PSY1004 WEEK 4

Question 1

define a precocial species

Answer 1

young are physically mobile from birth or hatching

Question 2

define a altricial species

Answer 2

young are more helpless and are not mobile from birth or hatching, dependent on parents for food and safety

Question 3

define nature

Answer 3

genetic determination for behaviour, inherited physical traits, personality traits, intelligence, preferences

Question 4

define nurture

Answer 4

environment, life experience, upbringing determining our behaviours

Question 5

dichotomy

Answer 5

proposes there are 2 opposing sides, either nature or nurture - however realistically is a continuum

Question 6

define empiricism

Answer 6

view that humans are not born with built-in core knowledge or mental content. instead, all knowledge is a result of learning and experience, a tabula rasa

Question 7

define nativism

Answer 7

view that many skills and abilities are native from birth and infants are born with hard-wired knowledge because such knowledge confers an advantage to survival

Question 8

give some early demonstrations of developmental perceptual and cognitive skills (nativism)

Answer 8

imitation, looking longer at surprising events, show early communication behaviours

Question 9

what is face preference research (Fantz) showing it could be innate

Answer 9

showed masks with different shapes (some arranged as faces, others were random). infants looked longer at face, suggesting a preference and looked around edge or periphery suggesting more info is there. could be innate or due to looking at multiple faces

Question 10

what is in-utero research evidence for face preference

Answer 10

lights moved in 28-40th weeks of pregnancy along uterus wall either in face-like configuration/not and found foetuses turn toward face stimulus

Question 11

define heritability

Answer 11

how much variation of specific trait in particular population is a result of genetic variation among individuals in population, and can lead to social, racial, economic division issue

Question 12

define environmentality

Answer 12

how much variations in specific trait in particular population is result of environmental factors

Question 13

define phenotype

Answer 13

interaction of genetic and environmental factors that result in person’s physical appearance

Question 14

give 4 methods of studying nature/nurture

Answer 14

genetic studies, heritability, family studies, adoption study

Question 15

define genes

Answer 15

segments of DNA on a chromosome that is arranged in pairs and interaction between 2 copies determines individual characteristic, is useful in genetic studies

Question 16

give weaknesses of using heritabiltiy

Answer 16

refers to populations, not specific individuals. doesn’t identify trait specific genes
predicts average group value more certainly than individual value

Question 17

what factor can heritability estimates depend on

Answer 17

if an environment is similar then heritability estimates will be higher since individual differences in trait cannot be explained by a environmental difference alone
if more environmental difference then a lower heritability estimate

Question 18

what are % similarities in genes for MZ and DZ twin, and siblings

Answer 18

MZ = 100%
DZ = 50%
siblings = 50%

Question 19

explain family studies relating with intelligence

Answer 19

Stanford-Binet Test & WISC-V IQ tests for children measure verbal ability, problem solving and reasoning
found MZ twins not raised together have a high correlation suggesting a high IQ heritability

Question 20

explain adoption studies on IQ

Answer 20

Schiff studied children adopted before 6 months in higher socio-economic households, found IQ of adopted child higher than that of biological sibling remaining in family home

Question 21

what impact does educational attainment

Answer 21

moderately heritable and is important correlate of many social, economic and health outcomes

Question 22

define the concept of mental age

Answer 22

individual’s level of mental ability relative to other (IQ)

Question 23

what is a chronological age also known as

Answer 23

real age

Question 24

how is an IQ score calculated?

Answer 24

(mental age/chronological age) x 100

Question 25

explain Flynn Effect (IQ)

Answer 25

IQ scores in western society rises average of 3 IQ points per decade, meaning IQ test requires restandardisation to ensure average is always 100
due to reduction in average family sizes so more parental input, educational improvement, diet improvement, increasing technological advances

Question 26

give one potential genetic component recently found to influence an IQ

Answer 26

single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPS), however can only account for 11% of variation in an educational achievement, suggesting it is nature and nurture

Question 27

why can poverty be difficult to measure

Answer 27

culture-bound. poorer countries poverty is limited access to food and water but developed countries states poverty being <60% average income

Question 28

what impact can poverty have on educational attainment

Answer 28

perpetuating cycles of inequality and deprivation, resulting in malnutrition, poorer physical cognitive and neural development

Question 29

what is sure start

Answer 29

UK 1998 - play session, parenting advice, family support, nutritional advice and speech and language therapy to focus on increasing positive behaviours via reinforcement, setting a clear expectation and asking accountability for poor behaviour

Question 30

what is the genotype-environment interaction theory?

Answer 30

proposes genotype and parent genotype influences which environments you encounter and type of experience you have
“different genotype respond to similar environmental factors differently creating individuals phenotype”

Question 31

give 3 types of gene-environment effects

Answer 31

passive: biological parents provide both genes and environment for child (decreasing with age)
evocative: temperamental characteristics of child evoke responses from other (remain constant with age)
active: children seek out environments consistent with genotypes (increases with age)

Question 32

give reading ability as an example of genotype-environment interaction

Answer 32

number of books in home is an environmental causal effect of children’s reading ability, and parents both share reading ability gene and environmental control

Question 33

give strengths of genotype-environmental theory

Answer 33

model is comprehensive and plausible as examines how both genes and environment interact producing traits and behaviour
model considers developmental effects and genetic/environmental effect is seen dynamic, not constant