Chapter 4 - Genetics and Evolution

Question 1

what is behavioural genetics?

Answer 1

am interdisciplinary field concerned with how genes and the environment influence individual behaviour and traits including brain function

Question 2

what is epigenetics?

Answer 2

the study of heritable changes in gene expression that does not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence

Question 3

what is the focus of behavioural genetics?

Answer 3

genetic basis of individual difference in how we think and act

Question 4

what is the focus of epigenetic research?

Answer 4

seeks to understand the influence of genes on our behaviour and mental processes, and how the environment affects our genes and influences their expression through biological mechanisms

Question 5

what is behavioural genomics?

Answer 5

the study of DNA, inherited traits, and the ways in which specific genes are related to behaviour

Question 6

what is heritability?

Answer 6

a measure of variability of behavioural traits among individuals that can be accounted for by genetic factors

Question 7

what is a heritability coefficient?

Answer 7

a statistic expressed as a number between zero and one that represents the degree to which genetic differences between individuals contribute to individual differences in a behaviour or trait found in a population

Question 8

what does evolutionary psychology focus on?

Answer 8

the evolutionary mechanisms that might explain the commonalities that aid in our survival and reproductive success, including human cognition, development, emotion, and social practices

Question 9

what is the gene-environment interaction?

Answer 9

for many traits, genetic differences affect behaviour under some environmental circumstances but not others

Question 10

what does the sexual strategies theory describe?

Answer 10

the psychology of human mating strategies and the ways in which men and women differ in those strategies

Question 11

what does error management theory describe?

Answer 11

the evolution of biases in the way we think about everything

Question 12

what are survival adaptations?

Answer 12

mechanisms that helped our ancestors handle the “hostile forces of nature”

Question 13

when does intrasexual selection occur?

Answer 13

when members of one sex compete against each other, with the winner being able to mate with the opposite sex

Question 14

what is intersexual selection?

Answer 14

the process of choosing a mate based on certain qualities, usually decided by the female

Question 15

what are psychological adaptations?

Answer 15

mechanisms of the mind that have evolved to solve specific problems of survival or reproduction

Question 16

what are physiological adaptations?

Answer 16

adaptations that occur in the body as a consequence of one’s environment

Question 17

what does error management theory predict?

Answer 17

whenever uncertain situations present us with a safe vs more dangerous decision, we will psychologically adapt to prefer choices that minimize the cost of errors

Question 18

what does the visual descent illusion state?

Answer 18

that peoples will overestimate the distance when looking down from a height so that people will be especially wary of falling from great heights

Question 19

what does the auditory looming bias state?

Answer 19

people overestimate how close objects are when the sound is moving toward them compared to when it is moving away from them

Question 20

what forms the basis of phenotypic plasticity?

Answer 20

the generation of different morphology, physiology, and behavioural outcomes from a single genome in response to changes in the environment

Question 21

what is phenotypic plasticity fundamental for?

Answer 21

the way organisms cope with environmental variation, navigate the present world, and solve future problems

Question 22

what is acetylation of histones in gene regulatory regions associated with?

Answer 22

DNA demethylation, gene activation, and increased gene expression

Question 23

what is deacetylation of histones in gene regulatory regions associated with?

Answer 23

DNA methylation, gene silencing, and decreased gene expression