PSYC 120 Ch 4,5,6

Basic physical unit of heredity, interact with environment, ie natural selection

• Genotype- genetic package containing instructions for organism
• Phenotype- actual characteristics of an organism, height, color, intelligence

studies relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior

• Identical - same genes - split from same egg, monozygotic
• Fraternal - dizygotic - two eggs

• -allows us to examine impact of genes on behavior
• -identical twins much more similar on personality and behavioral traits

• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete operational
• Formal operations

• birth to almost 2
• process world through sensation and actions
• Milestones: object permanance (out of sight, out of mind)

• 2ish to 6 or 7ish
• inability to perform mental operations
• lots of symbols
• fail tasks of conservation ie, cut one piece into two
• are egocentric- unable to place themselves in position of other (nodding on phone)
• Theory of mind: others have different thoughts, knowledge, feeling; emerges 3 or 4ish
• Autistic fail to develop theory of mind.

• -thinking
• 6-7to 11 ish
• grasp conservation and can perform mental operations
• take things literally, black and white thinkers
• -anchored in real world concepts - $500 is how many Pokemon cards
• -can't comprehend hypothetical or abstract concepts

• 11ish is when Piaget thought, actually a bit later
• have developed abstract thinking
• -can see areas of grey between black and white issues

• Infant
• Toddler
• Preschooler
• School-Age Child
• Adolescent
• Young Adult
• Middle-Age Adult
• Older Adult

• Assimilation- incorporating new info
• Accommodation- adjusting schema to fit new info

suggests genetic predisposition

lifeforms with particular traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, thus passing on the traits that enable them to survive

Twin & adoption studies allow us to examine impact of genes on behavior

ANY behavior that somehow increases the odds of survival and/or reproduction

• How natural selection shapes our traits and behavior tendencies.
• Limitations: works backwards,
• evolutionary perspective gives little emphasis to social influences
• -benefits: testable predictions based on evolutionary principles, aka BULLSHIT

zygotal, embryonic, fetal

single cell embryo and placenta

• 2-8 weeks
• -formation of all major organ systems

• 9 weeks to birth
• -finishing systems to be functional outside womb

genetic package containing instructions for organism

• actual characteristics of an organism,
• ie height, weight, color, intelligence

• Cornea
• Pupil
• Iris
• lens
• retina
• fovea
• blind spot