Behavior Part 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4)
1.heredity: Passing of traits from parents to offspring
2.nature: the influence of our inherited characteristics on our
personality, physical growth, intellectual growth, and social interactions
3.nurture: external factors that one experiences, such as family
interactions or education.
4.Genetic predisposition: an inherited genetic pattern that makes one
susceptible to a certain disease or behaviors
5.evolutionary perspective of psychology: explores how natural selection
affects the expression of
behavior and mental processes to increase survival and reproductive
success.
6.natural selection: A process in which individuals that have certain
inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other
individuals because of those traits.
7.eugenics: study of factors that influence the hereditary qualities of
the human race and ways to improve those qualities
8.twin studies: a common method of investigating whether nature or
nurture af- fects behavior
9.family studies: researchers assess hereditary influence by
examining blood relatives to see how much they resemble one
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, another on a specific trait
10.adoption studies: assess hereditary influence by examining the
resemblance between adopted children and both their biological and
their adoptive parents
11.central nervous system: brain and spinal cord; interacts with all
processes in the body.
12.peripheral nervous system: relays messages from the central nervous
system to the rest of the body and includes the autonomic and somatic
nervous systems.
13.Autonomic nervous system: governs processes that are involuntary
and in- cludes
the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
14.sympathetic nervous system: the division of the autonomic nervous
system that arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressful
situations
15.parasympathetic nervous system: the division of the autonomic
nervous sys- tem that calms the body, conserving its energy
16.somatic nervous system: the division of the peripheral nervous
system that controls the body's skeletal muscles; governs processes
that are voluntary.
17.neurons: neural cells that transmit information
18.Glial cells: cells in the nervous system that support, nourish, and
protect neu- rons
19.reflex arc: in the spinal cord; demonstrates how neurons within the
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