PSY 2114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Human Hair Color, Theoretical Ecology, Scientific Method

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2114
• Professor: Wendy Lee

Document Summary

Psy2114 lecture 1 nature vs nurture & research methods. An approach that considers the importance of the relationship between the environment, the mental processes, the biology and age. Dilemma as to establish whether some traits and characteristics are innate (genes) or the consequences of external stimuli. Some traits are easy to define for example: hair color = nature, eye color = nature. Others are more ambiguous: weight = nature + nurture. Intelligence = nature + nurture: depression = nature + nurture, openness = nature + nurture, schizophrenia = nature + nurture. Both the biology and the environment interact in the development and can affect each other. The environment can modify the human body and vice-versa. For instance, diet can affect the growth of an individual as well as a gene mutation error (pku). Identical twins only have 50 % chance of getting schizophrenia if one gets the diagnosis even thought their genes are copies.