PSY 120 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Pituitary Gland, Melatonin, Peripheral Nervous System
Document Summary
The previous two fields of study: nativists: genes and inborn characteristics (nature, empiricists: learning and experience (nurture) Current areas of study: evolutionary psychology: evolutionary mechanisms that may help explain human commonalities, behavioural genetics: genetic bases of individual differences in behaviour and personality. Consists of 4 chemical elements: adenine (a), cytosine (c), thymine (t), and. Guanine (g: genome: 25,000 genes, full set of genes in each cell of an organism (except sperm and egg) Linkage studies: looking for patterns of inheritance of genetic markers in large families in which a particular condition is common. Huntington"s disease: genetic marker: segment of dna that varies among individuals, has a known location on a chromosome, and can function as a genetic landmark for a gene involved in a physical or mental condition. Locating a gene doesn"t mean you automatically know its function: many human traits are influenced by more than one gene. Evolution: changes in gene frequency within a population over many generations.
