Module 4 - Development Psychology Flashcards
Gene
the molecule on the chromosome that transmit the hereditary blueprint
Genotype
the total complement of genes that an individual inherits
Phenotype
the organisms observable characteristic (behaviour)
What part of the brain are language associated to?
the broca’s area (frontal lobe) and wernicke’s area (temporal lobe)
Area of the brain that is associated with vision?
occipital lobe (back of the brain)
Consequences if a particular are of the brain does not develop?
a brain that doesn’t develop properly in one area will cause deficits in some abilities but not others.
Percentage of dizygotic twins (fraternal) shared genes?
share 50% of their genes in common
Percentage of monozygetic twins (identical) shared genes?
share 100% of their genes in common
Concordance rate (correlation)
the proportion of pairs of individuals that share a particular attribute, given that one of the individuals has that characteristics
Direct (positive correlation)
as 1 variable increases the other variable also increases
Indirect (negative correlation)
as 1 variable increases the other variable decreases
No correlation
there is no relationship between the 2 variables compared
Does gene or environment take over time when individuals grow older?
as people get older, genes seem to have more effect while the effect of the environment seems to fade over time
How can an offspring inherit a gene when both parents does not posses visible trace of the inherited gene
(e.g. cystic fibrosis)
In order for the offspring to inherit the genes, both parents should have the recessive genes that code for the cystic fibrosis (1out of 4 offspring will be affected by cystic fibrosis)
selective breeding
used with animals to study genetic transmission of a particular behaviour
Hypothesis: If genes are the selective factor over environment (e.g. activity level)
If activity level is due to genes, then: (a) breeding active animals together should produce very active offspring, and (b) breeding inactive animals together should produce inactive offspring
polygenetic
a characteristic trait (e.g. eye colou, height, etc) which is influence by two or more genes
Maze learning rats experiment results:
Both maze dull rats and maze bright rats started at the same point, but very quickly diverged
- when dull ones were breed they tend to make errors
- whereas the bright ones tends to make less error and perform so much better
Results of Cooper and Zubek experiment
Standard conditions:
- get many more errors in the maze if the parent made more errors in the maze, whereas if parents did not make many errors it will be the same for the offspring
Improverished environment:
- If both rats are raised in this environment there is no difference between them
- which means that the maze bright rats may not have been allowed to reach their genetic potential due to it’s environment
Enriched environment:
- the rats were raised in the enriched environemnt also had no difference between their errors
- the results then clearly shows that there is a contribution between genes and environemnt to the measure of intelligence in this rats
Teratogen
an agent that causes deviations in normal development that lead to serious abnormalities or death
Critical period
a time in development when specific biological or environmental events have dramatic and irreversible effects on development
Determinants of Teratogens
1) timing
2) Effects are specific
3) Individual Differences
4) Dose-Dependent Relationship