Exam 3 Flashcards
What are the 3 areas of the biological domain?
- genetic
- physiological
- evolutionary
all of our 20-30 thousand genes
genome
attempt to improve the human gene pool
eugenics movement
What are idealogical concerns centered around?
equality and fairness
What three things do behavioral genetics determine?
- what percent of trait differences is due to genetics/environment?
- how do genes and environment interact?
- which aspects of environment are important?
how much variation of an individual difference is explained by genetics
heritability
how much variation of an individual difference is due to environment
environmentality
genes indirectly code for physical/personality traits
the human genome
What 2 things are behavioral geneticists attempting to determine?
percentage of variance
heritability
degree to which a characteristic is due to genes vs. environment
percentage of variance
observed variance in a group that can be accounted for by genetic difference across individuals
heritability
amount of variance attributed to genetic variance
genotype
observed variance in characteristic
phenotype
Influence of genes and environment is only relevant to ______ level variation
group
heritability does not apply to ________ variance
individual
Heritability is not ________ or ________, it is dependent upon ______ and ______
constant; precise; population; time
Heritability coefficients reflect ______ on a characteristic
variance
heritability studies do not tell us what is _______
heritable
What is environment?
non-genetic factors
selective breeding only works if a trait is _____
heritable
if a trait is heritable, then the degree of genetic relatedness should correspond with ________
trait similarity
What is the problem with family studies?
families often share genetics and environment, so influences are confounded
What is the goal of twin studies?
to estimate heritability
If MZ twins are more similar than DZ twins then differences are due to _______
heritability
changes in gene similarity due to cell replication
copy number variations (CNVs)
differences in genes caused by mutations occurring during development
genetic mutation variations (GMVs)
What do adoption studies look at?
trait similarity between adopted children and adoptive vs. genetic parents
what is the ideal study for studying genetics and environment?
adopted twins reared separately
What is the pro of adoption studies?
shared environment without shared genes
What is the con of adoption studies?
are adopted kids and adoptive parents representative of the general population?
What is the problem with adoption studies?
selective placement of adopted children
What is the heritability of the Big 5?
about 50%
Sexual orientation has an estimated _______ heritability
20-50%
What accounts for differences across studies?
measurement issues
The medial pre optic hypothalamus is ______ in gay men compared to straight men
smaller
______ of genes can turn on/off certain genes
methylation
What is the heritability of traditionalism? Job preference?
59%; 71%
What attitudes show little to no heritability?
belief in God
attitudes towards racial integration
What three things are drinking and smoking related to?
sensation seeking
extraversion
neuroticism
How much heritability does alcoholism and smoking addiction have?
36-56%
features that both subjects are exposed to
shared
features that one subject is exposed to but the other isn’t
nonshared
What are the 2 issues concerning genes and environment?
genotype-environment interaction
genotype-environment correlation
people with different genes react differently to certain environments; individual differences interact with environment to affect performance
genotype-environment interaction
parents provide both genes and environment
passive genotype-environment correlation
others in environment respond to genes
reactive genotype-environment correlation
person with certain genes seeks out a particular environment
active genotype-environment correlation
What is the goal of molecular genetics?
to identify specific genes associated with personality traits
The _______ gene has a weak relationship to novelty seeking (risk taking) and deals with dopamine regulation
DRD4
What is the complication of the DRD4 gene?
many other genes may influence trait expression
in any population there is natural variation, but some variations will be more adaptive for the environment
evolution
Adaptiveness influences evolutionary fitness in what 2 ways?
- increases chances of survival
2. increases reproductive success
evolutionarily derived traits are passed on through reproduction
sexual selection
What 3 things make for good adaptation?
- efficiency
- precision
- reliability
adaptions tend to _______ rather than______
avoid the worst
attempt at perfection
the importance of avoiding crucial mistakes
error management theory; based on signal detection theory
What is the take home point of error management theory?
evolution will select for avoiding the worst mistakes
byproducts of adaptations
exaptations
characteristics that are neutral (or negative) with respect to survival/reproduction
evolutionary noise
schizophrenic characteristics co-evolved with higher cognitive/affective systems associated with sociality
social brain hypothesis
delusions and hallucinations could lead to the perception that a person has special psychic characteristics
social advantage hypothesis
schizophrenic genes code for an advantage with regard to disease resistance
physiological advantage hypothesis
reasoning from observations to theory
inductive reasoning
reasoning from theory to prediction to observation
deductive reasoning
humans formed cultural groups because humans alone are not successful
theory of reciprocal altruism
one major difference in humans that might lead to different selection pressures
group differences level
What is the male’s biggest problem when it comes to reproduction? Female?
male: not enough mates
female: choosing the wrong mate
What is the most adaptive mistake of males concerning mating? females?
males: not mating when opportunity is available
females: mating with someone unwilling and able to provide
Men are ____ secessionists, while women are ____ selectionists
r; k
differences in what men and women are more jealous of
paternity certainty
What are the 2 classes of sexual selection pressures for mating?
intersexual competition
intrasexual competition
preferences of one sex for characteristics in the opposite sex
intersexual competition
competition between members of the same sex for mates of the opposite sex
intrasexual competition
differential reproductive success for males and females may account for group level sex differences in personality
effective polygyny
differences in reproductive success can lead to big differences across sexes
sexual dimorphism
Adaptations for ______ competition will often depend on the _______ preferences
intrasexual; intersexual
A tendency may exist, but if environment does not put pressure/give opportunity for trait expression, it will not be expressed
environmental triggers
what is inherited is not always the trait, but perhaps the motivation
contingencies among traits
mate selection strategies rely on intersexual and intrasexual competitive forces
frequency dependent selection
different environmental pressures can lead to a maintenance of variation
balancing selection
ability to detect certain personality characteristics and make alliances could be beneficial
difference detecting mechanisms
