HOW GENES INFLUENCE THE ENVIRONMENT

Genes influence the environment or one’s experiences by determining the kind of experience
that child has. The child's genes or nature/genotype or unique characteristics forces the child
to have some experiences but not others, thereby influencing the child.
Genes can influence a child's environment or experiences in three ways:

1. evocative genotype-environment interaction

2. Active genotype-environment Interaction
3. Passive Genotype-environment interaction

1.Evocative Genotype-environment interaction

Evocative occurs when a child's genotype evolves certain types of responses or behaviours
from parents. Imagine an active and smiling infant and a passive and dull infant. The active
and smiling infant often receives more social stimulation and attention than the dull child.
The nature of the passive or active child is partially due to the gene that's determined by their
parents. In other words, your genotype determines your past or partly due to heredity.
A child who loves having parents read picture books will make parents eager to read to her or
him often. In contrast, if a child squirms more during reading, parents may not take the child
to read in future. in other words, a child's own unique nature or hereditary or genotype forces
him or her to have certain kinds of experiences but not others which in turns affects or
influence his or her own development.

2. Active genotype-environment Interaction

It occurs when children actively or deliberately seek out environment or experiences that fits
or relates to their genotype. This process of deliberately seeking environment or experiences
that fits or compatible with their genetic endowment is also known as Niche-Picking. For
example, a child who's outgoing or an extrovert partly due to hereditary will seek the
company of people like himself. In contrast, an introverted child that's a child concerned
more with his or her own thoughts and feelings than with the outside world seeks quiets
environment like playing alone or computer games etc.

3. Passive Genotype-Environment Interaction

It occurs when parents create a rearing environment for the child in which particular abilities,
characteristics or skills can be developed. for example, a parent who wants the child to
become a pilot will provide toys and materials related to flying early in their childhood,
hoping that the child will become a pilot in future. Most often, but not always, the
environment created by the parents usually reflects the parents own genotype.

Passive-Active Child Are children simply at the mercy of the environment or children
influence their own development due to their own unique genetic endowment. Parents are the
source of not only their children's needs but also the primary source of children's experience
or environment. No children have native control over the environment or experiences. The
rearing environment is provided primarily by their parents. consequently, passive interaction
dominates during early years of childhood. During these years, children are almost similar
because their home environment are similar. As they grow old, they become more
independent of their environment. They actively seek environments and experiences related
to their own genetic nature or genotype because of their active genotype-environment
Interaction are different. They choose different mission or experiences and their selection or
choices are driven in parts by the different genotypes. In addition, their own unique nature
forces them to experience certain types of experience but not others from people around them
which is evocative interaction. So children or people influence their own development
throughout their lives as a result of evocative and active genotype-environment Interaction.
passive interaction dominates during the early years of childhood because those children do
not have control over their environmental exposure which is generated by their parents.
However, as children grow and become growth independent and get exposed to different
experiences or environment, they tend to seek or deliberately choose environments or
experiences that relates to their genetic endowment. In effect, as children grow, they become
dissimilar because their active genotype-environment interaction are dissimilar because their
genotype are different.

Exercise.
If a set of identical twins are put in a different environment, is there a possibility for them to
show similar experiences or characteristics. explain. Or given what you know, about
genotype-environment interaction, in development, explain why identical twins even if
they're separated from parents, they can become more similar like their own siblings.

How the Environment Influences Genes.