GENETICS AND BEHAVIOR

MANDELIAN GENETICS

 Refers to certain patterns of how traits are passed from parents to offspring.

TERMINOLOGIES OF MANDELIAN GENETICS

 GENE – hereditary factor that determines a particular trait

 Allele – particular variant of gene, in the same way chocolate and vanilla are variants of ice
cream
 Genotype – collection of alleles found in it’s DNA
 Phenotype – observable traits
 Dominant allele – produces it’s phenotype whether the organism is homozygous or
heterozygous at that locus
 Recessive allele – produces it’s allele only when homozygous at the locus; its phenotype is
masked if the locus is heterozygous.
 Homozygous – individuals carrying two identical alleles (RR or rr)
 Heterozygous – individual organism carrying different alleles (Rr)

3 PRINCIPLES OF MANDELIAN GENETICS

 LAW OF DOMINANCE – Recessive alleles are always masked by dominant alleles

 LAW OF SEGREGATION – every parents pair of genes or alleles divide a single gene passes from
every parent to an offspring
 LAW OF INDEPENDENT ASSORTMENT – discrete pairs of alleles pass onto the offspring without
depending on one another.

SEX-LINKED GENES

 Refers to characteristics or traits that are influenced by genes carried on the sex chromosomes.

SEX LIMITED GENES

 Are genes that are present in both sexes of sexually reproducing species but are expressed in
only one sex and have no penetrance.

GENETIC MUTATION

 Are changes to your DNA sequence that happen during cell division when your cell make copies
of themselves.
 It occurs during cell division when your cells divide and replicate.

MITOSIS

 Process of making new cells for your body.

MEIOSIS

 Process of making egg and sperm cells for the next generation.

TYPES OF GENETIC MUTATION

 GERMLINE MUTATION – change in gene that occurs in parent’s reproductive cells that affect the
genetic makeup of their child.
 SOMATIC MUTATION – change in gene that occurs after conception in the developing embryo
that may become a baby.

EPIGENETICS

 Study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes
work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic are reversible and do not change your DNA.

HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT

 HEREDITY – Passage of biological traits or characteristics from parents to offspring through the
inheritance of genes.
 Everything such as biotic and abiotic things on earth are called environment.

ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION

 A trait with high heritability can be modified by environmental interventions.

THE EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR

 EVOLUTION – is a change over generation in the frequencies of various genes in a population.

 HUMAN BEHAVIOURAL EVOLUTION – Perceived to involve genetic inheritance, ecological
inheritance, natural selection pressures, and importantly, niche construction activities that alter
subsequent selection events.

COMMON MISCONCEPTION ABOUT EVOLUTION:

 Does Use or disuse of some structure or behavior cause an evolutionary increase or decrease
in that feature? Biologists have found no mechanism for Lamarckian evolution that occur and
no evidence that it does. Using or not using some body structure does not change the genes.
 Have humans stopped evolving? No, evolution depends on reproduction, not just survival.
 Does evolution mean improvement? Evolution does not always lead to more advanced species.
Evolution is simply description of the way change occurs in biological creatures over many
generations in order to better exploit certain environments.
 Does evolution benefit individual species? Neither of those. It benefits the genes instead.

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY

 Based on the idea that human emotions and behaviors have been shaped by natural selection.
 Assumption is that any behavior characteristic of a species arose through natural selection.
 NATURAL SELECTION – is a mechanism of evolution. Organisms that are more adapted to their
environment are more likely to survive and pass on the genes that aided their success.
GIRAFFE’S SHORT NECK THEORY

 A classic example of natural selection is the origin of giraffe’s long neck. Charles Darwin
explained the survival of the fittest through the prime example of Giraffes with longer necks are
able to reach foods high up in trees which gave them advantage over other animals and
members of their own species.