Week 3 - Nature, Nurture and Gender Development Flashcards
(71 cards)
Genes
Basic units of hereditary passed down from parents to offspring. Consists of specific DNA sequences that carry instructions for offspring’s characteristics.
Environmental Factors
Factors that influence how genes get expressed, as psychological or physical traits.
Gene-by-Environment Interaction
Genetic tendency under certain environmental circumstances.
Gene-by-Environment Interaction Types
Passive: Parents creating certain environments that can’t be separated from their genetic makeup.
Evocative: A person’s genetic makeup invokes certain treatment from others.
Active: A person’s genetics influence them to choose certain environments.
Impact of Nurture on Nature
Nurture (environment) can influence nature (biological factors).
Diathesis-Stress Model
People with a genetic predisposition for a disorder, only experience the disorder under certain stressful circumstances.
Epigenetics
Study of how behaviours or environment influence whether a gene gets expressed.
Epigenetic changes are reversible, does not change DNA sequence just how your body reads the sequence.
Epigenetic Marks
Molecular structures that sit on genes and instruct them to activate or deactivate.
Sex Differentiation
Process of an embryo transforming into individuals with male, female or intersex genitalia.
Biological Sex
Product of genes, chromosomes, hormones, internal sex organs and external genitalia.
Usually align to create a typical male or female individual.
Mini Puberty
A period of about 6 months after birth when a female’s estrogen & testosterone levels and a male’s testosterone levels rise.
Differences of Sex Development (DSDs)
When a person’s sex development is different to others.
Rare conditions involving genes, hormones, and reproductive organs.
Optimal Sex
Binary sex that doctors and parents perceive as the best option for a newborn whose genitalia seem atypical at birth.
Optimal Sex Policy
Policy developed by (Money et al., 1975) to change intersex newborns to fit into into a sex binary through surgery, and hormone treatments.
Professionals today recommend to wait until the child is old enough to consent.
Gender Dysphoria
Distress arising from a mismatch between assigned sex at birth and own sense of gender.
Estimate Genetic Heritability
Looks at the relative roles of biology vs. socialization in gender identity.
Gender Confirmation Procedures
Sought by transgender
individuals to bring their physical bodies into alignment with their psychological identities.
Surgery, hormone treatments, therapy (speech).
Sex Differences in Brain Structures
Most individuals have a “unique mosaic” of female and male-typical traits patterns in brain structure.
Brain differences may arise prenatally and continue to evolve.
Plasticity/Neuroplasticity
Occurs mainly during adolescence, brain’s ability to reorganize and adapt physically to life experiences and environmental factors.
Dynamic Systems Theory (DST)
Sex differences in body, brain and behaviour are little at birth but grow larger through interaction with caregivers and gender expectations.
Neurosexism
When people interpret findings from neuroscience research that reinforce gender stereotypes, without valid supporting evidence.
Neuroethics
Prompts neuroscientists to reflect on their perspective and research methods, and to consider implications of their findings.
Evolutionary Theory of Sex Differences
Theory that states sex differences occurred due to reproductive problems in the past, what was done to maximize survival and reproduction.
Sexual Selection
Allows specific traits to influence one’s change of reproduction and passing on its genes.
Two types: Intrasexual and Intersexual