Nature, Nurture,

1
General Psychology(PSY2200 MBAC)

• Chapter 03
• Nature, Nurture,
• And Human Diversity

2
Similarities Questionnaire
3
Another Reciprocal Relationship
4
Video

• Nature Versus Nurture
• Growing Up Apart

5
Genetics

• If it were possible, would you want to take a
  genetic test telling you which diseases you are
  likely to suffer from later in life?
• Free genetics test for treatable disease (56)
• Free genetics test for untreatable disease (26)
• If you or your spouse were pregnant, would you
  want the unborn child tested for genetic defects?
• Do you think it should be legal for employers to
  use genetic tests in deciding whom to hire?
• Should altering a newly-conceived person to
  improve normal qualities (innate intelligence,
  appearance, strength) be allowed? (Courtesy Nova)

6
Evolutionary Psychology

• The Role of Genetics

7
Fact or Falsehood?

• People everywhere reciprocate favors.
• True
• Even complex human traits are determined by a
  single gene.
• False
• Adoptees traits bear more similarities to their
  adoptive parents than to their biological
  parents.
• False
• Two children in the same family are on average as
  different from one another as pairs of children
  selected randomly from the population.
• True
• If after another worldwide catastrophe only
  Icelanders or Kenyans survived, the human species
  would suffer a huge reduction in its genetic
  diversity.
• False

8
Fact or Falsehood?Continued

• In many places around the world, females are more
  likely than males to initiate sexual activity.
• False
• A child who hears English spoke with one accent
  at home and another in the neighborhood and at
  school invariably adopts the accent of his or her
  peers, not the parents.
• True
• Compared with Westerners, people in Japanese
  culture exhibit greater concern for social
  harmony and loyalty.
• True
• Seven weeks after conception, males and females
  remain anatomically indistinguishable.
• True
• Even when families discourage traditional
  gender-typing, children still organize themselves
  into boy worlds and girl worlds, each guided
  by rules for what boys and girls do.
• True

9
The Influence of Geneticson Psychological
Characteristics

• Heritability the extent to which variation among
  individuals can be attributed to their differing
  genes
• Personality studied using the Big Five
  (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
  neuroticism, and openness) or Big Three (positive
  emotionality, negative emotionality, and
  constraint)
• 40 50 (no gender differences)
• Mental Ability changes with age early on (age
  5), heritability of 22 by old age (75 years),
  heritability is 54 62
• Psychiatric Illnesses
• Schizophrenia 80
• Major Depression 40
• Anxiety Disorders 20 to 40
• Alcoholism 50 to 60
• Antisocial Personality Disorder 41 to 46

10
Common Misconceptions Regarding Evolutionary
Theory

• Genetic Determinism the idea that genes control
  all behavior variability is implicit in
  evolution (gives something to be selected)
• Behavior cannot be changed behavior can be
  resistant to change, but behavioral flexibility
  is a survivable characteristic (how long would I
  survive if my behavior was pre-determined at
  birth)
• Organisms can compute complex mathematical
  formulas calculating reproductive likelihood at
  all times (a spiders web is incredibly complex,
  but it doesnt need to know geometry to build it)
• Humans are optimally designed adaptation is
  constant and ongoing (conditions change)
• Organisms have a conscious or unconscious goal to
  maximize gene reproduction it is not
  gene-referent (more behavior referrent survive,
  avoid predators, stay warm, help kin, have sex)

11
Video

• Openness to Casual Sex

12
Heterosexual Gender AttractionCross-Cultural
Research

• Male preferences (childbearing and fertility)
• Youthfulness
• Healthy, fertile-appeared women
• Proportions waist 1/3 narrower than hips
• Female preferences (support and protection)
• Healthy
• Mature
• Dominant
• Bold
• Affluent

13
Video

• The Art of Listening
• Males Versus Females

14
Values Clarification

• A 16-year-old girl of questionable IQ, a high
  school dropout, pregnant.
• A policeman with a gun (which cannot be taken
  from him, he was recently thrown off the force
  recently for brutality).
• A clergyman, 75.
• A woman physician, 36, known to be a confirmed
  racist.
• A male violinist, 46, who served seven years for
  pushing narcotics.
• A 20-year-old Black militant, no special skills.
• A former prostitute, female, 39.
• An architect, a male homosexual.
• A 26-year-old law student.
• The law student's 25-year-old wife who spent the
  last nine months in a mental hospital, still
  heavily sedated. They refuse to be separated.