PSYC 102: Chapter 2 Flashcards
Culture
Materials and symbolic tools that accumulate through time, are passed on through social processes and provide resources for the developing child
Material tools
Physical objects
- Focus on physical objects or on observable patterns of behavior
E.g.: Family routines & social practices
Symbolic tools
Abstract knowledge, beliefs, & values
- Focus on abstract knowledge, beliefs, and values affecting the development
Mediation
The process through which tools organize children’s activities and ways of relating to their environments
Genotype
Individual’s exact set of inherited genes
Phenotype (photography)
Individual’s observable characteristics that result from the interaction of genotype w/ environment
Sex Determination
Sex is determined by the chromosome of the 23rd pair
Female(XX) Males(XY)
Polygenic inheritance
Refers to the contribution of a variety of genes— sometimes very many— to a particular trait
Mutations
An error in the process of gene replication that results in a change in the molecular structure of the DNA
Heritability
Amount of phenotypic variation of a trait in a given population that is due to genetic differences
Estimated of heritability is assessed through several types of kinship studies
- Family Study
- Twin Study
- Adoption Study
Niche Construction
How behaviors, activities, and choices of individuals actively shape and modify the environment in which they live
Co-construction
To shaping of environments through interactions btw. children and their caregivers, siblings, neighbors, and friends
Ecological Inheritance
Environmental modifications, as a result of niche construction, that affect the development of offspring and descendants
Coevolution
The combined process that emerges from interaction of biological evolution and cultural evolution
Baldwin effect
- The role culture plays in determining which phenotypes are adaptive
- More effective users of culture are more successful in passing on genes to succeeding generations
