PSYC 102 [BPP]

• Physiological Explanations


  Explanations of a person's physiology functions and how those functions affect a person's behavior
• Ontogenetic


  Describes how behavior develops over a lifetime. This includes the genes, nutrition, and experiences of a person
• Evolutionary


  Focuses upon the genetic history of a behavior
• Functional


  Describes why a structure or behavior evolved as it did
• Genes


  Come in pairs because they are aligned along chromosomes (strands of genes) that also come in pairs
• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)


  A double-stranded chemical that contains genetic information
• RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)


  A single stranded chemical that can serve as a model for the synthesis of proteins
• Homozygous


  A person has an identical pair of genes on two chromosomes
• Heterozygous


  A person has an unmatched pair of genes on two chromosomes
• Dominant Genes


  Show a strong effect in either the homozygous or heterozygous condition
• Recessive Genes


  Show its effects only in the homozygous condition
• Types of Genes


  • Sex-limited
  • Sex-linked
  • Autosomal
• Mutation


  Change in a single gene that is rare, random, and independent of the needs of the organism
• Recombination


  New combination of genes in the offspring that yield characteristics not found in parents
• Epigenetics


  The study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. It deals with changes in gene expression
• Histones


  A family of basic proteins that associate with DNA in the nucleus and help condense it into chromatin, they are alkaline (basic PH) proteins, and their positive charges allow them to associate with DNA
• Heredity

  The mechanism used to pass the message of inheritance from one generation to the next
• Hereditability


  A measure of how well differences in people's genes account for differences in their traits
• Monozygotic (MZ) Twins


  Conceived when a single egg fertilized by a single sperm splits into two after fertilization
• Dizygotic (DZ) Twins


  Conceived when two eggs are fertilized by two different sperms
• Phenylketonuria (PKU)


  An inherited disorder that increases the levels of a substance called phenylalanine in the blood
• Phenylalanine


  A building block of proteins that is obtained through the diet (amino acids)
• A gene produces a protein that interacts with the rest of body chemistry and with the environment
• A gene could influence your behavior even without being expressed in your brain
• Genes


  Via their influences on morphology and physiology, create a framework within which the environment acts to shape the behavior of an individual animal. Genes also create the scaffold for learning, memory, and cognition, remarkable mechanisms that allow animals to acquire and store information about their environment for use in shaping their behavior
• Environment


  Can affect morphological and physiological development; in turn behavior develops because of that animal's shape and internal workings
• The biological purpose of life is to procreate
• We have evolved to behave in ways that are going to help our survival
• Survival = procreation
• Survival of the fittest = survival of the best adapted to procreate
• To give an evolutionary explanation of a behavior, you must explain how that behavior helps us to survive and/ or procreate
• Behavior helps procreation. Genes passed on. Biology that helps behavior also passed on. Offspring show same behavior
• Central Nervous System


  Brain and spinal cord. Integration and control center
• Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

  Cranial nerves and spinal nerves. Communication lines between the CNS and the rest of the body
• Sensory (afferent) division


  Somatic and visceral sensory nerve fibers. Conducts impulses from receptors to the CNS
• Motor (efferent) division

  Motor nerve fibers. Conducts impulses from the CNS to the effectors (muscles and glands)
• Sympathetic division


  Mobilizes body systems during activity (fight or flight)
• Parasympathetic division

  Conserves energy. Promotes "housekeeping" functions during rest. Resting and digesting
• Somatic motor (voluntary)


  Cardiac muscles, smooth muscles, and glands
• Visceral muscles (involuntary)


  Skeletal muscles