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| determined by the amount of melanin granules in the hair shaft's cortex. Reflectance also differs between hair colors. hair color is also complicated by age factors. |
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determined by the melanin in the various layers of the iris. If you have melanin only in the deepest layer, it leads to blue eyes. Increasing melanin content in the more superficial layers leads to colors from green to dark brown.
The amount of pigment in the iris helps limit the amount of light that reaches the retina. Differing amounts of pigment may provide adaptive advantages in different environments. |
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| a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment; it includes levels of acclimatization, developmental, and genetic |
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| at high altitudes, oxygen pressure is lower in the air, so the body has difficulty supplying itself with oxygen, leading to hypoxia |
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| a condition in which the body or a part of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply |
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the process in which a person adjusts to a gradual change in its environment, allowing it to maintain performance across a range of environmental conditions
At high altitudes --> respiration rate increases initially, but eventually returns to normal after a few days at high altitude. There are increased levels of Hb in the blood. RBC production increases and increased capillaries after three months. |
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| the maximum amount of air that can fill the lungs; lung capacity is greater in high altitude populations |
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| Energy availability is the key to predicting age of menarche (reproductive maturation). In reality, age of menarche has nothing to do with eight, skeletal growth may be more informative. |
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our traits are able to vary within a certain normal range; humans have evolved to possess the ability to react to the environment in both the short and long term
This can refer simply to the ability of the human body to react to environmental changes, or specifically to developmental changes in reaction to the environment.
Trade offs are an example |
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staying the same in a good range, with respect to temperature, chemical compositions of tissues and fluids, etc.
Your body is always adjusting itself to maintain equilibrium |
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the redistribution of heat away from extremities, cold induced 'cycling'; also called the "life or limb" response
In cold water, limbs cool down, but eventually warm up again, then cool back down. You can only do this for so long. It keeps you from freezing to death or losing limbs for as long as possible. |
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| selection for genes that maximizes the return on dietary components (fats, calories, salts, etc.) when they were available; this causes a person to develop diabetes, which is not advantageous now but may have been advantageous during the feast or famine age |
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| Cultural concepts of beauty |
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| Some cultures find heavier people more beautiful, while others favor skinny people. Other cultures believe that the skull was more beautiful if it was forced into unusual shapes during development: low / high, round / oval, etc. Brass rings for long necks, bound feed to cause concavity, body piercings, etc. |
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| Male vs Female investment in offspring |
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| For most organisms, females invest more in their offspring than the males...making them more choosey in mate choice. |
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| Differences in morphology (or behavior) between the sexes, often traced to basic differences between males and females in their investment in the offspring |
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If you are a male and you are competing over access to females, you can produce more of better sperm as another form of competition. This is common in primate groups where multiple males and females live in the same group and females will mate with multiple males when in estrous.
Humans produce a lot of sperm which suggests we have an evolutionary history in multi-male, multi-female sexual competition |
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| one male married to multiple females |
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| one male married to multiple females |
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| single female married to multiple males |
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| the sex-determining region of the Y gene, plays a major role in starting the cascade of gene action causing testes development; it also affects other genes that we didn't previously think were important in determining sex |
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| sexual dimorphism of the brain |
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Definition
Male brain: testosterone secreted into the blood reaches the brain, where it is converted to estradol and dihydrotestosterone. Estradiol masculinizes the brain.
Female brain: alpha-fetoprotein binds to estradiol, preventing it from entering the brain and protecting female brains from being masculinized by estradiol |
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| Cognitive and social sexual dimorphism |
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Definition
Men and women are basically the same cognitively and socially, but there are a few differences when we look at the averages.
Females outperform males on tests of verbal fluency, perceptual speed, written language, grammar, and arithmetic computation.
Males outperform females on tests of mathematical reasoning and spatial visualization.
Men have more difficulty recognizing facial expressions of sadness, yet use more of their brain to do it. |
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| Male preferences in waist-to-hip ratios |
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Definition
| Men prefer an hourglass shape, which is a low waist-to-hip ratio. This implies better fertility. |
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| Biological meaning of 'race' |
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Definition
| "a division of species that differs from other divisions by the frequency with which multiple hereditary traits appear among its members"; a classification of biologically similar populations who share similarities at MULTIPLE genes |
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| a gradual change in a character across the geographic range of a species (or population): gives a continuous range of measurements |
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| Discordance of traits among races |
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Definition
| When you map clines for multiple traits, you find that the clines disagree with each other. So if you use a particular trait to divide people into races, it will disagree with the distribution of variation at most other traits. |
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| Between vs. Among group variation and race |
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Definition
| More variation is found within groups than between them. Race only explains about 6% of human genetic diversity, so using race as a category ignores 94% of the variation |
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| a program used by forensic anthropologists to assist in creating a person's biological profile when only parts of the cranium are available. uses anthropometric measurements to help determine likely biological profiles (ancestry, stature, sex) -- max length, max breadth, orbital breadth and height, etc. |
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| the science of measuring skulls, chiefly to determine their characteristic relationship to sex, body type, or genetic population |
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Vikings settled Iceland in the 9th century and were relatively isolated until the 1900s, but now have over 275,000 citizens.
Used the Icelandic population because genetic variants that are correlated with disease are more easily recognized in a homogeneous population to identify candidate genes for dozens of diseases. |
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Definition
Research on Y chromosome variation in Eurasia has found an intriguing pattern that about .5% of the world male population possess Y lineage because when Kahn conquered a people, he often slaughtered all of the male residents and he was given first choice of the conquered women.
The lineage is likely carried by male-line descendants of Genghis Khan and his close relatives, and it has spread through social selection because of the power of allowing one male to have multiple wives and widespread rape in conquered cities. |
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| Social construction of race |
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Definition
how people identify themselves and who they associate themselves with is socially / culturally determined and sometimes depends on biological traits (like skin color)
Race is a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that member's of a society consider important.* |
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| Hypo-descent / one drop rule |
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Definition
| assigning mixed race individuals membership in the socially "subordinate" group; a single drop of 'black blood' makes a person black |
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| Race is not useful for classifying humans biologically, but is of much political importance |
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| subcategories of the mixed-race group in Brazil, each category having a different hair, skin, eye, nose, and lip variation. |
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| a single common factor accounted for positive correlations among various intelligence tests. Spearman regarded 'g' as the real essence of intelligence, inherently linked to abstract reasoning |
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Definition
the number someone earns on the standard intelligence tests, the mental age divided by the chronological age (x100); IQ reflects relative standing in an age group, not absolute achievement.
It is supposed to measure your general intelligence, but really measures your performance on a standardized test |
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| developed the now standard intelligence tests, involving analogies, patterns, and reasoning skills |
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| IQ is not really measuring something innate. A test measures performance. High performance does mean you have high abilities, but low performance does not necessarily mean you have low abilities. IQ tests measure performance. |
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Definition
The amount of total phenotypic variation that can be explained by genetic variation, NOT the degree to which the trait is genetically determined.
What proportion of a trait's variability is correlated with genetic variability as opposed to environmental variability; varies between zero to one |
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Definition
Identical twins conceived during the same pregnancy, with only one sperm and one egg that split apart to form separate embryos.
Used for twin studies because variation in phenotype is equal to variation in environment because there is no genetic variability |
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| Herrnstein and Murray's The Bell Curve |
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Definition
There are differences among races in average IQ. It has been suggested by some that these differences have social and political implications regarding policy on education, affirmative action, the legal system, and other aspects of our society.
They argued the IQ is both genetic and environmentally influenced. |
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Definition
| IQ goes up each generation. Environment is improving all around the world...this is why the Flynn Effect is a real thing. |
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Term
| Major Personality dimensions |
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Definition
| Personality has multiple dimensions: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychotism. These are divided into 11 primary personality dimensions |
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| Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire |
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Definition
| most common personality questionnaire; results are relatively valid |
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Term
| Twin studies and personality |
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Definition
| Twin studies have investigated possibly genetic effects on various personality traits / psychological variables using standardized tests. The results tell us that genes can influence certain aspects of personality, but it also tells us that environment plays a large part. Personality is a complex trait. |
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| A family founded by Martin Kallikak who was an upright citizen. He married a worthy Quakeress, but also dallied with a feeble minded tavern girl. The descendants from the good blood all turned out nice, but the descendants from the bad blood turned out bad and were a huge burden to society. This led to the eugenics movements because we needed to encourage the reproduction of people with good genes. |
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| Breeding for aggression in mice |
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| Mice starting out with the same average amount of aggression in the population. If you take top 10% of most aggressive and bottom 10% of least aggressive, over 10 generations you have one very aggressive population and a very passive population, implying aggression is genetic. |
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| Testosterone and aggression |
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Definition
| Higher levels of testosterone are associated with higher levels of aggression |
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| Subtraction and replacement paradigm |
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Definition
If you castrate a mouse, it stops producing testosterone. If you castrate them prior to puberty, they stop being aggressive.
Take testosterone away, see what happens. Give it back, see what happens. |
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Definition
Male aggressive behavior is inversely correlated with serotonin levels in the brain (less serotonin = more aggressive)
Serotonin might be more closely related to impulse control than to aggression. |
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| Impulsive behaviors / impulse control |
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Definition
Most examples of aggression are impulsive behaviors, which are physically aggressive, immediate responses to a stressful situation.
Serotonin might check impulse control. The default response might be aggression, which is checked by our impulse control when we have normal levels of serotonin, but goes unchecked if we don't have enough. |
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| Social experience and aggression |
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Definition
| The more social experience an individual has being aggressive prior to castration, the more likely that the behavior will exist. Social conditioning makes up for the lack of testosterone. |
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Term
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Definition
| You just need some testosterone and it permits aggressive behavior. The brain can't distinguish among a wide range of basically normal values. |
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| Testosterone levels in non-US human populations |
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Definition
| All males in some human populations (esp. hunter gatherers) have extremely low levels of testosterone, showing the normal range of variation in aggressive behavior. This is probably because they are in a calorie-restircted situation, so lower testosterone is favored. However, they are still aggressive. Aggression is seen at all levels of testosterone. |
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| A gene on the X chromosome (sex-linked) that breaks down neurotransmitters, allowing you to get rid of serotonin. This implies a potential link between aggression and a defect in the MAOA gene. Aggression is a complex trait |
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Definition
| Serotonin, exerts inhibitory control over impulsive aggression. Increased 5-HT receptor activation decreases aggression. |
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Definition
| MAOA activity was associated with antisocial and aggressive behaviors, but ONLY if you lived in a family where you were mistreated. Happy childhood, don't worry about MAOA. Environment and genes are interacting. |
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Definition
| Thought to be the aggression center and is involved with associating stimuli with reward and punishment. It is possibly to increase aggression by modulation of amygdala. |
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Definition
| damage to frontal cortex is associated with increased risk of reactive aggression in humans; higher level executive function, including behavior and emotions |
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Definition
| many death row inmates and prisoners have had a history of head injury |
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| Reactive vs. Instrumental Aggression |
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Definition
Reactive: this aggression involves unplanned, enraged attacks on the object perceived to the the source of the threat or frustration
Instrumental: this aggression is purposeful, goal directed, and can be described as cold-blooded (involves executive function) |
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| pathological vs normal behavior |
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Definition
pathological: behavior that no longer achieves the desired result or is not justified by external circumstances
Normal: consistent with the most common behavior for that person |
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Term
| sexual orientation heritability |
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Definition
| heritability's range between .27 to .76, but this appears to vary by sex; different exposure to hormones in utero |
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Definition
| the third interstitial nucleus, which is normally larger in men than in women, but in gay men is the same size as in women. The hypothalamus plays a role in sexual motivation, but this doesn't prove that this is related to being gay. |
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Definition
| A chromosome band and genetic marker situated on the tip of the X chromosome. It seems to be consistent with some forms of homosexual behavior, but only in men. |
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