LING 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Heritability, Twin
Document Summary
Eciprocal altruism (a minor act of altruism for someone may lead them to provide a significant benefit in the future) Represents a favour that can be cashed in when the need. Increases the reproductive success of relatives is high problems with altruism: Its perceived closeness that determines helping (not genetic relatedness) Adopted can get same as biological child. The genetic benefit of self-sacrifice is often unclear. The transmission of traits from parents to offspring: Heritability: proportion of differences in a trait caused by genetic differences. Many physical traits are highly heritable (ex: height, hair colour, shoe size) Psychological traits are only moderately heritable (ex: musical ability, intelligence, eating habits) Estimates of heritability apply only to people living in a specific environment. Estimates of heritability apply not to individuals, but to groups of people. Even highly heritable traits can be heavily influenced by the environment (physical traits)