chp 8

Question 1

behavioural genetics

Answer 1

address how traits differ among individs are passed from parent to child
- how genes impact behav patterns

controversy bcs assoc w eugenics and cloning
- not concern of modern research

Question 2

heritability calculations

Answer 2

compare similarities in personality b/w MZ and DZ twins

Question 3

how do traits show genes

Answer 3

i.e. height difference b/w twins separated at birth

Question 4

heritability coefficient

Answer 4

percentage of variance of a trait in a pop that’s attributed to variance in genes
- twin studies 0.4
- non-twins 0.2

difference suggests genes are interactive and multiplicative

Question 5

does family matter?

Answer 5

if no:
- extreme conclusion
- research in self-reports
- behav genetics studies on environ

if yes:
- behav obs
- dev psych and shared fam environ

Question 6

2 things heritability can’t tell us

Answer 6

1. nature vs nurture:
   - traits w little variation have heritabilities close to 0 i.e. arms
   - cannot use heritability to determine what percent of trait is determined by genes vs environ
2. how genes affect personality: create tendencies to behav in certain ways

Question 7

molecular genetics

Answer 7

determining whether diffs in TRAITS are correlated w diffs in particular GENE

alleles: vairants of a gene, assoc w diff life outcomes

Question 8

genes and the environment

Answer 8

genes are not causal, there must be environ for behaviour to exist

ppl can react diff to same environ, not replicable

Question 9

epigenetics

Answer 9

experience affects biology

can help ppl find environs leading to positive outcomes

your environ can CHANGE GENE EXPRESSIOn

some results due to chance since thousands of genes and personalities

Question 10

issues w twin studies

Answer 10

MZ twins not genetically identical

inc similarity if MZ twins share placenta

can have diff number copies of genes

mutations

epigenetics

Question 11

evolutionary personality psych

Answer 11

addresses how patterns of behav for ALL humans may have survival value

Question 12

inclusive fitness

Answer 12

tendency to help and protect others especially family

ensure survival of genes

Question 13

individual differences

Answer 13

diversity needed for adaptation

life history: animals have slow or fast reproduction

Question 14

aggression

Answer 14

protect fam and territory, status

Question 15

self-esteem

Answer 15

monitor deg to which accepted by others
- since humans are social beignd

Question 16

problems w evolutionary psych

Answer 16

methodology: cannot empirically test

conservative bias: assume behav is unchangeable and bcs of biology

reproductive instinct: many ppl choose to limit reproduction

how much bcs of bio vs social structures i.e. gender roles