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evolution, genes, environment and behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

what is behavioural genetics?

A

a field of psychological science dedicated to investigating how genes and the environmental factors interact during the course of development so as to affect behaviour

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2
Q

what is evolutionary psychology?

A

a field of psychological science that investigates the evolutionary origins of various psychological traits

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3
Q

what is evolution?

A

the gradual changed over time in organic life from one form into another

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4
Q

what is natural selection?

A

characteristics that increase the likelihood of survival and reproduction within a particular environment will be preserved in the population and therefore become more frequent over time

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5
Q

what are the three factors that natural selection is based off?

A
  1. biological variation
  2. high reproduction rates and the fact that not all members of the population survive
  3. competition over limited resources
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6
Q

what are mutations?

A

random events and accidents in gene reproduction during the division of cells

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7
Q

what is a dominant gene?

A

a particular characteristic that it controls will be displayed

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8
Q

what is a recessive gene?

A

the characteristic will not show up unless the partner gene inherited from the other parent is also recessive

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9
Q

what plant did Mendel use to study genetics?

A

the pea plant

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10
Q

what is an allele?

A

alternative forms of a gene that produce a different characteristic

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11
Q

what is homozygous?

A

organisms that possess the same type of allele for a trait, either two dominant or two recessive

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12
Q

what is heterozygous?

A

organisms that possess different alleles for a trait, one dominant and one recessive

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13
Q

what is a genotype?

A

the specific and complete genetic make-up of the individual

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14
Q

what is a phenotype?

A

the individuals outward observable characteristics

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15
Q

what are genes?

A

functional segments of the long molecule DNA that code for specific proteins

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16
Q

what is a chromosome?

A

a single or double stranded structure comprised of proteins and DNA

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17
Q

what is a somatic cell?

A

any cell forming the body of an organism. they do not contain reproductive cells

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18
Q

what is a diploid cell?

A

a cell consisting of two sets of chromosomes (2N)

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19
Q

what is a gamete?

A

sex cells (egg and sperm)

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20
Q

what is a haploid cell?

A

a cell with half the number of chromosomes (found in a gamete)

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21
Q

what is a zygote?

A

a fertilised egg containing 46 chromosomes

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22
Q

how many amino acids are there? and thus, how many types of protein are there?

A

20

20^100

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23
Q

what are the four nitrogenous bases in DNA?

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A

adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine

24
Q

what are the base pairing rules in DNA?

25
what is a codon?
a non-overlapping triplet sequence of nucleotides that each code for one amino acid
26
what is a nucleotide?
a nitrogenous base, a phosphate and a sugar (ribose)
27
what is polygenic transmission?
when a number of gene pairs combine their influences to create a single phenotypic trait
28
what are inherited behavioural adaptations?
traits that organisms are born with that help to promote their chances of survival and reproductive success
29
what is a fixed action pattern?
an unlearned response triggered automatically to a particular stimulus
30
what is a releasing stimuli?
external stimuli that trigger fixed action patterns
31
what is a superstimulus?
an exaggerated version of a releasing stimulus that triggers a stronger response than the naturalistic model
32
what is a shared environment?
the people who read in these experience have many of their features in common
33
what is an unshared environment?
experiences that are unique to us
34
what is the degree of relatedness?
the number of genes we share with others by direct common descent
35
what is concordance?
rates of co-occurence
36
what is an adoption study?
people who are adopted early in life are compared on some characteristics both with their biological parents with whom they share their genetics and with their adoptive parents, with whom they share no genes
37
what is a twin study?
comparing of a trait between identical and fraternal twins
38
what are concordance rates?
statistical expression of the probability that two individuals with shared genes will share a particular trait to the same degree
39
what is a heritability coefficient?
estimates the extent to which the differences, or variation, in a specific phenotypic characteristic within a group of people can be attributed to their differing genes it is a number between 0 and 1
40
what is the reaction range?
the range of possibilities, the upper and lower limits, that the genetic code allows
41
what is an evocative influence?
a Childs genetically influenced behaviours may evoke certain responses from others
42
what are epigenetics?
study of changes in gene expression due to environmental factors and independent of the DNA
43
what is knock-out procedure?
where a function of a gene is removed, or eliminated
44
what is knock-in procedure?
where a new gene is inserted into an animal at embryonic stage
45
what are adaptations?
physical or behavioural changes that allow organisms to meet recurring environmental challenges to their survival, thereby increasing their reproductive ability
46
what is kin selection?
an evolutionary strategy in which behaviours are selected which favour the reproductive success of an organisms relative even if hat is at a cost to that organisms own survival and reproduction
47
what is reciprocal altruism?
a behaviour in which an organism reduces its fitness to survive and reproduce while increasing another organisms fitness, undertaken with the expectation that the favour will later be returned
48
what is the sexual strategies theory of mate preferences?
mating strategies and preferences reflect inherited tendencies, shaped over the ages in response to different types of adaptive problems that men and women have faced
49
what is social structure theory?
men and women display different mating preferences not because nature impels them to do so, but because society guides them into different social roles
50
what is evolutionary personality theory?
looks for the origin of presumably universal personality traits in the adaptive demands of our species' evolutionary history
51
what is strategic pluralism?
the idea that multiple, even contradictory, behavioural strategies might be adaptive in certain environments and would therefore be maintained through natural selection
52
as it is hard to say that genes are a determinant of behaviour. what are genes most likely to provide?
a predisposition towards a behaviour
53
what are the two ways in which the environment shapes behaviour?
personal adaptation = results from our past interactions with our immediate environment species adaptation = influence of the environment through natural selection
54
what are the three ways that genotype can influence environment?
1) influence aspects of parent-produced environment = parents effect the environment you're raised in 2) influence responses evoked from others 3) influence self-selection of compatible environments
55
what is evolutionary noise?
some characteristics that have no survival advantage randomly evolve over time
56
what are the weaknesses of evolutionary psychology?
- circular reasoning - survival of the fittest not the strongest - does evolution really have a plan - genetic determinism

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