PSYD13 Delkurs 1 - Evolution, genes, environment and behaviour Flashcards
Evolution (biological)?
Gradual change over time in organic life from one form into another
Natural selection?
Characteristics that increase likelihood of survival and reproduction within a particular environment will be preserved in the population and therefore become more frequent over time
Canis lupis?
The common ancestor to all domestic dog breads, i.e. the gray wolf
Mutations?
Random events and accidents in gene reproduction during the division of cells
Why is genetic mutation necessary?
It helps biological variation, i.e. help create variation within a population’s physical and behavioural characteristics
What are mendelian genetics?
Mendelian genetics is the study of how traits are inherited from the parental genes to the offspring.
What are the mendelian laws?
- The law of dominance 2. The law of segregation 3. The law of independent assortment
The law of dominance?
The principle of dominant and recessive alleles.
The law of segregation?
During the formation gametes, the alleles of the parent are segregated, so that the offspring recieves one allele of a trait from each parent
The law of independent assortment?
Genes for different traits are passed independently of one another, allowing for various combinations in offspring.
Dominant gene?
The particular characteristic that it controls will be displayed
Recessive gene?
The characteristic will not show up unless the partner gene inherited from the other parent is also recessive
Allele?
Alternative forms of a gene that produce different characteristic (is dominant or recessive). Ex: I have a green allele from my mother and a blue allele from my father.
Homozygous?
Organisms that posses the same type of allele for a trait, either two dominant or two recessive
Heterozygous?
Organisms that posses different allele for a trait, one dominant and one recessive
Genotype?
The specific and complete genetics make-up of the individual
Fenotype?
The individual’s outward observable characteristics
What does it mean that a genotype isn’t living (compared to a fenotype which lives)
By itself, the genotype is just a set of instructions or potential traits. It is static, representing the blueprint for what an organism could become. It does not have life-like qualities, such as growth, metabolism, or reproduction.
What is Phenylketonuria (PKU)?
It is a recessive gene that makes an individual not being able to metabolise the essential amino acid phenylalanine. This leads to disabilities. Fortunately, a low-protein diet can solve this.
What is Huntington’s disease (HD)?
Huntington’s disease a degenerative disorder in which sufferer experiences personality changes along with decreasing mental, memory and movement functioning. Huntington’s is based on the inheritance of a dominant gene and usually “breaks out” in the middle ages.
What is Eugenics?
It reflects the great danger of misusing the knowledge of natural selection. One can talk about positive eugenics (encourages people with “good” genetics to have more children), and negativ eugenics (discourages people with “bad” genetics to have children). The worst example of eugenics is Nazi Germany.
Adaptions?
Physical or behavioural changes that allow organisms to meet recurring environmental challenges to their survival, thereby increasing their reproductive ability.
Genes?
Functional segments of the DNA, that code for proteins
Chromosome?
A single- or double-stranded structure comprising proteins and DNA
Somatic cell?
Is any cell forming the body of an organism; they do not contain reproductive cells, i.e. = all non-sex cells.
Diploid?
The number of chromosomes carried by a cell with two complete sets of chromosomes (on from each parent) is called the diploid number of chromosomes.
Gametetes?
Sex cells (eggs and sperm)
Haploid?
The number of chromosomes carried by a gamete cell, which is half the number of chromosomes carried in a typical cell, is called the haploid number of chromosomes
Zygote?
A fertilised egg containing 46 pairs of chromosomes
Nucleotides?
Nitrogenous base, phosphate and sugar groups.
How many pairs of chromosomes do every cell in the body (except red blood cells) carry?
23 pairs
What is DNA?
DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, is the molecule that contain our genetic encoding, i.e. instructions to make proteins (=our building blocks).
What is the DNA alphabet?
A, T, G and C - they make up the DNA sequence
What is mRNA?
mRNA, or messenger Ribonucleic Acid, is a type of RNA that carries the genetic instructions from the DNA to the ribosomes (protein synthesis)
What is RNA?
RNA, or Ribonucleic Acid, is a molecule that plays various roles in the coding, decoding, regulation, and expression of genes.
What are monogenic and polygenic effects?
A monogenic effect refers to a trait or characteristic that is influenced by a single gene, whereas polygenic effect refers to when a trait or characteristic is influence by several genes, i.e. multiple genes interact with the cell.
What is polygenic transmission?
When a number of gene pairs combine their influence to create a single phenotypic trait.
Inherited behavioural adaptations?
Traits that organisms are born with that help promote their chances of survival and reproductive success.
What does “tabula rasa” mean?
= “blank slate”. How behaviorists used to view organisms.
What is ethology?
A field within biology that focuses on animal behaviour in the natural environment. They argue that, because of evolution, every species comes into the world biologically prepared to act in certain ways (=inherited behavioural adaptions)
Fixed action pattern (AP)?
An unlearned response automatically triggered by a particular stimulus
Releasing stimuli?
External stimuli that trigger fixed action patterns
Superstimulus?
An exaggerated version of a releasing stimulus that triggers a stranger response than the naturalistic model
Behavioural genetics?
Examines how heredity and environmental factors influence psychological characteristics
Degree of relatedness?
The number of genes we share with others by direct common descent
Concordance?
Co-occurance
Shared environment?
The environmental factors which certain individuals (e.g. twins) share in common (e.g. the same parents or physical home environment)
Non-shared environment?
The environmental factors that certain individuals (e.g. twins) don’t share with each other (e.g. friend group, unique individual experiences).
What is an adoption study?
People who were adopted early in life are compared on some characteristics both with the biological parents, with whom they share genetic endowment (begåvning), and with their adoptive parents, with whom they share no genes
What are twin studies?
Studies which compare trait similarities in identical and fraternal twins
Concordance rates?
Statistical expression of the probability that two individuals with shared genes will share a particular trait to the same degree
Heritability coefficient?
Estimates the extent to which the differences, or variation, in a specific phenotypic characteristic a group of people can ve attributed to their differing genes
Genotype accounts for only 50-70% of the IQ variation, and therefore genetic research provide a strong argument of 3 other environmental factors for intelligence. Which are they?
- Shared family environment 2. Environmental enrichment and deprivation 3. Educational experiences
What is the 5 factor model (the big five)?
It is a personality trait theory that believes that individual differences in personality can be accounted for by variation along 5 broad personality traits: 1. Extraversion 2. Neuroticism 3. Conscientiousness 4. Agreeableness 5. Openness to experience
Reaction range?
The range of possibilites - the upper and lower limits - that genetic code allows, i.e. an individual has a range of “potential” for example intelligence, and environment determines where in the range one lands.
Passive gene-environment correlation?
An association between the child’s genetic inheritance and the environment in which they are raised
Evocative gene-environment correlation?
Where a child’s genetically influenced behaviours evoke certain responses from others in their environment.
Active gene-environment correlation?
An association between genotype and the environments which that genotype leads someone to seek out
Knock-out procedure?
Where a function of a gene is removed, or eliminated
Knock-in procedure?
Where a new gene is inserted into an animal or embryonic stage
What is evolutionary psychology?
It is a growing discipline that seeks to explain how evolution shaped modern human behaviour
Kin selection?
An evolutionary strategy in which behaviours are selected that favour the reproductive success of an organism’s relatives even if that is at a cost to that organism’s own survival and reproduction
Reciprocal altruism?
A behaviour in an organism that reduces its fitness to survive and reproduce while increasing another organism’s fitness; undertaken with the expectation that the favour will be returned later
What are 6 examples of culturally universal characteristics?
- Infants are born with an ability to acquire any language 2. Humans newborns are able to perceive specific stimuli without any perceptual experience of them 3. Infants primitive mathematical skills 4. Humans need to belong and fear being ostracised from the group 5. Basic emotions universally recognised 6. Men are more violent than women
What is the sexual strategy theory?
A theory that shows that mating strategies and preferences reflect inherited tendencies, shaped over the ages in response to different types of adaptive problems that men and women faced.
What female preferences has been found in parts of the world with historically high levels of pathogens (disease-causing germs)?
Physical attractiveness and robustness, intelligence and social dominance (= signs of biological fitness). This also applies to men (because women more likely to give a healthy birth)
What is the competing theory against the sexual strategy theory?
The social structure theory
What is the evolutionary personality theory?
The theory looks for the origin of presumably universal personality traits in the adaptive demands of our species’ evolutionary history
Strategic pluralism?
The idea that multiple - even contradictory - behavioural strategies might be adaptive in certain environments and would therefore be maintained through natural selection - ex: shy vs brave fish
For what theory were Galápagos finches important?
Darwin’s evolutionary theory
What are the principles of evolution according David Sloan Wilson?
- Variation 2. Consequences 3. Heritage
What is the theory named Modern Synthesis?
A theory that combines the theories of Darwin and Mendel. The theory uses Mendel’s theory and tries to mathematise it.
What is a good examples that illustrates that one can’t really divide gene and environment?
Egg and uterus
What is Conditioned Taste Aversion?
Learned avoidance of a particular taste. When you eat something and then feel nauseas -> conditioned taste aversion
What are Tinbergen’s 4 questions (ethology)?
- Causation: what proximate mechanism drive the behaviour?
- Ontogeny: how does the behaviour arise in development?
- Phylogeny: what is the evolutionary history of the behaviour?
- Adaptive value: how does this behaviour affect the organism’s reproductive fitness?
Heritability index?
The heritability index is a numerical value that quantifies the proportion of variation in a trait within a population that is due to genetic differences. It ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates that genetics has no influence on the trait’s variation, and 1 means that all variation is due to genetic factors.
Genomewise association studies?
Are research studies that look at the entire genetic makeup (genome) of many people to find genetic differences associated with specific traits or diseases
What are Turkheimer 3 laws of behavioural genetics gen?
- All human behavioural traits are heritable
- The effect of being raised in the same family is smaller than the effect of the genes
- A substantial portion of the variation in complex human behavioural traits is not accounted for by the fact of genes or families
NOTE: this is kind of consensus within psychology (but not like Newton’s Laws)
