1. Nature & Nurture
How much of what you are came from your parents, and how much from growing up?

3. Genes & environment interaction (Nature & Nurture)
Size can be a result of biology (genetics) and the environment.
Fish in a pond
Plants in soil

4. Social environment

5. Prenatal environment E.g. Fetal alcohol syndrome
Children having physical and cognitive abnormalities because their mothers drank heavily during pregnancy
When genetically female child receives excess testosterone during fetal development, she is more likely to be aggressive.

6. Your Biological Blueprint (Nature)
Cell - Chromosomes (DNA) - Genes

7. Your Biological Blueprint
Genome = The genetic material in your chromosomes
Genetic mutations = Random gene replication errors
E.g. 100 copies

8. Behavioral Genetics Separating genetics from nurture
Identical twins, reared apart (as opposed to those raised together) highlight the importance (or lack of) of genetic predispositions

9. Do you remember?
What are examples of how genes and the environment interact?
What is your genome?
What are genetic mutations?
How could we do a study to separate the effects of genetics from nurturing?

10. How much of you is an interaction of nature and nurture?
E.g. Tall people are more common as Presidents and CEO’s of corporations
E.g. Children that are physically different in some way (Nature) can result in being teased and rejected by classmates (Nurture) = Shyness
E.g. Rats in an enriched environment grew more synapses

11. Does evolution affect how I think? (Evolutionary Psychology)
Ask yourself…
Does evolution affect how I think? (Evolutionary Psychology)
E.g. Men more likely than women to initiate casual sex. Why?
Biologically, it is a more successful reproductive strategy for men than women.
© Robert J. Atkins, Ph.D.

12. Culture and development
Parents can most effectively influence their children by helping to select their children’s friends (peers)

13. How does my culture affect me?
Ask yourself…
How does my culture affect me?
Norms
*Covering your mouth when you cough
*Elevator behavior
*Clothing
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth”

14. Do you remember?
How do nature and nature interact to create a confident personality or grow more synapses in the brain?
Can you give an example of the evolutionary theory of sexual behavior?
How do social norms affect your behavior?

15. How does your personality change as you age?
As people progress through adulthood:
Women = more assertive
Men = more empathetic

16. Does culture make you romantic?
Romance is emphasized more in countries that emphasize individualism.
India arranged marriage example

17. How does your gender affect your behavior?
Each gender behaves the way it is expected in that culture.
Daughters cry = Dad’s comfort
Boys cry = “Big boys don’t cry”
Women = “Tend & befriend” more than men.

18. Personal space
Cultural differences

19. Do you remember?
How do people’s personality change throughout adulthood?
How are individualism and romance related?
How do gender roles affect your behavior?
How do the sexes differ in “tend & befriend” behavior?
What is the concept of personal space?