PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Adaptationism, Inclusive Fitness, Bluegill

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

Document Summary

Ultimate causes explanations at the evolutionary level. Proximate factors immediate causes of a mechanism/behaviour. Essentially, ultimate = survival, proximate = environmental/whats in your surroundings. Behaviour has two possible origins: nativism or empiricism. Nativism dictates that behaviour is innate and inherited from your genes, whilst empiricism argues that behaviour is acquired and inherited through our surroundings. In nativism, we are perceived as pre programmed beings, while empiricism argues that we are blank slates. Psychologists view the nature vs. nurture categorization as a false dichotomy, because the two interact closely with one another. The study of genetic influences on behaviour is known as behavioural genetics. Chromosomes occur in pairs, with 22 autosomal pairs and one pair of sex chromosomes. Sperm and egg cells are produced through meiosis, which results in each cell containing 23 individual chromosomes. When joined together, the sperm and egg cells have a collective 46 chromosomes, which are then divided into 23 pair.