PSYC 2740 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Heritability, Heredity, Chromosome

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2740
• Professor: Alexis Arbuthnott

Document Summary

Genome-refers to the complete set of genes an organism possesses. The human genome contains between 20,000 and 30,000 genes. All of theses genes are on 23 pairs of chromosomes each person gets one set of each pair of chromosomes from their mother and one set from and from their father. Humans are said to have a similar number of genes as mice do, but the manner in which genes are decoded and turned into protein are much more complex. Genetic junk-parts of dna that scientist believed that were functionless but parts have an impact on human potential like physical size and personality and they are now called pseudogenes and riboswitches. There is a great debate to what degree genetics influence personality. People also worry that if scientist trace personality traits to a genetic component that such findings might lead to pessimism about the possibilities for change.