AP Psychology
Unit 5 – Behavior Genetics: Guide to your study
Behavior Genetics Terms:
Behavior genetics
Environment
Chromosomes
DNA
Genes
Genome
Identical twins
Fraternal twins
Temperament
Heritability
Interaction
Molecular genetics
Evolutionary psychology
Natural selection
Mutation
Gender
Culture
Norm
Personal space
Individualism
Collectivism
Aggression
X chromosome
Y chromosome
PKU
Trisomy-21
Turner’s Syndrome
Klinefelter’s Syndrome
Albinism
Blue eyes
Testosterone
Role
Gender role
Gender identity
Gender typing
Social learning theory
Natural selection
Attraction studies
Adoption studies
Twin studies
Terms from previous units:
Absolute threshold
Acetylcholine
All-or-nothing response
Axon
Binocular vision
Bipolar cells
Blind spot
Brain scans
Causation
Name: ___________________________
Cerebral cortex
Measures of central tendency
Circadian rhythm
Monocular vision
Cones
Motion parallax
Confounding variable
Motor neurons
Control group
Myelin sheath
Convergence
Norepinephrine
Corpus callosum
Occipital lobe
Opponent-process theory of
vision
Correlation
correlation coefficients
Depressant
Orexin
Parasympathetic nervous
system
Depth perception
Parietal lobe
Dichotic listening
Phi phenomenon
Difference threshold
Pituitary gland
Dopamine
p-score or p-value
Double blind procedure
Relative size
Endorphins
REM
Ethics
Reticular formation
Experimental group
Retinal disparity
Experimenter bias
Retinal proteins
Extraneous variable
Rods
Fovea
Semicircular canals
Frontal lobe
Sensory neurons
GABA
Serotonin
Ganglion cells
Signal detection theory
Sleep cycle progressions
(REM vs. Stage 4)
Dependent variable
Gate-control theory
Gestalt
Glutamate
Gustatory receptors
Hallucinogen
Hippocampus
Hypnosis
Hypnotic suggestion
Hypothalamus
Independent variable
JND
Language centers
Lens
Linear perspective
Longitudinal studies
Sound localization
Statistical significance
Stimulant
Stroboscopic movement
Sympathetic nervous system
Synapse
Temporal lobe
Texture gradient
Thalamus
Tolerance
Weber’s Law
Withdrawal
Chapter Review: Nature, Nurture and Human Diversity
1. What are genes, and how do behavior geneticists explain
our individual differences?
2. What is heritability and how does it relate to individuals
and groups?
3. What is the promise of molecular genetics research?
4. How do evolutionary psychologists use natural selection
to explain behavior tendencies?
5. How might an evolutionary psychologist explain gender
differences in mating preferences?
6. What are the key criticisms in evolutionary psychology?
7. To what extent are our lives shaped by early stimulation,
by parents, and by peers?
8. How do cultural norms affect our behavior?
9. How do individualist and collectivist cultural influences
affect people?
10. What are some ways in which males and females tend to
be alike and to differ?
11. How do nature and nurture together form gender?
4.
The extend to which varation among members of a
group can be attributed to genes is called
a. Fraternal genetics
b. Maternal genetics
c. Behavior genetics
d. Interaction
e. Heritability
5.
Your genetic code
a. Exists only in the cells of the nervous
system
b. Disappears gradually as the developmental
processes it governs are completed
c. Is influenced by early environmental
experiences
d. Exists in its entirety in every cell of your
body
e. Exists only in the cells of the reproductive
system
6.
When a mother’s egg and the father’s sperm unite,
each contributes
a. 23 chromosomes
b. 1 chromosome pair
c. 23 chromosome pairs
d. 30,000 chromosome pairs
e. 30,000 chromosomes
7.
Heritability refers to the percentage of
a. Group variation in a trait that can be
explained by the environment
b. Traits shared by identical twins
c. Traits shared by fraternal twins
d. Traits shared by adopted children and their
birth parents
e. Group variation in a trait that can be
explained by genetics
8.
The study of specific genes and teams of genes that
influence behavior is called
a. Molecular genetics
b. Evolutionary psychology
c. Behavior genetics
d. Heritability
e. Natural selection
9.
The interplay of environment and heredity is called
a. Heritability
b. Mutation
c. Interaction
d. Molecular genetics
e. Behavior genetics
Practice Questions on Behavior Genetics
1.
2.
3.
One major criticism of the evolutionary perspective
in psychology is that
a. It analyzes after the fact using hindsight
b. It attempts to extend a biological theory
into a psychological realm
c. There is very little evidence to support it
d. It has not been around long enough to
stand the test of time
e. It seems to apply in certain cultures but not
in others
Evolutionary psychologists seek to understand how
traits and behavioral tendencies have been shaped
by
a. Natural selection
b. Genes
c. Prenatal nutrition
d. DNA
e. Chromosomes
Which of the following is not one of the main
criticisms of the evolutionary psychology
explanation of human sexuality?
a. This perspective starts with an effect and
works backward to propose an explanation
b. This perspective discounts important
genetic influences
c. Unethical and immoral men could use
such explanations to rationalize their
behavior toward women
d. This explanation overlooks the effects of
cultural expectations and socialization
e. This explanation does not consider the
importance of individual choices in any
given situation