PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Behavioural Genetics, Parental Investment, Sexual Reproduction

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

Questions are explained through ultimate explanations at the evolutionary level i. e. what function does this behaviour have in promoting survival and fitness. Proximal explanations involve immediate causes and mechanisms of behaviour. Behaviour is viewed as arising from 2 possible origins: nativism, from the genes (you were born with it, empiricism, from the environment (gained through experience) Genes affect the environment, and the environment affects gene expression: the two factors interact at every level. Behavioural genetics: the study of genetic influences on behaviour. The genetic material of the male and female combine through a union of sperm and egg: genetic material is organized into chromosomes that are in the nucleus of every cell. Chromosomes come in pairs (1/2 dad;1/2 mom: 22 are autosomes; the 23rd is the sex cell. Sperm and egg cells are produced through meiosis. Everything is controlled by protein: genes can be defined as regions of chromosomes that encode particular proteins.