is kin selection?
an evolutionary strategy in which behaviours are selected that favour the reproductive success of an organism’s relatives even if that is at a cost to that organism’s own survival and reproduction
70
What is reciprocal altruism?
a behaviour in an organism that reduces its fitness to survive and reproduce while increasing another organism’s fitness; undertaken with the expectation that the favour will be returned later
71
What are culturally universal characteristics?
- Inborn biological tendencies that have evolved through natural selection 1. Infants are born with an ability to acquire any language spoken in the world 2. Human newborns are able to perceive specific stimuli without any perceptual experience of them 3. At one week of age,human neonates show primitive maths skills Etc
72
What’s the most direct way to ensure one’s long-term genetic survival?
Mating and reproducing offspring
73
Do men an women show different mating strategies?
Yes Men, compared to women, show more interest in short-term mating and have more sexual partners over their lifetimes
74
What is evolutionary personality theory?
looks for the origin of presumably universal personality traits in the adaptive demands of our species’ evolutionary history
75
What is the five factor model?
1. Extraversion-introversion 2. Agreeableness 3. Conscientiousness 4. Neuroticism 5. Openness to experience
76
What is strategic pluralism?
the idea that multiple – even contradictory – behavioural strategies might be adaptive in certain environments and would therefore be maintained through natural selection

Mind, Brain, and Behaviour (11 decks)

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