Explain how adoption, twin, and family studies shed light on the contributions of genetics and the environment to a person's development.
What will be an ideal response?
- Monozygotic twins share 100 percent of their genes in common, whereas dizygotic twins and non-twin siblings share 50 percent of their genes, and strangers share 0 percent of their genes. These facts set the stage for investigating the roles of genetics and the environment in shaping development.
- Monozygotic twins raised in the same environment wouldn't allow for the disentangling of genetic and environmental influences, given that both genes and environment are relatively constant for this group. However, monozygotic twins raised in different adoptive environments would allow an estimation of the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to development; genes are identical, environment differs.
- Comparing monozygotic and dizygotic twins within relatively the same environment allows for an estimation of genetic contributions; here genes differ (100 percent versus 50 percent) but environment stays the same.
- Comparing strangers within the same environment provides similar information; here there is no genetic overlap and constancy in the environment.
- One might imagine an "ideal" family composed of one set of monozygotic twins, one set of dizygotic twins, two non-twin siblings, two adopted siblings, and two non-sibling adoptees! All combinations of genetic and environmental experience could presumably be investigated.
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Which of the following is true of ability tests other than the Binet and Wechsler tests?
a. Nearly all yield scores that are directly comparable to the results of the Binet and/or Wechsler tests. b. Nearly all are very easy to administer and require only brief training. c. Because most focus on the needs of children with disabilities, they are nearly all non-verbal and require simple responses. d. While some focus on a wide range of abilities, most focus on a narrow range.
Dr. Van Winkle claims that dreams are nothing more than random activity in the brain. He believes in which theory of dreams?
A. Freudian B. restorative C. activation-synthesis D. behavioral
Which statement is true? ?
a. ?The APA regards homosexuality as a mental disorder. b. ?As of 2014, the U.S. federal government affords the same rights to same-sex couples as opposite-sex couples. c. ?Gays and lesbians have the same legal protection under United States law as other minorities. d. ?The children of gay and lesbian parents show adjustment and developmental problems.
In order to find new ways to open a can, a group leader asks his team of inventors to think of "opening" in general rather than asking them to come up with a better way to open a can. In doing so, this group leader will
a. encourage creativity since he broadly defined the problem. b. discourage creativity because he defined the problem too broadly. c. encourage the use of mental sets, thus, encouraging creativity. d. prevent incubation of the problem, thus, discouraging creativity.