PY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Heritability, Twin Study, Gene Expression
7 Sep 2016
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Define genes, and explain how they may influence behavior. Explain how environmental factors, including experience, influence genetic expression. Debate within psychology that is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited (i. e. genetic) or acquired (i. e. learned) characteristics. The genome is the master blueprint for making an entire organism. Genes: the units of heredity that help determine the characteristics of an organism. Gene expression: whether a particular gene is turned on or off. Polygenic trait: a trait that is influenced by many genes. Genotype: the genetic constitution of an organism, which is determined at the moment of conception. Phenotype: observable physical characteristics, which result from both genetic and environmental influences: genetics (nature) and environment (nurture) both influence phenotype. Heritability: a statistical estimate of the extent to which variation in a trait within a population is due to genetics: heritability refers to populations, not to individuals.
