Chapter 17 Flashcards
Genetic Determinism
The belief that genes alone determine physical and behavioral traits, often neglecting environmental and cultural influences.
Biopolitics of Heredity
The intersection of biology and politics, where societal and political contexts influence interpretations and applications of genetic information.
Human Genome Project
An international scientific initiative aimed at mapping and understanding all the genes of the human species.
Epigenetics
The study of heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the underlying DNA sequence, often influenced by environmental factors.
Reductionism
An approach that simplifies complex phenomena by reducing them to their constituent parts, potentially overlooking the interactions between those parts.
Adaptationism
The assumption that all traits are adaptive and have evolved through natural selection, sometimes ignoring other evolutionary processes.
Race as a Social Construct
The concept that race is not a biologically valid classification but rather a social and cultural construct without a consistent genetic basis.
Eugenics
A movement aimed at improving the genetic composition of humans through selective breeding, often associated with unethical practices and policies.
Polygenic Traits
Traits influenced by multiple genes, often resulting in a continuous range of phenotypes, such as height or skin color.
Phenotype
The observable physical and physiological traits of an organism, resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.
Genotype
The genetic makeup of an organism; the set of genes it carries.
Heritability
A measure of how much of the variation in a trait within a population is due to genetic differences among individuals.
Social Darwinism
A misapplication of Darwinian principles to justify social inequalities, suggesting that certain groups are naturally superior to others.
Developmental Systems Theory
A perspective emphasizing the complex interactions between genetic, environmental, and developmental factors in shaping organisms.
