GENETICS AND EVOLUTION

Question 1

Nature-Nurture Question

Answer 1

Whether behaviour originated in our genetic makeup or our own hard work

Question 2

Behavioural Genetics

Answer 2

Interdisciplinary field concerned with how genes and the environment influence individual behaviour and traits including brain function

Question 3

Adoption study

Answer 3

When children are put up for adoption the parents who give birth to them are no longer the parents who raise them

Question 4

Monozygotic twins

Answer 4

Identical twins who share the same DNA

Question 5

Dizygotic twins

Answer 5

Fraternal twins who share 50% of the same DNA

Question 6

Quantitative genetics

Answer 6

The scientific discipline in which similarities among individuals are analyzed based on how biologically related they are

Question 7

Heritability coefficient

Answer 7

Can range from zero to one, and is meant to provide a single measure of genetics’ influence on a trait

Question 8

Gene-environment interaction

Answer 8

For many traits, genetic differences affect behaviour under some environmental circumstances but not others

Question 9

Gene-selection theory

Answer 9

Occurs through the desire for gene replication

Question 10

Sexual strategies theory

Answer 10

Describes the psychology of human mating strategies and the ways in which women and men differ in those strategies

Question 11

Error management theory

Answer 11

Describes the evolution of biases in the way we think about everything - predicts that whenever uncertain situations present us with a safer versus more dangerous decision, we will psychologically adapt to prefer choices that minimize the cost of errors

Question 12

Evolution

Answer 12

Certain traits and behaviours developing over time because they are advantages to our survival

Question 13

Natural selection

Answer 13

Reproductive success not survival success

Question 14

Adaptations

Answer 14

Traits and behaviours that evolved over time to increase our reproductive success

Question 15

Survival adaptations

Answer 15

Mechanisms that helped our ancestors handle the “hostile forces of nature” like to survive hot temperatures we developed sweat glands to cool ourselves

Question 16

Reproduction adaptations

Answer 16

Help us compete for mates, based on sexual selection theory

Question 17

Intrasexual competition

Answer 17

Occurs when members of one sex compete against each other and the winner gets to mate with a member of the opposite sex. This is passed on with greater frequency due to their association with greater mating success

Question 18

Intersexual selection

Answer 18

Members of one sex are attracted to certain qualities in mates - those desired qualities get passed on in greater numbers, simply because their precessors mate more often

Question 19

Genes

Answer 19

The basic units of heredity or the information that is passed along in DNA that tells the cells and molecules how to build the organism and how that organism should behave.

Question 20

Fitness

Answer 20

Genes can influence the odds for survival and reproduction of the organism they are in. One way of boosting genes’ replicative success

Question 21

Inclusive fitness

Answer 21

Genes can influence the organism to help other organisms who also likely contain those genes. Another way of boosting gene’s replicative success

Question 22

Psychological adaptations

Answer 22

Mechanisms of the mind that have evolved to solve specific problems of survival or reproduction

Question 23

Physiological adaptations

Answer 23

Adaptations that occur in the body as a consequence of one’s environment

Question 24

Interactionist framework

Answer 24

A theory that takes into account multiple factors when determining the outcome

Question 25

Sexual Strategies Theory

Answer 25

A psychological theory that proposes that we have evolved a list of different mating strategies both short-term and long-term, that vary depending on culture, social context, parental influence and personal mate value - differences in parental investment have an enormous impact on sexual strategies

Question 26

Cost asymmetrics

Answer 26

Low cost but great reward / low reward but high cost

Question 27

Visual descent illusion

Answer 27

People will overestimate the distance when looking down from a height (compared to up)

Question 28

Auditory looming bias

Answer 28

People overestimate how close objects are when the sound is moving toward them compared to when it is moving away from them

Question 29

Acetylation

Answer 29

Increased gene expression

Question 30

Deacetylation

Answer 30

Decreased gene expression

Question 31

Epigentics

Answer 31

The study of changes in gene expression and how the environment affects expression of our genes, but not the underlying genes themselves

Question 32

Behavioural genomics

Answer 32

The study of how DNA and specific genes are related to behaviour

Question 33

Genotype

Answer 33

Refers to genetics and the gene

Question 34

Phenotype

Answer 34

Refers to the expression of that gene

Question 35

Dominant traits

Answer 35

If you have one copy of this version, you will have the trait (B,b) or (B,B)

Question 36

Recessive traits

Answer 36

You need both copies of this version to have the trait (b,b)

Question 37

DNA methylation

Answer 37

Changes that generally reduce expression of a gene

Question 38

Histone modification

Answer 38

Changes that can either increase or decrease expression of a gene

Question 39

Heritability

Answer 39

How much of the variation in a particular trait is attributable to variation in genetics

Question 40

Molecular genetics

Answer 40

The study of which genes are associated with which personality traits

Question 41

Physiological adaptations

Answer 41

Broad and generally increase ability to deal with environment

Question 42

Psychological adaptations

Answer 42

Specific and solve specific problems

Question 43

Ekman's Basic Emotions

Answer 43

Nearly universally recognized - anger, fear, disgust, shock, happiness, sadness

Question 44

Kin selection

Answer 44

Altruism because it would increase the survival of relatives - only help them because we're related

Question 45

Reciprocal altruism

Answer 45

If I do you a favour, maybe they'll help me back eventually