Psy. 412A Ch. 2

Question 0

Nativism

Answer 0

The idea that human characteristics are innate or inborn, not acquired or learned.

Question 1

Human Genome

Answer 1

The complete set of genes for the creation and development of the human organism.

Question 2

Preformationism

Answer 2

The 17th century theory of inheritance that hypothesized that all characteristics of an adult were prefigured in miniature within either the sperm or the ovum.

Question 3

Genetic Determinism

Answer 3

The idea that human qualities are genetically determined and cannot be nurture or education.

Question 4

Eugenics

Answer 4

A philosophy that advocates the use of controlled breeding to encourage child breeding among individuals with characteristics considered “desirable” and to discourage (or eliminate) childbearing among those with “undesirable” traits.

Question 5

Tabula Rasa (“Blank Slate”)

Answer 5

The notion, usually associated with the philosopher John Locke, that nothing about development is predetermined, and that the child is ENTIRELY a product of his or her environment and experience.

Question 6

Heritability

Answer 6

The extent to which a phenotypic trait is genetically determined.

Question 7

Twin Studies

Answer 7

A method for estimating heritability in which the degree of similarity in a trait that is observed among IDENTICAL twins is compared with that observed among FRATERNAL twins.

Question 8

Identical Twins

Answer 8

Twins born when a single fertilized egg divides, resulting in the birth of two individuals whose genetic makeup is identical.

Question 9

Fraternal Twins

Answer 9

Twins born when two separate eggs are fertilized, who are therefore no more alike genetically than other brothers and sisters.

Question 10

Adoption Studies

Answer 10

A method for estimating heritability in which similarities between children and their adoptive parents are compared with similarities between children and their biological parents.

Question 11

Family Related Studies

Answer 11

A method for estimating heritability by comparing the similarity of children who vary in their genetic relatedness (e.g. Siblings, half-siblings, and step siblings)

Question 12

Shared Environment

Answer 12

In behavioral genetics, the environment that siblings have in common.

Question 13

Nonshared Environment

Answer 13

In behavioral genetics, the environment that siblings do not have in common, such as the peers with whom they are friends.

Question 14

Theory of Evolution

Answer 14

Typically refers to the variant of the model of evolution formalized by Charles Darwin, which asserts that organisms evolve and change through the process of natural selection.

Question 15

Survival of the Fittest

Answer 15

Within Darwin’s theory of evolution, the notion that organisms that are best equipped to survive in a given context are more likely to reproduce and pass their genetic material on to future generations.

Question 16

Natural Selection

Answer 16

Witching Darwin’s theory of evolution, the process through which ADAPTIVE traits that are heritable become more common while MALADAPTIVE traits that are heritable become less so.

Question 17

Epigenesis

Answer 17

The gradual process through which organisms develop over time in an increasingly differentiated and complex fashion as a consequence of the interaction between genes and the environment.

Question 18

Stem Cells

Answer 18

Primitive, undifferentiated cells or “precells,” found in large numbers in the embryo.

Question 19

Bipedalism

Answer 19

Being able to stand and walk on two feet.

Question 20

Canalizations

Answer 20

The degree to which an element of development is dictated by the common genetic program that ALL humans inherit.

Question 21

Chromosomes

Answer 21

Strands of DNA that carry genes and associated proteins.

Question 22

Base Pairs

Answer 22

Pairs of adenine and thymine and of guanine and cytosine that make up the “rungs” of the DNA molecule.

Question 23

Gene

Answer 23

A segment of DNA, occupying a SPECIFIC place on a chromosome.

Question 24

Genotype

Answer 24

The UNDERLYING makeup of an individual organism (contrast with phenotype.

Question 25

Phenotype

Answer 25

The OBSERVABLE traits and characteristics of an individual organism (contrast with genotype).

Question 26

Mitosis

Answer 26

The process through which cells other than gametes reproduce, on which a cell divides and each resulting cell receives a full copy of all 46 chromosomes.

Question 27

Gametes

Answer 27

Reproductive cells, sperm in males and ova (eggs) in females.

Question 28

Meiosis

Answer 28

The process through which gametes are produced, in which each resulting gamete has half of the genetic material of the parent cell.

Question 29

Alleles

Answer 29

Different forms of the same gene occupying the same location the same location on each of the chromosomes that make up a chromosomal pair.

Question 30

Additive Heredity

Answer 30

The process of genetic transmission that results in a phenotype that is a mixture of the mother’s and father’s traits.

Question 31

Dominant/Recessive Heredity

Answer 31

The process of genetic transmission where one version (allele) of a gene is dominant over another, resulting in the phenotypic expression of only the dominant allele.

Question 32

Regulator Genes

Answer 32

Genes whose function is to turn other genes on or off at different points in the life cycle or in response to events in the environment.

Question 33

Mutations

Answer 33

Copying errors in the replication of DNA that alter the proteins a gene or chromosome produces.

Question 34

Microsystem

Answer 34

In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective on development, a setting in which the child interacts with others face-to-face, such as a family or classroom.

Question 35

Mesosystem

Answer 35

In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective on development, the system of interconnected Microsystems.

Question 36

Exosystem

Answer 36

In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective on development, the layer of the context that includes the larger settings that children know only in part, such as the neighborhood and settings in which children themselves do not participate, such as parents’ workplaces.

Question 37

Macrosystem

Answer 37

In Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective on development, the layer of the context that includes the larger forces that define a society at a particular point in time, including culture, politics, economics, the mass media, and historical events.

Question 38

Familism

Answer 38

Placing a high value on the interests of the family rather than the individual.

Question 39

Gene Expression

Answer 39

The process through which genes influence the production of specific proteins, which in turn influence the phenotype.

Question 40

Cross-Fostering

Answer 40

In animal research, the process of removing an offspring from its biological parents and having it raised by other adults, often with different attributes than the biological parents.

Question 41

Gene-Environment Interaction

Answer 41

The process which genotypes produce different phenotypes in different contexts.

Question 42

Reaction Range

Answer 42

An array of phenotypic possibilities that a genotype has the potential to produce as a result of the context in which the organism develops.

Question 43

Passive Gene-Environment Correlations

Answer 43

Similarity between the results of genetic and environmental influences due to the fact that the same parents provide both genes and environments for their children.

Question 44

Evocative Gene-Environment Correlations

Answer 44

Similarity between the results of genetic and environmental influences due to the fact that genotypically different individuals elicit different responses from their environments.

Question 45

Active Gene-Environment Correlations

Answer 45

Similarity between the results of genetic and environmental influences due to the fact that children select contexts that they find rewarding, and that therefore tend to maintain or strengthen their genetically influenced traits.

Question 46

Niche-Picking

Answer 46

The process through which individuals select the environments in which they spend time.