PS102 Midterm: Test #2 psych.docx

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10 Dec 2013
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Evolutionary psychology: a field of psychology emphasizing evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities in cognition, development, emotion, social practices, and other areas of behavior. Behavioral genetics: an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with the genetics bases of individual differences in behavior and personality. Genes: the functional units of heredity; they are composed of dna and specify the structure of proteins. Chromosomes: within every cell, rod-shaped structures that carry the genes. Dna (deoxyribonucleic acid): the chromosomal molecule that transfers genetic characteristics by way of coded instructions for the structure of proteins. Genome: the full set of genes in each cell of an organism. Each human chromosome contains thousands of genes, each with a fixed location. Many genes contribute directly to a particular trait, but others work indirectly by switching other genes on or off throughout a person"s life. 4 basic chemical elements of dna: adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine.