Nature-Nurture Notes - nature vs nurture PDF

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nature vs nurture...

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Nature-Nurture Question -Francis Galton first started thinking about nature0burture in the late 19 th century  Influenced by Charles Darwin -DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick in the 1950s -Three problems related to the intersection of philosophy and science:  The mind-body problem  The free will problem  Nature-nurture problem -Most of the successful nature-nurture research has been conducted on animal breeding (Scott & Fuller, 1998) -Behavioral genetics: the science of how genes and environments work together to influence behavior  Adoption study: the easiest way to observe this theory  Twin studies: (Monozygotic & Dizygotic) o Monozygotic: “identical” twins, result from a single zygote (fertilized egg) and have the same DNA o Dizygotic: “fraternal” twins, develop from two zygotes and share 50% of their DNA  Quantitative Genetics: the scientific discipline in which similarities among individuals are analyzed based on how biologically related they are (developed in 1920s) o Studies w/ siblings & half-siblings, cousins, twins who have been separated at birth (Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, & Segal, 1990) o Heritability Coefficient: (varying from 0-1) is meant to provide a single measure of genetics’ influence of a trait  Measures how strongly differences among individuals are related to differences among their genes What do we know about Nature-Nurture? -there’s an inability to organize traits from more- to less-genetic when conducting studies -there’s no consistency as to which traits are more heritable and which traits are less heritable Issues with Heritability Coefficient: -it divides traits’ determinants into two portions- genes and environment which are then calculated together for the total variability Gene-Environment Interaction Phenomenon: -G x E -among maltreated children, those who carried allele of the MAOA gene showed a predisposition to violence and antisocial behavior, while those w/ other alleles didn’t (Caspi et al, 2002) Epigenetics -process in which the DNA itself is modified by environmental events, & those genetic changes transmitted to children

Phenylketonuria -an inborn error of metabolism caused by a single gene; it prevents the body from metabolizing phenylalanine -causes mental retardation and death -can be treated by a straightforward environmental intervention: avoiding foods contain phenylalanine...