Interaction of Heredity and Environment

Question 1

Psychology

Answer 1

the science of behavior & mental processes

Question 2

Behavior

Answer 2

anything an organism does (any action we can observe & record)

Question 3

Mental process

Answer 3

internal, subjective experiences (sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs, & feelings - cannot be observed)

Question 4

Central principle of psychology

Answer 4

Everything psychological is also biological - every thought, mood, action, urge is due to an internal biological event

Question 5

Nature-nurture issue

Answer 5

biggest & most persistent issue in psychology; debate about the relative contributions that
genes (nature) & experience (nurture) make to the development of psychological traits & behaviors

Question 6

Natural selection

Answer 6

principle that inherited traits enabling an organism to survive & reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most likely be passed on to succeeding generations

Question 7

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 7

study of the evolution of behavior & the mind, using principles of natural selection
● Looks at how humans are alike

Question 8

Behavior genetics

Answer 8

study of the relative power & limits of genetic & environmental influences on behavior
● Looks at how humans differ

Question 9

Mutation

Answer 9

random error in gene replication that leads to a change

Question 10

Environment

Answer 10

every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to our experiences of the people & things around us

Question 11

Heredity

Answer 11

genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring
● Biochemical units of heredity are known as genes

Question 12

Genome

Answer 12

complete instructions for making an organism

Question 13

Identical (monozygotic) twins

Answer 13

individuals that develop from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical individuals
○ Have same genes, but don’t always have the same number of copies of those genes
○ One in three identical twins have different placentas (prenatal environment)

Question 14

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

Answer 14

individuals who develop from separate fertilized eggs; genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but share a prenatal environment
● Behaviorally & physically, identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins

Question 15

Interaction

Answer 15

interplay that occurs when the effect of one factor (such as environment) depends on another factor (such as
heredity)

Question 16

Epigenetics

Answer 16

study of the molecular mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without DNA
change)