Chapter 3 Flashcards
Psychologists who focused on learning and experience
Empiricists
Psychologists who emphasized genes and inborn characteristics
Nativists
A field of psychology emphasizing evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities in social practices, perception, emotional responses, and other areas of behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
An interdisciplinary field of study concerned with genetic contributions to individual differences in behavior and personality
Behavioral Genetics
The functional units of heredity; they are composed of DNA and specify the structure of proteins
Genes
Within every cell, rod-shaped structures that carry the genes
Chromosomes
The chromosomal molecule that transfers genetic characteristics by way of coded genetic characteristics by way of coded instructions for the structure of proteins
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
The full set of genes in each cell of an organism (with the exception of sperm and egg cells), together with noncoding DNA located outside the genes
Genome
98.9% of our total DNA; lies outside of the genes
Noncoding DNA
Chemical elements that form DNA: (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine)
Bases
Compare DNA differences in people who share a particular disease or trait with those of people who do not have it
Genome-wide association studies
Sequencing the entire 3 billion base pairs of DNA
Whole-genome sequencing
Old technique used for searching for genes associated with rare disorders; take advantage of the tendency of genes lying close together on a chromosome to be inherited together across generations
Linkage Studies
A segment of DNA that varies among individuals, has a known location on a chromosome, and can function as a genetic landmark for a gene involved in a physical or mental condition
Genetic Marker
Produce variant forms of genes; may alter just one DNA base or a large part of the chromosome
Mutations (Gene variants)
The study of stable changes in the expression of a particular gene that occurs without changes in DNA base sequences
Epigenetics
A change in gene frequencies with a population over many generations; a mechanism by which genetically influenced characteristics of a population may change
Evolution
The evolutionary process in which individuals with genetically influenced traits that are adaptive in particular environment tend to survive and to reproduce in greater numbers than do other individuals; as a result, their traits become more common in the population
Natural Selection
Formulated the principal of natural selection states that the fate of these genetic variations depends on the environment
Charles Darwin
Innate neural structures in the mind which have distinct established evolutionarily developed functions from a combination of the environment and genetics
“Mental Modules”
An interdisciplinary field that emphasizes evolutionary explanations of social behavior in animals, including human beings
Sociobiology
A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within a group
Heritability
Twins that develop from two separate eggs fertilized by different sperm; they are no more alike genetically than are any other pair of siblings
Fraternal (dizygotic) Twins
Twins that develop when a fertilized egg divides into two parts that develop into separate embryos
Identical (monozygotic) Twins
A measure of intelligence originally computed by dividing a person’s mental age by his or her chronological age and multiplying the result by 100, it is now derived form norms provided for standardized intelligence tests
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
