subject: psychology of Human Differences The purpose of this paper is to prompt
ID: 3462057 • Letter: S
Question
subject: psychology of Human Differences
The purpose of this paper is to prompt you to consider the factors and forces of Behavioral Genetics and how it has influenced your being the person you are today.
Section One:Discuss the passive genotype correlation as it pertains to parents and it's influence on you. Our parents provide an environment in which we develop but the environment they provide "passive represents their genetic make up. Describe the environment your parents provided and how it represented their genetic endowments. How did this affect you? Did it support your genetic endowments or challenge them or both?
Section two:Discuss the Evocative Genotype-Environment correlation in regards to your genetic make up. Cite and describe at least 2 different aspects/ examples of your genetic features and how these evoked responses from others.
Section three: Consider the Active genotype environment interactions. How did your genetic features affect your behaviors? what environments did you seek to express your natural endowments?The expression of a genetic characteristic can be triggered by one's environment! You can cite the same features you did in section two, but add at least one additional genetic trait that you have not this far mentioned. We all have many,many genetically-based skill sets, or behaviors that seek environments that allow us to express them.
Length of Paper: 5 pages
Explanation / Answer
section one:Psychosocial risk factors for psychiatric illness are moderately heritable. This has two implications: first, that individuals actively shape their environments through heritable behaviour; second, that the relationship between environmental exposure and psychopathology may be confounded by genotypeThere are three types of genotype–environment correlation (passive, evocative, and active)
Passive genotype–environment correlation refers to the association between the genotype a child inherits from his or her parents and the environment in which the child is raised. For example, because parents who have histories of antisocial behaviour (which is moderately heritable) are at increased risk of abusing their children, maltreatment may be a marker for genetic risk that parents transmit to children rather than a causal risk factor for children’s conduct problems
In developmental psychology, the parents are viewed as a major source of environmental influence.Many measures of home environment directly assess parental behaviors – parental responsiveness, for example. Parental behavior assessed on measures of home environment might well reflect organismic characteristics, such as the personality of the parents, as well as that of the children. Although other measures of the home environment parental education and occupation, and the perennial item, the number of books in the home assess parental behavior less obviously and are unlikely to be influenced by characteristics of children, these measures may nonetheless reflect such organismic characteristics of parents as their IQ. Environmental measures outside the home (e.g., peers, life events, and social support) might also involve characteristics of the organism, as individuals select, modify, and even create their environments.
The environment your parents provided will support your genetic endowments or challenge them or both?
There is clear evidence that parents can and do influence children. There is equally clear evidence that children’s genetic makeup affects their own behavioral characteristics, and also influences the way they are treated by their parents. Twin and adoption studies provide a sound basis for estimating the strength of genetic effects, although heritability estimates for a given trait vary widely across samples, and no one estimate can be considered definitive. This chapter argues that knowing only the strength of genetic factors, however, is not a sufficient basis for estimating environmental ones and indeed, that attempts to do so can systematically underestimate parenting effects. Children’s genetic predispositions and their parents’ childrearing regimes are seen to be closely interwoven, and the ways in which they function jointly to affect children’s development are explored.
In recent decades, there has been a countervailing ground swell of research and theorizing about nature—the genetic endowment of parents and children as exerting a powerful influence on the characteristics that children develop. Of course, for many decades, elementary psychology textbooks have carried tables comparing identical and fraternal twins with respect to their degree of similarity on IQ or other traits. Studies of adopted children were also widely reported many years ago, and inferences were routinely drawn from both twin and adoption studies concerning the importance of genetic factors in development. Still, for many years, thinking remained largely compartmentalized, and readers continued to believe in both the importance of genetic factors and the importance of socialization factors as though they were in no way incompatible. In recent years, however, there has been more sophisticated work in behavior genetics, and there are insistent voices claiming that the findings from this work are indeed incompatible with many widely-held views about the power of within-family socialization.
section two:Evocative (or reactive) genotype–environment correlation refers to the association between an individual’s genetically influenced behaviour and other's reactions to that behaviour. For example, although arguing with a spouse may result in someone becoming depressed, it is equally plausible that individuals who are prone to depression tend to provoke arguments with significant others, calling into question the direction of the effect.
The behavior genetic literature suggests that genetically influenced characteristics of the child elicit specific behaviors from the parent. However, little is known about the processes by which genetically influenced child characteristics evoke parental responses. Interpersonal theory provides a useful framework for identifying reciprocal behavioral processes between children and mothers. The theory posits that, at any given moment, interpersonal behavior varies along the orthogonal dimensions of warmth and control and that the interpersonal behavior of one individual tends to elicit corresponding or contrasting behavior from the other (i.e., warmth elicits warmth, whereas control elicits submission). A computer joystick was used to rate videos of mother-child interactions in real time, yielding information on mother and child levels of warmth and control throughout the interaction. Analyses indicated that maternal control, but not maternal warmth, was influenced by evocative gene-environment correlational processes, such that genetic influences on maternal control and child control were largely overlapping. Moreover, these common genetic influences were present both cross-sectionally and over the course of the interaction. Such findings not only confirm the presence of evocative gene-environment correlational processes in the mother-child relationship but also illuminate at least one of the specific interpersonal behaviors that underlie this evocative process.
section three:Active (or selective) genotype–environment correlation refers to the association between an individual’s genetic propensities and the environmental niches that individual selects. For example, individuals who are characteristically extroverted may seek out very different social environments than those who are shy and withdrawn. These forms of genotype–environment correlation differ from gene–environment interaction, which refers to genetic differences in sensitivity to particular environmental effects. Genotype–environment correlations explain why individuals who have a genetic propensity to engage in sensation-seeking behaviours affiliate with drug-abusing peers.
Evidence that Genes Affect Human Behavior
The study of identical twins reared apart is a natural experiment where two individuals with exactly the same genes grow up in different environments. If they turn out to be similar, then the similarity can be attributed to genotype.
Behavior geneticists concluded that genetics plays a big role in personality, accounting for about half of the differences in personality test results and even more of the differences in IQ scores.
Apart from these scientific findings, researchers were impressed by many obvious similarities between twins when they were reunited for the first time after being separated from birth. Many of the pairs dressed similarly, or had the same haircut, or glasses. They described remarkable similarities in hobbies and interests. One pair reported that they were the only ones in their neighborhood to construct a circular bench around a tree in their back yard.
Genetic trait's
Active genotype–environment correlation starts around the ages of 8-9 and is when children begin to seek out situations and environments ('niches') that are compatible with their genotype. These niches that are chosen will strengthen the gene expression.
For instance, a child who is naturally athletic may begin to start playing sports in a more serious manner at this point in their lives. Or a child who is outgoing and talkative may seek out highly social activities while a child who is more introverted may be more interested in science or reading.
Some people are born with greater potential, but without hard work and practising their talent will come to nothing. Music is a good example, with some evidence of genetic differences. For example, a study of 500 twins found that 80 per cent of tone deafness is inherited. Another found genes associated with serotonin release, which were related to musical creativity.
Chess is another good example: an analysis of 14 studies of top chess players and musicians concluded that only about 30 per cent of the variation between performers could be accounted for by their hours of practice. In contrast, a study of British musicians found that top performers had practised a lot more, but learned no faster than less skilled players.
A popular theory is that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something, and there is probably a degree of truth in this. But if your genes give you an aptitude for and enjoyment of chess, maths, music or football, you are surely more likely to put in those long hours.
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