1. Chapter 2
Biopsychology

2. What is Biopsychology?
Biopsychology – The specialty in psychology that studies the interaction of biology, behavior, and the environment
Neuroscience – Interdisciplinary field that focuses on the brain and its role in psychological processes

3. How Are Genes and Behavior Linked?
Evolution has fundamentally shaped psychological processes because it favors genetic variations that produce adaptive behavior

4. How Are Genes and Behavior Linked?
Innate – Inborn; present at birth; part of the organism’s biological heritage
Evolution – The gradual process of biological change that occurs in a species as it adapts to its environment

5. Evolution and Natural Selection
Natural selection – The driving force behind evolution, by which the environment “selects” the fittest organisms

6. How Natural Selection Works
Environmental pressure
(changes in the environment)
Competition
(for resources)
Selection of fittest phenotype
(from among a variety of phenotypes)
Reproductive success
(genotype corresponding to fittest
phenotypes passed to next generation)
Frequency of that genotype increases
(in next generation)

7. Genes and Inheritance Genotype – An organism’s genetic makeup
Phenotype – An organism’s observable physical characteristics

8. Genes and Inheritance
Mutations – Genetic variations, which occur randomly, especially during the recombination of chromosomes in sexual reproduction

9. Chromosomes, Genes, and DNA
DNA – A long, complex molecule that encodes genetic characteristics
Genes – The functional units of a chromosome
Composed of nucleotides

10. Chromosomes, Genes, and DNA
Chromosomes – Tightly coiled threadlike structures along which the genes are organized
Sex chromosomes – The X and Y chromosomes that determine our physical sex characteristics

11. Genetic Explanations for Psychological Processes
Genes influence our psychological characteristics as well as our physical traits

12. Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2006
End of Chapter 2
Section 2.1
Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2006