PSYCH 1X03 Study Guide - Assistive Technology, Dunlin, Drosophila Melanogaster
Document Summary
The biological sciences, including psychology have a shared agenda: their goal its to elucidate the adaptive designs of living things. Adaptation = biological traits, or characteristics, that help an individual survive and reporduce in its habitat. Adaptations perform a specific function that make an organism better suited to its environment. Examples: eyes enable you to recognize and respond effectively to things around you by detecting and analyzing the reflected light. Raccoons primarily nocturnal and have good night vision, their front paws are so sensitive they can see with them through touch as they scavenge for food. Some bat species have evolved yet another adaptation that enables them to nagivate through their environment at night (echolocation) *note: adaptations are always for something; they serve identifiable functions in the life of an indvidual. Biological traits aren"t semply morphological; perceptual processes and behaviours are also biological adaptations. These mental proceesses refer to tasks that the mind needs to accomplish to do its jobb.
