Heredity and the
environment
Students should be able to:
Define and use correctly the terms heredity, environment and genes.
Explain the impact of heredity and environment on us
Heredity
 Heredity-
the process by which
characteristics are given from a
parent to their child through the
genes.
 Heredity
-The natural process by
which parents pass on to their
children through their genes the
characteristics that make them
related.
Environment
Environment
- the conditions that
surround someone or something :
the conditions and influences that
affect the growth, health,
progress, etc.
Environment – the world around
you
Identity
– the way
you think about
yourself, the way
the world sees
you and the
characteristics
that define you.
Personal
qualities – the
characteristics or traits that
make you who you are.
Characteristics-
a feature or quality
that others can use to define
someone or something.
Ethics
–What is morally right and
wrong .
Individuality – the qualities that
make a person different from
others.
Personality
– the type of person you
are, shown by the way you behave,
act, feel, think.
Unique
– the only one of its kind; unlike
any other.
2 types of characteristics
Outside
of the body example size
and shape, your appearance and
physical abilities.
Inside of the body example ideas,
your thoughts, interests, hope
and fears.
To recognize people unique personality
we need to notice their:
1.
2.
3.
Actions – what kinds of things
they do
Attitudes – how they approach
their actions, and how they view
themselves and others
Behaviours- patterns in what
they do and how they do it.
Physical appearance
 Heredity
determines physical traits such as
eye colour or blood type.
 Environment
can affect the physical
appearance for example a light- skinned
person who live in a sunny environment
may develop freckles from the sun or a
person might be dark because they are
exposed to the sun.
Personality
 The
social environment such as family,
neighbors, peers, siblings, teachers,
church family
 Their personality can also be
influenced by moving to a new country
or school, the loss of parent, their
parents may be divorced or other
family conflict.
Behaviour
 Some
behaviours are natural and other
are learnt
 For example a new born baby knows
how to suckle milk
 The baby learn the language spoken by
the people in their environment.
Attitude and beliefs
 The
way you approach people and
events in your life.
 Some behaviours may be optimistic
and expect things to go well .
 Some behaviours may be pessimistic
and expect things to go bad.
 Attitudes and beliefs come from your
environment.