Chapter 4 Flashcards
Behaviour Genetics
The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behaviour. The study how heredity and environment contribute to human differences. Study of personality traits.
Environment
Every non genetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us.
Chromosomes
Threadlike structures made of DNA molecules that contain the genes.
Genes
The biochemical units of heredity that make up the chromosomes; a segment of DNA capable of synthesizing a protein.
Genome
The complete instructions for making an organism, consisting of all the genetic material in that organism’s chromosomes.
Identical Twins
Twins who develop from a single (monozygotic) fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.
Fraternal Twins
Twins who develop from separate (dizygotic) fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.
Genetic Relatives
Biological parents and siblings
Environmental relatives
Adoptive parents and siblings
Are adoptees more similar to their biological parents or caregiving adoptive parents?
When it comes to extraversion and agreeableness, adoptees are more similar to their biological parents than to their caregiving adoptive parents.
Temperament
A person’s characteristic emotional reactivity and intensity.
Molecular Genetics
The subfield of biology that studies the molecular structure and function of genes.
Heritability
The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
Interaction
The interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as heredity)
Epigenetics
The study of influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change
