PSY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Twin Study, Heritability, Central Nervous System
Document Summary
The study of how heredity and environment affect us. Evolutionary psychology= application of principles of evolution to explain behavior and mental processes. Polygenic = modern research shows that human characteristics. Genes affect our health, personality traits, behavioral habits, sexual orientation, psychology disorders. Malnourished children may not reach full potential genetic height or intelligence. Identical twins: monozygotic, 1 egg + 1 sperm that splits, same exact dna. Fraternal twins: dizygotic, 2 eggs + 2 sperms, no extra similarities (same as two non-twin siblings) Twin studies: compare both identical and fraternal twins, separate at birth and raised separately, stayed together in one home. Twins raised by birth parents share same environment. Heritability = the % of variation in a population attributable to heredity. Natural selection= particular genetic trait gives an organism a reproductive advantage. Glial cells: provides structure, nutrition, and other support to neurons. Nerve impulses moves 10x faster through axons with myelin sheath (coating around the axon)
