PSYC 2130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Human Events, Heredity, Phenotype
20 Oct 2014
School
Department
Course
Professor
CHAPTER 8 & 9 – Proximate and Evolutionary Mechanisms
in Personality Development
LECTURE 7
Methods in Behaviour Genetics
- Psychology rejected research and data from genetics; some aspects of our character are under genetic
control
- Assumption: if something has genetic basis (trait) then somehow that trait is rendered
immutable/unchangeable
oFlies in the face of our egalitarian ideology
- David Buss: universal cross-cultural mate selection processes
oFemales Want:
Stability-Responsible
$$/IQ
Fathering
Loyalty
Humour
Communication
Intimacy
oMales Want:
Loyalty
Youth
Attractiveness
Intelligence
Nurturing
Health
Heredity Environment
Selective Breeding varies constant
Inbreeding constant varies
-Selective Breeding
oWe can selectively, breed animals …..
oEx/ mouse A comes from long lineage from aggressive males/females; mouse B breed to be
passive/non-aggressive that came from long lineage of non-aggressive males/females
Raise them in identical environmental conditions (observe later than mouse A exceeds
mouse B in aggression
-Inbreeding
-Analogous “experiments” with humans
Heritability of Personality Traits
- Degree in which heredity and environment determines genetic factors
- Naturally occurring human events that are similar to those in the lab
- Heritability: defined statistically as the proportion of phenotypic variance that is accounted for genotypic
variance
oHow much of the correspondence between 2 people is based on similar heredity
oHeritability =
h2
=
Vp
/
Vg
Phenotype: observable characteristics of manifested animal or psychological traits
Genotype: your individual genetic blueprint
Relationship between phenotype/genotype but not identical, correspondence only based on
heritability
oH = r. identical twins reared apart
If environments have no association then, coefficient of H = r. ID reared apart is in good
use
Document Summary
Psychology rejected research and data from genetics; some aspects of our character are under genetic. Chapter 8 & 9 proximate and evolutionary mechanisms in personality development. Assumption: if something has genetic basis (trait) then somehow that trait is rendered immutable/unchangeable: flies in the face of our egalitarian ideology. David buss: universal cross-cultural mate selection processes: females want: Selective breeding: we can selectively, breed animals . , ex/ mouse a comes from long lineage from aggressive males/females; mouse b breed to be passive/non-aggressive that came from long lineage of non-aggressive males/females. Raise them in identical environmental conditions (observe later than mouse a exceeds mouse b in aggression. Degree in which heredity and environment determines genetic factors. Naturally occurring human events that are similar to those in the lab. Heritability: defined statistically as the proportion of phenotypic variance that is accounted for genotypic variance: how much of the correspondence between 2 people is based on similar heredity, heritability = h2 = v p.
