This document contains extensive notes of the lectures and summaries of the subjects in the book that are not discussed during the lecture. A lot of pictures are included with explanations. The focus is on the lectures, therefore I seperated the the lectures from the things that are from the book. ...
Everything is in it, lecture notes are very clear and well and the book is well summarized
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Lectures and book Behavior genetics in
Psychology
,Index
Lecture 1A – Ch2: Historical perspective and Ch3: Mendel’s laws and beyond ................................... 5
Historical perspective ..................................................................................................................... 5
Mendel ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Mendelian disorders ..................................................................................................................... 10
Things from the book.................................................................................................................... 13
Lecture 2A – The biological basis of heredity ...................................................................................... 16
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 16
DNA/RNA structure ...................................................................................................................... 19
DNA replication ............................................................................................................................. 20
Gene expression ........................................................................................................................... 21
Chromosome structure and function ........................................................................................... 24
Molecular basis of biological variation ........................................................................................ 24
Lab techniques .............................................................................................................................. 25
Things from the book (Chapter 4: DNA)....................................................................................... 26
Lecture 2B – Ch6: Nature, nurture, and human behavior and Ch7: Estimating genetic and
environmental influences ..................................................................................................................... 28
Extremes of Nurture ..................................................................................................................... 28
Extremes of Nature ....................................................................................................................... 29
Estimating genetic and environmental influences ...................................................................... 31
Adoption studies ........................................................................................................................... 31
Twin studies .................................................................................................................................. 33
Heritability .................................................................................................................................... 34
Things from the book (Chapter 6 and 7) ...................................................................................... 37
Assignment 3A .............................................................................................................................. 40
Lecture 3A – Interplay of genes and environment .............................................................................. 41
Gene-Environment CORRELATION ............................................................................................... 41
Gene-Environment INTERACTION ................................................................................................ 48
Exam example questions + Assignment 3B.................................................................................. 50
Things from the book (Chapter 8 The interplay between genes and environment) .................. 52
Lecture 3B – The basis of contemporary genetic analysis................................................................... 54
Background ................................................................................................................................... 54
HOW do we do genetic association studies? ............................................................................... 56
Why do we do genetic association studies? ................................................................................ 59
Things from the book (Chapter 9 Identifying genes) ................................................................... 63
Lecture 4A – Adult psychopathologies................................................................................................. 65
, Diagnosing mental disorders ........................................................................................................ 65
Schizophrenia ................................................................................................................................ 67
Depression .................................................................................................................................... 69
Bipolar disorder ............................................................................................................................ 70
Generalized anxiety disorder ....................................................................................................... 71
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) .......................................................................................... 71
Eating disorders ............................................................................................................................ 72
Final thoughts ............................................................................................................................... 73
Things from the book (Chapter 13 Schizophrenia and chapter 14 Other adult psychopathology)
....................................................................................................................................................... 74
Lecture 4B – Cognitive (Dis)abilities..................................................................................................... 77
IQ ................................................................................................................................................... 77
School achievement...................................................................................................................... 80
Practice question .......................................................................................................................... 82
Knowledge clip Assortative mating.............................................................................................. 82
Knowledge clip GWAS of cognition and educational attainment ............................................... 83
Things from the book (Chapter 11 Cognitive abilities and Chapter 12 Cognitive disabilities)... 84
Lecture 5A – Chapter 10 Pathways between genes and behavior...................................................... 87
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 87
What is epigenetics? ..................................................................................................................... 88
Epigenetic mechanisms ................................................................................................................ 90
Environment and epigenetics ....................................................................................................... 92
Epigenome-wide Association Studies .......................................................................................... 94
Epigenetic studies of monozygotic twins ..................................................................................... 95
Brain and behavior (aggression) .................................................................................................. 96
Things from the book (Chapter 10) .............................................................................................. 98
Lecture 5B – Substance (ab)use.......................................................................................................... 101
Alcohol ........................................................................................................................................ 101
Smoking ....................................................................................................................................... 106
Cannabis ...................................................................................................................................... 107
Which genes are involved and GxE interaction ......................................................................... 108
Exam questions ........................................................................................................................... 112
Things from the book (Chapter 17 Substance use disorder) ..................................................... 113
Lecture 6A – Chapter 16 Personality and personality disorders ....................................................... 114
Personality .................................................................................................................................. 114
Environmental influences on personality .................................................................................. 116
, Sexual orientation....................................................................................................................... 118
Political preference and religiousness ....................................................................................... 120
Personality disorders .................................................................................................................. 121
Things from the book (Chapter 16) ............................................................................................ 122
Lecture 6B – Health behavior and aging ............................................................................................ 124
Height (an aspect of body composition) .................................................................................... 124
BMI (an aspect of body composition) ........................................................................................ 126
Aging – Longevity ........................................................................................................................ 134
Exam questions ........................................................................................................................... 135
Things from the book (Chapter 18 Health psychology and Chapter 19 Aging) ........................ 135
7A – Chapter 15 Developmental Psychopathology ........................................................................... 138
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ............................................................................................... 138
Autism: Causes ............................................................................................................................ 139
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) ...................................................................... 142
ADHD: Causes.............................................................................................................................. 143
Things from the book (Chapter 15) ............................................................................................ 145
Lecture 7B – Chapter 20 The future of behavior genetics ................................................................. 147
Things from the book (Chapter 20) ............................................................................................ 151
Practice exam ...................................................................................................................................... 153
,Lecture 1A – Ch2: Historical perspective and Ch3: Mendel’s laws and
beyond
Historical perspective
Main goal of the course → Understanding behavior genetics for humans → Behavior genetics tries
to understand the influences of genetics on our behavior.
Historical perspective
- Where do the differences between living organisms come from?
o In other words, why are you NOT a cow?
▪ The answer that it is just because of genetics is a too simple answer.
- Because even within species there are similarities but also differences.
o Where do all our similarities come from?
▪ Gossiping is seen across many different cultures and societies for example.
o Where do all our differences come from?
▪ People have different personalities for example.
- Main question → What are the experiences around you when you grew up and what are the
things you inherit that makes the similarities and differences between human beings?
- People want to know how the world works for a very long time → Because of this we also
made many mistakes.
o It’s a hard (but insightful!) exercise to imagine why we thought the way we did. And
why we made mistakes.
o “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” – Mark Twain (?)
o When looking at the errors made in the past it is very important to look at what kind
of knowledge the people had at that time (the limited knowledge they had).
Ancient world → Parents pass on characteristics to offspring.
- Pythagoras suggested that the father supplies the essential characteristics (“form”) and the
mother supplies the material building blocks.
- Aristotle thought children were made from “purified blood from the testes” (semen) and
menstrual blood.
o Why menstrual blood? → When you are pregnant you don’t expel menstrual
blood anymore so menstrual blood must be used to make the baby.
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632 – 1723) en Nicolaas Hartsoeker (1656 – 1725)
- These two Dutch scientists invented the microscope and started the field of microbiology.
- They developed/refined the Theory of Preformationism → We all come from miniature
versions of ourselves → Sperm contain complete preformed individuals called
“homunculus".
o What are the flaws with that theory? (and a benefit?).
▪ The theory does not take in the influence of the environment in the
development of the person.
▪ The theory does not include the female input → If the theory was
right then why are there females because they are not useful.
• They said the woman gives support to the miniature version
→ The egg gives nutrients.
, ▪ If the father pass on the traits (miniature version of himself), how can ever
be a daughter born?
▪ If the theory would be true, all the offspring should look just like the father
→ Clones.
• The scientists argued that there were some differences between the
homunculus that are inside your body and therefore the offspring
are not really clones of the father.
▪ The scientists did not have the empirical evidence that there really was a
miniature version of us because they never really saw the homunculus.
▪ If the miniature versions are already preformed, there should be a
homunculus inside the homunculus and in this homunculus should also
contain a homunculus → You need infinitive amount of homunculus inside
the homunculus.
▪ Benefit:
• At the time this theory was created, scientists were convinced that
nature worked according to the descriptions in the Bible and this
theory fitted therefore very well with the story of Adam and Eve →
Theory fit well with church.
Francis Galton (1822 – 1911)
- Galton founded psychometrics (the science of measuring mental faculties), differential
psychology (differences between people), and behavior genetics.
- He studied twins and family trees (pedigree) to understand hereditary/genetic influences
→ To look at how traits were passed on.
- “There are twins of the same sex so alike in body and mind that not even their own mothers
can distinguish them. Their features, voice, and expressions are similar; they see things in the
same light, and their ideas follow the same laws of association.”
- One of Francis Galton studies was about eminent status.
o Eminent status → Gaining status by becoming a lawyer for example.
o When someone has eminent status, eminent status was more
likely to appear in close relatives, with the likelihood of eminence
decreasing as the degree of relationship became more remote.
▪ “Nature prevails enormously over nurture.”
▪ If you are a lawyer, it will be more likely that your kids will
also be a lawyer than other distant relatives.
o But he also acknowledged that parents not only pass on their genes
to their kids but also their environment and experiences.
- Galton was also famous for the eugenics review.
o The study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase
the occurrence of heritable characteristics that are desirable.
Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)
- His work forever changed all research fields that deal with life on Earth →
From Biochemistry to Social Psychology and more.
- Voyage of the Beagle (1831 – 1836).
o The most important trip in all of science!
o Darwin’s father objected to the voyage, regarding it as a waste of time.
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