HPS111-T1-Topic 3-Biological Bases-2016 Flashcards
Adaptations
Biological and behavioural changes that allow organisms to meet recurring environmental challenges to their survival, thereby increasing their reproductive ability.
Adaptive significance
The manner in which a particular behaviour enhances an organism’s chances of survival and reproduction in its natural environment.
Adoption study
A research method in behaviour genetics in which adopted people are compared on some characteristics with both their biological and adoptive parents in an attempt to determine the strength of the characteristic’s genetic component.
Alleles
Alternate forms of genes that produce different characteristics.
Behaviour Genetics
The scientific study of the role of genetic inheritance in behaviour.
Biologically based mechanisms
Evolved biological structures that receive input from the environment, process the information and respond to it.
Chromosome
Tightly coiled strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and protein that contains the genes.
Concordance
The likelihood that two people share a particular characteristic.
Dominant
The particular characteristics that it controls will be displayed.
Epigenetics
Changes in gene expression that are independent of the DNA itself and are caused instead by environmental factors.
Evocative influence
The tendency of genetically influenced characteristics (e.g. agreeableness) to evoke a particular response from others.
Evoked culture
The notion that cultures may themselves be the product of biological mechanisms that evolved to meet specific adaptational challenges.
Evolution
A change over time in the frequency with which particular genes, and the characteristics they produce, occur within an interbreeding population.
Family study
The study of people who are related to one another to determine whether degree of genetic similarity is related to-similarity on a particular trait.
Fixed action pattern
An unlearned response that is automatically triggered by a simple (releaser) stimulus.
Genes
The biological units of heredity, located on the chromosomes.
Genotypes
The specific genetic makeup of the individual, which may or may not be expressed in the observable phenotype.
Heritability coefficient
A numerical estimate of the percentage of group variability in a particular characteristic that can be attributed to genetic factors.
Knock-in procedure
A genetic manipulation procedure in which the function of a gene is disabled so that the effects on behaviour or physical functions can be studied.
Knockout procedure
A genetic manipulation procedure in which a new gene is inserted into an organism so that its effect on behaviour or physical functions can be studied.
Mechanisms
That enable it to be born with an ability to process and respond to information which is essential for its development.
Mutations
Random errors occurring during gene replication that can result in a new phenotype effect.
Natural selection
The evolutionary process through which characteristics that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction are preserved in the gene pool and thereby become more common in a species over time.
Phonotype
The observable characteristics produced by one’s genetic endowment.
Polygenic transmission
A number of genes working together to create a particular phenotypic characteristic.
Reaction range
The genetically influenced limits within which environmental factors can exert their effects on an organism.
Recessive gene
A gene whose influence on the phenotypic expression of a characteristic is masked by a dominant gene.
Sexual strategies (parental investment) theory
Maintains that sex differences in mating strategies and mating preferences reflect inherited biological pre-dispositions that have been shaped in women and men over the course of evolution.
Shared environment
The environmental conditions shared by a family or other social group over a period of time.
Social structure theory
Maintains that men and women behave differently, such as expressing different mate preferences, because society directs them into different social and economic roles.
Strategic pluralism
The notion that multiple - even contradictory - behavioural strategies (e.g. introversion and extroversion) might be adaptive in certain environments and would therefore be maintained through natural selection.
Twin study
A research method in behaviour genetics in which identical (monzygotic) twins are compared on some characteristics; this method is particularly informative if the twins have been raised in different environments.
Unshared environments
The unique experiences of each individual within a family - as apposed to the common experiences of the whole family.
