AP Psych Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior
1. nature-nurture issue - Answerthe longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that
genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's
science views traits and behaviors as arising from the interaction of nature and nurture.
2. natural selection - Answerthe principle that the inherited traits enabling an organism to survive
and reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most
likely be passed on to succeeding generations.
3. evolutionary psychology - Answerthe study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using
principles of natural selection.
4. behavior genetics - Answerthe study of the relative power and limits of genetic and
environmental influences on behavior.
5. mutation - Answera random error in gene replication that leads to a change.
6. environment - Answerevery nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to our experiences of
the people and things around us.
7. heredity - Answerthe genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.
8. genes - Answerthe biochemical units of heredity, found inside DNA
9. genome - Answerthe complete instructions for making an organism.
10. identical (monozygotic) twins - Answerindividuals who developed from a single fertilized egg
that split in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.
, 11. fraternal (dizygotic) twins - Answerindividuals who developed from separate fertilized eggs.
They are genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but they shared a prenatal environment.
12. epigenetics - Answer"above" or "in addition to" genetics; the study of the molecular
mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change).
13. nervous system - Answerthe body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting
of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
14. Central Nervous System (CNS) - Answerthe brain and spinal cord.
15. peripheral nervous system (PNS) - Answerthe sensory and motor neurons that connect the
central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body.
16. sensory (afferent) neurons - Answerneurons that carry incoming information from the body's
tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
17. motor (efferent) neurons - Answerneurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and
spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
18. interneurons - Answerneurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally
and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.
19. somatic nervous system - Answerthe division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the
body's skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.
20. autonomic nervous system (ANS) - Answerthe part of the peripheral nervous system that
controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Contains
sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
21. sympathetic nervous system - Answerthe division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses
the body, mobilizing its energy.
1. nature-nurture issue - Answerthe longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that
genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors. Today's
science views traits and behaviors as arising from the interaction of nature and nurture.
2. natural selection - Answerthe principle that the inherited traits enabling an organism to survive
and reproduce in a particular environment will (in competition with other trait variations) most
likely be passed on to succeeding generations.
3. evolutionary psychology - Answerthe study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using
principles of natural selection.
4. behavior genetics - Answerthe study of the relative power and limits of genetic and
environmental influences on behavior.
5. mutation - Answera random error in gene replication that leads to a change.
6. environment - Answerevery nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to our experiences of
the people and things around us.
7. heredity - Answerthe genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.
8. genes - Answerthe biochemical units of heredity, found inside DNA
9. genome - Answerthe complete instructions for making an organism.
10. identical (monozygotic) twins - Answerindividuals who developed from a single fertilized egg
that split in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.
, 11. fraternal (dizygotic) twins - Answerindividuals who developed from separate fertilized eggs.
They are genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but they shared a prenatal environment.
12. epigenetics - Answer"above" or "in addition to" genetics; the study of the molecular
mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change).
13. nervous system - Answerthe body's speedy, electrochemical communication network, consisting
of all the nerve cells of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
14. Central Nervous System (CNS) - Answerthe brain and spinal cord.
15. peripheral nervous system (PNS) - Answerthe sensory and motor neurons that connect the
central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the body.
16. sensory (afferent) neurons - Answerneurons that carry incoming information from the body's
tissues and sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord.
17. motor (efferent) neurons - Answerneurons that carry outgoing information from the brain and
spinal cord to the muscles and glands.
18. interneurons - Answerneurons within the brain and spinal cord; they communicate internally
and process information between the sensory inputs and motor outputs.
19. somatic nervous system - Answerthe division of the peripheral nervous system that controls the
body's skeletal muscles. Also called the skeletal nervous system.
20. autonomic nervous system (ANS) - Answerthe part of the peripheral nervous system that
controls the glands and the muscles of the internal organs (such as the heart). Contains
sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.
21. sympathetic nervous system - Answerthe division of the autonomic nervous system that arouses
the body, mobilizing its energy.
