Chapter 3

Biological Beginnings

Biological Beginnings The Evolutionary Perspective Genetic Foundations Reproduction Challenges and Choices Heredity Environment Interaction Black Hawk College 2

The Evolutionary Perspective Natural Selection and Adaptive Behavior Black Hawk College Evolutionary Psychology 3

Natural Selection

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Natural selection is the evolutionary process that favors individuals of a species that are more adapted to survive and reproduce.

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Charles Darwin

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Observed that most organisms reproduce at tremendous rates, yet populations remain nearly constant.

Reasoned that an intense, constant struggle for food, water, and resources must occur among the numerous young born.

Those that survive pass on their genes to the next generation.

Believed that those who survive are superior to those who do not.

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Adaptive Behavior

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Adaptive behavior is behavior that promotes an organism’s survival in the natural habitat.

It involves the organism’s modification of its behavior to include its likelihood of survival.

All organisms must adapt to particular places, climates, food sources, and ways of life.

Natural selection designs adaptation to perform a certain function.

Attachment is a system designed by natural selection to ensure a human infant’s closeness to the caregiver for feeding and protection from danger.

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• • • •

Evolutionary Psychology

This branch of psychology emphasizes the importance of adaptation, reproduction, and “survival of the fittest” in explaining behavior.

It focuses on conditions that allow individuals to survive or to fail.

It believes natural selection favors behaviors that increase organisms’ reproductive success and their ability to pass their genes on the next generation.

David Buss believes that evolution shapes both our physical features and pervasively influences how we make decisions, how aggressive we are, our fears, and our mating patterns.

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Evolution and Life Span Development

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Developmentalist Paul Baltes believes that the benefits of evolutionary selection decrease with age.

He also believes that the need for culture increases with age.

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The Benefits of Evolutionary Selection Decrease with Age

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Selection operates mainly during the first half of life during the period of reproductive fitness.

Given the much shorter life span in early human evolution, selection pressure could not function often in the later years of life.

This results in older adults having a higher number of deleterious genes and dysfunctional gene expressions, such as Alzheimer’s.

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The Need for Culture Increases with Age

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As older adults weaken biologically, they need culture-based resources, such as cognitive skills, motivation, socialization, literacy, and medical technology.

Baltes stresses that a life span shift in the allocation of resources takes place away from growth and toward maintenance and the regulation of loss.

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Evaluating Evolutionary Psychology

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Albert Bandura

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Steven Jay Gould

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Theodore Dobzhansky

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The Bidirectional View

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Albert Bandura

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Acknowledges the important influence of evolution on human adaptation and change Rejects “one-sided evolutionism”— defining social behavior as the product of evolved biology Believes the pace of social change gives testimony that biology permits a range of possibilities

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Steven Jay Gould

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Concluded that in most domains of human functioning, biology allows a broad range of cultural possibilities

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Theodore Dobzhansky

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Points out that the human species has been selected for learnability and plasticity, allowing us to adapt to diverse contexts rather than have our behavior be biologically fixed

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The Bidirectional View

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States that evolutionary pressures created changes in biological structures for the use of tools.

This enables organisms to manipulate, alter, and construct new environmental conditions.

Environmental innovations of increasing complexity, in turn, produced new selection pressures for the evolution of specialized biological systems for consciousness, thought, and language.

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Genetic Foundations What Are Genes?

Mitosis and Meiosis Genetic Principles Behavior Genetics Molecular Genetics Chromosome and Gene Linked Abnormalities Black Hawk College 16

Genetic Foundations

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Each of us carries a genetic code that we inherited from our parents.

This code is located within every cell in our bodies.

The code is the mechanism for transmitting characteristics from one generation to the next.

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Genetic Building Blocks

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DNA

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Genes

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Chromosomes

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Definition of DNA

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Deoxyribonucleic acid is a complex molecule, shaped like a double helix, that contains genetic information.

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What Are Genes?

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The units of hereditary information —short segments composed of DNA —that act as a blueprint for cells to reproduce themselves and manufacture the proteins that maintain life.

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Definition of Chromosomes

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Threadlike structures comprised of thousands of genes, that come in 23 pairs, one member of each pair coming from each parent

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Mitosis and Meiosis

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Mitosis is the process by which each chromosome in the cell’s

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nucleus duplicates itself.

Meiosis is the process by which cells divide into gametes (testes/sperm in males, ovaries/eggs in females), which have half the genetic material of the parent cell.

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The Difference Between Mitosis and Meiosis

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Mitosis

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Focus is on cell growth and repair

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The number of chromosomes present remains the same (the chromosomes copy themselves)

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Two daughter cells are formed Meiosis

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Involves sexual reproduction

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The chromosomes are halved

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Four daughter cells are produced

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The Process of Human Reproduction

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Reproduction begins when a female gamete (ovum) is fertilized by a male gamete (sperm).

This produces a zygote —a single cell formed through fertilization.

In the zygote, two sets of unpaired chromosomes combine to form one set of paired chromosomes.

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Genetic Principles

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Dominant-recessive genes principle Sex-linked genes Polygenically inherited characteristics Reaction range Canalization

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Dominant-Recessive Genes Principle

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If one gene of a pair is dominant and one is recessive, the dominant gene exerts its effect, overriding the potential influence of the other, recessive gene. A recessive gene exerts its influence only if the two genes of a pair are both recessive.

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Sex-Linked Genes

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Two of the 46 chromosomes human beings normally carry are sex chromosomes. Ordinarily females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y.

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Polygenic Inheritance

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The genetic principle that many genes can interact to produce a particular characteristic.

There are more than 50,000 genes, imagine the possible combinations!

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• • •

Genotypes and Phenotypes

Genotype an individual’s genetic heritage, the actual genetic material.

Phenotype the way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observed and measurable characteristics.

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Physical traits: height, weight, eye color

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Psychological characteristics: intelligence, creativity, personality For each genotype, a range of phenotypes can be expressed.

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Reaction Range

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Reaction range is the range of possible phenotypes for each genotype, suggesting the importance of an environment’s restrictiveness or richness.

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Canalization

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Canalization is the term chosen to describe the narrow path, or developmental course, that certain characteristics take. Preservative forces help protect or buffer a person from environmental extremes.

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Behavior Genetics

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This is the study of the degree and nature of behavior’s hereditary basis.

It assumes that behaviors are jointly determined by the interaction of heredity and environment.

Behavior genetics often uses twins or adoption situations to study the influence of heredity on behavior.

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Twin Studies

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The behavioral similarity of identical twins is compared with the behavioral similarity of fraternal twins.

Identical twins (monozygotic twins) develop from a single fertilized egg that splits into two genetically identical replicas, each of which becomes a person.

Fraternal twins (dizygotic twins) develop from separate eggs and separate sperm, making them genetically no more similar than ordinary siblings.

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Issues with Twin Studies

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By comparing groups of identical and fraternal twins, behavior geneticists capitalize on the basic knowledge that identical twins are more similar genetically than are fraternal twins.

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However, adults might stress the similarities of identical twins more than those of fraternal twins.

Identical twins might perceive themselves as a “set” and play together more than fraternal twins.

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Adoption Studies

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Investigators seek to discover whether, in behavior and psychological characteristics, adopted children are more like their adoptive parents, who provided a home environment, or more like their biological parents, who contributed their heredity.

Another method is to compare adoptive and biological siblings.

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Molecular Genetics

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There is now a great deal of enthusiasm about the use of molecular genetics to discover the specific locations on genes that determine an individual’s susceptibility to many diseases and other aspects of health and well-being.

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Genome

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The term used to describe the complete set of instructions for making an organism Contains the master blueprint for all cellular structures and activities for the life span of the organism The human genome consists of tightly coiled threads of DNA

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The Human Genome

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Project

Began in the 1970s In the process of mapping the human genome Has located the genes for Huntington disease, some forms of cancer, and many others May possibly be used to transplant healthy copies of missing/defective genes into affected cells May lead to the development of drugs that will alter the genetic makeup of the affected cells

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Chromosome and Gene-Linked Abnormalities

Chromosome Abnormalities

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Down Syndrome

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Klinefelter Syndrome

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Fragile X Syndrome Turner Syndrome XYY Syndrome

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Gene-Linked Abnormalities

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Phenylketonu ria

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Sickle-Cell Anemia

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• • •

Down Syndrome

Caused by the presence of an extra chromosome Characterized by:

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round face

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flattened skull extra fold of skin over the eyelids protruding tongue short limbs retardation of motor and mental abilities Women younger than 18 and older than 38 are more likely to have Down syndrome babies.

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Klinefelter Syndrome

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Sex-linked chromosome abnormality Males have an extra X chromosome, making them XXY instead of XY Characterized by:

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undeveloped testes

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enlarged breasts

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become quite tall

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Fragile X Syndrome

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Sex-linked chromosome abnormality The X chromosome becomes constricted and often breaks Characterized by:

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mental deficiency (varied in form from mental retardation to short attention span) Occurs more frequently in males

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Turner Syndrome

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Sex-linked chromosome abnormality Females are missing an X chromosome, making them XO instead of XX Characterized by:

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shortness of stature

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webbed neck possible mental retardation possible sexual underdevelopment

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XYY Syndrome

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Sex-chromosome linked abnormality The male has an extra Y chromosome Early belief surrounding the syndrome was that the extra Y chromosome contributed to male aggression and violence.

Researchers have since found that XYY males are no more likely to commit crimes than are XY males.

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Phenylketonuria

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Gene-linked abnormality The individual cannot properly metabolize an amino acid Currently easily detected Treated by diet to prevent an excess accumulation of phenylalanine.

If left untreated it can result in mental retardation and hyperactivity.

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• • • •

Sickle-Cell Anemia

Gene-linked abnormality Occurs most often in African Americans Affects the shape of red blood cells, hindering their ability to carry oxygen to the body’s cells Results in anemia and early death of the individual

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Other Genetic

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Abnormalities

Cystic Fibrosis Diabetes Hemophilia Huntington Disease Spina Bifida Tay-Sachs Disease

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Reproduction Challenges and Choices Prenatal Diagnostic Tests Infertility Adoption Black Hawk College 48

Prenatal Diagnostic Tests

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Amniocentesis Ultrasound Sonography Chorionic Villi Sampling

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Maternal Blood Test

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Amniocentesis

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A prenatal medical procedure in which a sample of amniotic fluid is withdrawn by syringe and tested to discover if the fetus is suffering from any chromosomal or metabolic disorders Performed between the 12th and 16th weeks of pregnancy There exists a small risk of miscarriage (one in every 200-300)

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Ultrasound Sonography

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A prenatal medical procedure in which high frequency sound waves are directed into the pregnant woman’s abdomen Echo from the sounds is transformed into a visual representation of the fetus’s inner structures Able to detect such disorders as microencephaly

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Chorionic Villi Sampling

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A prenatal medical procedure in which a small sample of the placenta is removed Performed between the 8th and 11th weeks of pregnancy Provides information about the presence of birth defects Has a slightly higher risk of miscarriage than amniocentesis

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Maternal Blood Test

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Called the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) test A prenatal diagnostic technique used to asses blood alphaprotein level, which is associated with neural-tube defects Administered between the 14th and 20th weeks of pregnancy

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Infertility

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Infertility is the inability to conceive a child after 12 months of regular intercourse

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Causes of Infertility

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Women

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Ovulation problems

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Antisperm secretions

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Blocked fallopian tubes

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Endometriosis

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Men

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Low sperm count

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Immobile sperm

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Antibodies against sperm

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Infertility Treatment Techniques

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In vitro fertilization (IVF) - Egg and sperm are combined in a laboratory dish and resulting fertilized embryo is transferred into the woman’s uterus. (Success rate slightly less than 20%) Gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) - A doctor inserts eggs and sperm directly into a woman’s fallopian tube. (Success rate almost 30%) Intrauterine insemination (IUI) - Frozen sperm —of the husband or an unknown donor —is placed directly into the uterus. (Success rate 10%) Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) - Eggs are fertilized in the laboratory then any resulting zygotes are transferred to a fallopian tube. (Success rate approximately 25%) Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) - A single sperm is injected by pipette into an egg and the zygote is returned to the uterus. (Success rate approximately 25%)

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Adoption

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Adoption is the social and legal process by which a parent-child relationship is established between persons unrelated at birth

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Research Findings on Adoption

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Adopted children and adolescents often show more psychological and school related problems than nonadopted children.

Adopted adolescents are referred to psychological treatment 2-5 times as often as their nonadopted peers.

Early adoption often has better child outcomes than later adoption.

Adoptees show higher levels of prosocial behavior than nonadopted peers.

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Adoption Related Issues

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Research findings have implications for social policy regarding the foster care system.

Clinical psychologists report that sometimes adoptive parents try to make life too perfect for adoptive children, and thus the children feel that they can’t release any angry feelings or openly discuss problems.

Consensus among psychologists is that adopted children should be told they are adopted.

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Heredity - Environment Interaction Intelligence Heredity-Environment Correlations Shared and Nonshared Environmental Influences Conclusions about Heredity-Environment Interaction Black Hawk College 60

Intelligence

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Arthur Jensen sparked a debate theorizing that intelligence is primarily inherited.

He believed that standardized IQ tests are a good indicator of intelligence.

Jensen supported his theory with findings from twin studies:

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IQs of identical twins yielded an average correlation of .82

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IQs of ordinary siblings yielded an average correlation of .50

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IQs of identical twins reared together yielded a correlation of .89

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IQs of identical twins reared apart yielded a correlation of .78

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Criticisms of Jensen’s Work

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IQ tests tap only a narrow range of intelligence, excluding important aspects such as everyday problem solving, work, and social adaptability.

Most investigations of heredity and environment don’t include environments that differ radically. Developmentalists believe intelligence is influenced by heredity, but such a strong relationship has not been found.

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The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in Modern Life

Highly controversial book written in 1994 by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray.

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States IQ test scores vary across ethnic groups:

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Asian Americans score several points higher than Whites.

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African Americans score about 15 points lower than Whites.

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IQ differences are partly due to heredity.

Believes government funding for projects such as Head Start is wasted.

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Criticisms of The Bell

Curve

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While experts agree that African Americans tend to score lower on IQ tests, they question the ability of the tests to accurately measure intelligence.

The U.S. Supreme Court endorsed this criticism by ruling that tests of general intelligence are discriminatory and cannot be used for determining employment.

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Heredity-Environment Correlations

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Relates to the concept that individuals’ genes influence the types of environments to which they are exposed.

Behavior-geneticist Sandra Scarr described three ways that heredity and environment are correlated:

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Passively

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Evocatively Actively

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Passive Genotype Environment Correlations

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Occur when biological parents, who are genetically related to the child, provide a rearing environment for the child.

Example:

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Parents who have a genetic predisposition to be intelligent and read skillfully, provide their children with books to read. The children, in turn, become skilled readers due to both their inherited predispositions and environmental influences.

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Evocative Genotype Environment Correlations

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Occur because a child’s genotype elicits certain types of physical and social environments.

Examples:

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Active, smiling children receive more social stimulation than passive, quiet children do.

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Athletically inclined youth tend to elicit encouragement to engage in school sports.

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Active (Niche-Picking) Genotype Environment Correlations

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Occur when children and adolescents seek out environments they find compatible and stimulating.

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Niche-picking refers to finding a setting that is suited to one’s abilities.

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Active selection of environments is related to one’s genotype.

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Example:

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Teens who are musically inclined select musical environments in which they can successfully perform their skills.

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Shared and Nonshared Environmental Experiences

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Even though children live under the same roof with the same parents, often their personalities are very different.

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Robert Plomin found that common rearing, or shared environment, accounts for little of the variation in children’s personality or interests.

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Shared Environmental Experiences

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Children’s common experiences such as:

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their parents’ personalities and intellectual orientation

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the family’s social class

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the neighborhood in which they live

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Nonshared Environmental Experiences

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Children’s unique experiences, both within the family and outside the family, that are not shared with another sibling.

Experiences occurring within the family can be part of the “nonshared environment.” Parents often interact differently with each sibling, and siblings interact differently with parents.

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• • •

Conclusions about Heredity-Environment Interaction

Both genes and environment are necessary for a person to exist.

Heredity and environment operate together, or cooperate, to produce:

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intelligence -weight

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temperament -ability to pitch a baseball

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height -ability to read The emerging view is that genes give people a propensity for a particular developmental trajectory that is ultimately realized through environmental circumstances.

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