Heredity and Environment

1. Heredity and Environment To understand the effects of “nature and nurture” on human development, some scholars have studied identical twins separated at birth and adopted by different families. One important study by Peter Neubauer used adopted twins without their knowledge. These studies revealed that even twins separated at birth share some characteristics with their siblings years later. This proves that while some traits are genetically inherited, others are learned from the environment in which a child is raised.

2. Nature Nurture • Heredity is the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children • Instinct is an unchanging biologically inherited behavior • Sociobiology searches for the biological basis of all social behavior • Social environment can imprint characteristics on a child • Pavlov’s experiments showed that behavior could be taught • Most social scientists believe personality arises from a mixture of both nature and nurture Nature Versus Nurture A personality is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual.

3. Factors in Personality Development • Heredity • Characteristics present at birth include hair type, eye color, and certain aptitudes. • Biological needs include hunger and thirst. • Culture decides how you will use or satisfy hereditary characteristics. • BirthOrder • Personalities are influenced by brothers and sisters. • Early-born siblings have different traits than later-born siblings. • Parental Characteristics • Age, level of education, religious orientation, economic status, cultural heritage, and occupation of parents can shape personalities of children. • The Cultural Environment • Each culture has set “model personalities.” • Individuals experience a culture in different ways.

5. Influence of Social Environment • Feral children and those with very little contact with a social environment do not develop skills such as walking or language. • In some instances, remedial therapy can allow isolated children to develop language and social skills.. • Studies show that a lack of human contact can result in developmental abnormalities as well as death.

6. The Social Self • Through socialization, people learn the basic values and behavior patterns of a culture and develop a sense of self. • John Locke believed that humans were blank slates that could be socialized to have any type of character. • According to Charles Horton Cooley, we develop our sense of self through an interactive process based on how we think we appear to others.

7. The Social Self • George Herbert Mead proposed that we are socialized through a three-step process called role-taking, in which we learn to internalize the expectations of society. • Sociologist Erving Goffman developed the theory of impression management, in which the self that we present to the world changes based on circumstance.

8. Locke: The Tabula Rasa Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self • A “clean slate” onto which anything can be written • Believed adults could shape newborns’ personality • Absorb the aspects of the culture they are in contact with • Process by which we develop an idea of self based on how we think we appear to others • Three-step process • Begins in infancy but continues throughout life The Development of Self Socialization is the interactive process through which people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of a society. There are many theories of how individuals gain a self, or distinct identity that separates you from other members of society.

9. Mead: Role-Taking • Seeing ourselves as others see us is first step • Eventually take on, or pretend to take on, the roles of others (role-taking) • Significant others are the people who are closest to us: parents, siblings, and others who directly influence our socialization • As an individual ages, significant others grow less important • Generalized other is the internalized attitudes, expectations and viewpoints of society • Children under three can only imitate the actions of others • Self consists of “I” and “me” • The “I” is the unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of personality • The “me” is the part that is aware of the expectations and attitudes of society—the socialized self

11. Section 3 at a Glance • Agents of Socialization • The primary agents of socialization are the family, the peer group, the school, and the mass media. • As the principal socializer of young children, the family is the most important agent of socialization in most societies. • As children grow older, forces outside the family—such as friends, school, and mass media—increasingly influence them. • Resocialization, or the process of learning new values and norms, can be voluntary or involuntary.

12. The Family The Peer Group • Most important agent in most societies • Usually first agent • Can be intentional or unintentional • Reflects the social groups family belongs to • Composed of individuals of roughly equal age and similar social characteristics • Particularly important during pre-teen and early teen years • Socialization focuses on values of the peer group Primary Agents Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to describe the specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place.

13. The School • Planned activities for the deliberate purpose of teaching skills • Extracurricular activities intended to prepare for a life in society • Transmit cultural values • Unintentional socialization comes from teachers and peer groups • The Mass Media • Mass media: instruments of communication that reach large audiences without personal contact between those sending and those receiving the information, such as films, television, and radio • Television is most common mass media • Both positive and negative behaviors and beliefs are learned from television

14. Heredity

15. What is Heredity? • Heredity = the passing on of traits from one generation to the next.

16. What is a Trait? A trait is a specific characteristic that is unique. Traits affect the way we look Traits affect how our bodies function Traits are inherited • Examples are hair color, eye color, handedness, etc.

17. Dominant Trait A dominant trait is a trait that is alwaysexpressed, or shown. • Examples are brown hair, brown eyes, right handed

18. Recessive Trait Arecessive trait is a trait that is covered up or seems to disappear. • Examples are blonde hair, blue eyes, left handed

19. Where Do Traits Come From? Factors that make up an individual come from both parents. The trait information is passed on from generation to generation in the form of genes.

20. Do you see any ways that these children are similar to their parents or brothers and sisters?

21. Look around. Is anyone just like you? You and everyone else are unique. No two people are exactly alike, including identical twins. However, many of your traits are inherited. People in a family may have things in common. They can share traits. You can inherit traits from your parents. Some traits include:

22. Eye Color

23. Hair color

24. Hair Texture

25. Skin Color

26. Body Shape

27. What is a Pedigree? A pedigree is a diagram that shows the history of a trait as it is passed from one generation to the next. Pedigrees indicate patterns Pedigrees identify carriers of genetic disorders Pedigrees are useful for genetic counseling • Example: a pedigree is like a family tree for one trait.

28. Rules For Making A Pedigree • Females are represented by circles • Males are represented by squares • Mother/Father couples are connected by a line • Offspring are shown oldest on the left to youngest on the right • Half-shaded circle represents a female carrier for the trait • Half-shaded square represents a male carrier for the trait • Full-shaded circle represents a female with the trait • Full-shaded square represents a male with the trait

30. Trait: Parents Offspring Youngest to Oldest A Pedigree

32. Heredity and Genetics Your genes determine whether or not you possess certain physical traits. Your genes make you blue eyed or brown eyed, or have brown or blond hair. These traits are highly complex, and involve the interaction of many genes.

33. What are Genes? A gene is a specific location on a chromosome that controls a certain trait.

34. Where Do Genes Come From? • An individual needs 2 genes for each trait – one gene from each parent. • This gene pair is called an allele. • One gene comes from the sperm cell (from the Father) • One gene comes from the egg cell (from the Mother)

35. How Do Genes Get Their Information? A chromosome is a structure in the cell that contains the genetic information. • This information is passed on from one generation to the next generation.

37. How Do Genes Control Traits?Deoxyriboneucleic Acid DNA is the “instruction code” that the genes use to form traits. • DNA is long threads of material found in all cells. • DNA contains the “master code” that instructs all cells in their daily jobs. Genes are short pieces of DNA that make up our chromosomes. Each piece of DNA that is related to a gene makes up one trait.

38. Models of DNA

39. How Do We Look The Way We Do? • Parents pass on copies of their DNA to their offspring. • The DNA from each parent combines to form the DNA of the offspring. • How the offspring develops depends on the instructions coded in the DNA donated by both parents. • Offspring are similar to parents, but different due to the many possible combinations of the 4 bases. • Every individual is unique.

40. Environment and development • Personality Development • People develop their personalities over the course of their lives. • While scientists have debated for years whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in personality development, most social scientists today believe that environmental factors have the biggest influence. • According to social scientists, the principal factors that influence personality and behavior are heredity, birth order, parental characteristics, and cultural environment. • Studies of isolated children suggest the importance of environment in personality development.

41. Conclusions about Heredity-Environment Interaction • Both genes and environment are necessary for a person to exist. • The emerging view is that genes give people a propensity for a particular developmental trajectory that is ultimately realized through environmental circumstances.