General Psychology (PSY2200 MBAC)

1. General Psychology(PSY2200 MBAC) Chapter 03: Nature, Nurture, And Human Diversity

2. Similarities Questionnaire

3. Video Nature Versus Nurture: Growing Up Apart

4. 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)

5. Evolutionary Psychology The Role of Genetics

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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%

9. 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 spider’s web is incredibly complex, but it doesn’t 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)

10. Video Openness to Casual Sex

11. 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

12. Video The Art of Listening: Males Versus Females

13. 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.