Genetic

influences on
Behaviour

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 Genetic influence
• If you speak loudly like your father,
is it because you have inherited a
loud voice from him or you have
learned to talk that way by living
with him?

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 What is inherited?
• Children inherit many of their
physical characteristics from their
parents
• Light or dark skin; blue or brown
eyes, tall or short stature
• Many aspects of human behaviour
are also inherited

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 What is inherited?
• Research on genetic influence on
animal behaviour – nest-building
behaviour of birds
• Humans – do not inherit specific
patterns of behaviour
• Psychologists are unsure of the effect
of heredity on behaviour

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 Biological Mechanisms of
Inheritance
• Genetic Codes: For a long time many
wondered how inherited
characteristics are passed from
generation to generation
• Many thought it was through blood
• It was later discovered that
inheritance operates through genetic
material, called genes
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 Biological Mechanisms of
Inheritance
• Genes were found in the nuclei of all
human cells
• This was guessed by an Austrian
monk, Gregor Mendel
• Mendel’s theory – based on the study
of pea plants
• If the parents pass on conflicting
genes, only the dominant genes
would show their traits
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 Genes, chromosomes, and
DNA
• The cells of the body contain
microscopic structures called
chromosomes
• Chromosomes consist of long strands
of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA for
short
• DNA molecule has the double-helix
shape
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 Structure of DNA
• DNA molecule

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 Genes, chromosomes, and
DNA
• DNA – shape of two curved rails of a
ladder type connected at intervals by
basic pairs of adenine, thymine,
guanine and cystine that code
genetic information
• The sequence of these pairs
containing the necessary information
is called the gene

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 Genes, chromosomes, and
DNA
• Genes are the basic biological
units of inheritance
• After fertilisation, the zygote
contains 46 chromosomes united in
pairs, 23 from the sperm and 23
from the ovum

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 Dominant and Recessive
Genes
• 23 chromosomes that you receive
from your mother are matched to
the 23 that you get from your father
• If there is a conflict, for example, the
mother’s gene for eye colour is blue
while from the father is brown, the
dominant gene will take over,
which is brown

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 Dominant and Recessive
Genes
• The other gene, in this case of blue
eyes is called the recessive gene
• Dominant gene normally reveals its
trait whenever it is present while the
recessive gene reveals its trait only
when the same recessive gene is
inherited from both parents

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 Dominant and Recessive
Genes
• Examples of dominant traits – brown
eyes, dark hair, curly hair, and
dimples
• Chromosomal abnormalities can
cause abnormalities of body and
behaviour
• Example: Down syndrome or
formerly known as mongolism
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 Influence of genes on
behaviour
• Genes play their roles by influencing the
synthesis (or creation) of proteins in cells,
which influences the nature of the type of
cells that are our neurons
• The nature of our neurons is also affected
by our experiences in the environment
• The nature of the neurons then works
with the environment to shape our
behaviour and mental processes

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 Studies on twins
• 2 kinds of twins:
• Identical or monozygotic – a
single fertilized egg breaks into two
clusters
• Fraternal or dizygotic twins: the
female produces two separate eggs
that are fertilized by two different
sperms
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 Studies on twins
• The two babies born are not
genetically identical
• Intelligence is or IQ is partly
determined by heredity
• Monozygotic twins have almost
identical IQ scores
• The difference of IQ of dizygotic
twins does not differ much from
other siblings
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 Adopted children
• Shows that inheritance influences
behaviour
• IQs of children are similar to that of their
parents
• Both heredity and environment influence
IQ
• The role of heredity is a strong one
• IQs of adopted children are more similar
to that of their biological parents
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 Genetic influence
• Since the time of Plato, it has been
suspected that positive and negative
characteristics of our personalities and
even psychological disorders might be
influenced by genetic factors
• Until now there is no solid evidence to
support this hypothesis
• However, there is strong evidence that
show that both heredity and experience
influence our personality

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 Genetic influence
• But this finding of the influence of
heredity on our personality does not
mean that the aspects concerned
cannot be changed
• Environmental factors can influence
inherited tendencies
• Heredity and experience work
together to influence our
psychological characteristics
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 Genetic influence
• Characteristics influenced by
inheritance – intelligence, aspects of
personality, and some aspects of
abnormal behaviour
• Compared to animals we learn and
make varied decisions and choices in
our lifetime to shape our personality

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 Questions
1. The genetic code is contained in
segments of DNA called

A. Genes
B. Mitochondria
C. Neurons
D. Hormones

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 Questions
2. A trait that will be found in a child only
when the child receives the same gene
for the same trait from both parents is a
____trait
A. Recessive
B. Dominant
C. Mendelian
D. dizygotic

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 Questions
3. To study inheritance in humans, scientists often
study twins because one type of twins is
genetically identical, whereas the other type
shares only about 50 percent of the same
genes; the type of twin that is genetically
identical is called
A. Mendelian
B. Adopted
C. Monozygotic
D. dizygotic

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THANK YOU

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