Heredity

PREPARED BY :MS/ GHADA

ELSAYED
Heredity and Environment

To understand the effects of “nature and nurture” on human

development, some scholars have studied identical twins
separated at birth and adopted by different families. One
important study by Peter Neubauer used adopted twins without
their knowledge. These studies revealed that even twins
separated at birth share some characteristics with their siblings
years later. This proves that while some traits are genetically
inherited, others are learned from the environment in which a
child is raised.
Nature Versus Nurture
A personality is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes,
beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual.

Nature Nurture
• Heredity is the transmission of • Social environment can imprint
genetic characteristics from characteristics on a child
parents to children • Pavlov’s experiments showed
• Instinct is an unchanging that behavior could be taught
biologically inherited behavior • Most social scientists believe
• Sociobiology searches for the personality arises from a
biological basis of all social mixture of both nature and
behavior nurture
Factors in Personality Development
Heredity Birth Order
• Characteristics present at birth • Personalities are influenced by
include hair type, eye color, and brothers and sisters.
certain aptitudes. • Early-born siblings have different
• Biological needs include hunger traits than later-born siblings.
and thirst.
• Culture decides how you will use or
satisfy hereditary characteristics.

Parental Characteristics The Cultural Environment

• Age, level of education, religious • Each culture has set “model
orientation, economic status, personalities.”
cultural heritage, and occupation of • Individuals experience a culture in
parents can shape personalities of different ways.
children.
Influence of Social Environment

• Feral children and those with very little contact with a social
environment do not develop skills such as walking or language.
• In some instances, remedial therapy can allow isolated children to
develop language and social skills..

• Studies show that a lack of human contact can result in

developmental abnormalities as well as death.
The Social Self
• Through socialization, people learn the basic values and
behavior patterns of a culture and develop a sense of
self.
• John Locke believed that humans were blank slates that
could be socialized to have any type of character.
• According to Charles Horton Cooley, we develop our
sense of self through an interactive process based on
how we think we appear to others.
The Social Self
• George Herbert Mead proposed that we are socialized
through a three-step process called role-taking, in which
we learn to internalize the expectations of society.
• Sociologist Erving Goffman developed the theory of
impression management, in which the self that we
present to the world changes based on circumstance.
The Development of Self
Socialization is the interactive process through which
people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior
patterns of a society. There are many theories of how
individuals gain a self, or distinct identity that separates
you from other members of society.

Locke: The Tabula Rasa Cooley: The Looking-Glass Self

• A “clean slate” onto which • Process by which we develop
anything can be written an idea of self based on how
• Believed adults could shape we think we appear to others
newborns’ personality • Three-step process
• Absorb the aspects of the • Begins in infancy but continues
culture they are in contact with throughout life
Mead: Role-Taking
• Seeing ourselves as others see us is first step
• Eventually take on, or pretend to take on, the roles of others (role-
taking)
• Significant others are the people who are closest to us: parents,
siblings, and others who directly influence our socialization
• As an individual ages, significant others grow less important
• Generalized other is the internalized attitudes, expectations and
viewpoints of society
• Children under three can only imitate the actions of others
• Self consists of “I” and “me”
– The “I” is the unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of
personality
– The “me” is the part that is aware of the expectations and attitudes of
society—the socialized self
 Section 3 at a Glance
Agents of Socialization
• The primary agents of socialization are the family, the
peer group, the school, and the mass media.
• As the principal socializer of young children, the family is
the most important agent of socialization in most
societies.
• As children grow older, forces outside the family—such
as friends, school, and mass media—increasingly
influence them.
• Resocialization, or the process of learning new values
and norms, can be voluntary or involuntary.
Primary Agents
Sociologists use the term agents of socialization to
describe the specific individuals, groups, and institutions
that enable socialization to take place.

The Family The Peer Group

• Most important agent in most • Composed of individuals of
societies roughly equal age and similar
• Usually first agent social characteristics
• Can be intentional or • Particularly important during
unintentional pre-teen and early teen years
• Reflects the social groups • Socialization focuses on values
family belongs to of the peer group
The School
• Planned activities for the deliberate purpose of teaching skills
• Extracurricular activities intended to prepare for a life in society
• Transmit cultural values
• Unintentional socialization comes from teachers and peer groups

The Mass Media

• Mass media: instruments of communication that reach large
audiences without personal contact between those sending and
those receiving the information, such as films, television, and radio
• Television is most common mass media
• Both positive and negative behaviors and beliefs are learned from
television
Heredity
 What is Heredity?

• Heredity = the passing on of traits from

one generation to the next.
 What is a Trait?
A trait is a specific characteristic that is
unique.
Traits affect the way we look
Traits affect how our bodies function
Traits are inherited
• Examples are hair color, eye color, handedness,
etc.
 Dominant Trait
A dominant trait is a trait that is always
expressed,
expressed or shown.
– Examples are brown hair, brown eyes, right
handed
 Recessive Trait
A recessive trait is a trait that is covered up
or seems to disappear.
– Examples are blonde hair, blue eyes, left
handed
 Where Do Traits Come From?

Factors that make up an individual come from

both parents.
The trait information is passed on from
generation to generation in the form of
genes.
 Do you see any ways that these
children are similar to their parents or
brothers and sisters?
Look around. Is anyone just like you?
You and everyone else are unique. No
two people are exactly alike, including
identical twins. However, many of your
traits are inherited.

People in a family may have things in

common. They can share traits. You can
inherit traits from your parents.

Some traits include:

Eye Color
Hair color
Hair Texture
Skin Color
Body Shape
 What is a Pedigree?
A pedigree is a diagram that shows the history of
a trait as it is passed from one generation to the
next.
Pedigrees indicate patterns
Pedigrees identify carriers of genetic disorders
Pedigrees are useful for genetic counseling
• Example: a pedigree is like a family tree for one trait.
 Rules For Making A Pedigree
• Females are represented by circles
• Males are represented by squares
• Mother/Father couples are connected by a line
• Offspring are shown oldest on the left to youngest on the
right
• Half-shaded circle represents a female carrier for the trait
• Half-shaded square represents a male carrier for the trait
• Full-shaded circle represents a female with the trait
• Full-shaded square represents a male with the trait
 A Pedigree
Trait:
Parents

Offspring
Youngest to Oldest
 Heredity and Genetics
Your genes determine whether or not you
possess certain physical traits. Your
genes make you blue eyed or brown eyed,
or have brown or blond hair. These traits
are highly complex, and involve the
interaction of many genes.
What are Genes?

A gene is a specific location on a

chromosome that controls a
certain trait.
Where Do Genes Come From?

• An individual needs 2 genes for each trait

– one gene from each parent.
• This gene pair is called an allele.
allele
– One gene comes from the sperm cell (from
the Father)
– One gene comes from the egg cell (from the
Mother)
 How Do Genes Get Their
Information?

A chromosome is a structure in the cell

that contains the genetic information.
– This information is passed on from one
generation to the next generation.
 How Do Genes Control Traits?
Deoxyriboneucleic Acid

DNA is the “instruction code” that the

genes use to form traits.
– DNA is long threads of material found in all
cells.
– DNA contains the “master code” that instructs
all cells in their daily jobs.
Genes are short pieces of DNA that make up our
chromosomes.
Each piece of DNA that is related to a gene
makes up one trait.
Models of DNA
 How Do We Look The Way We Do?
• Parents pass on copies of their DNA to their
offspring.
• The DNA from each parent combines to form the
DNA of the offspring.
• How the offspring develops depends on the
instructions coded in the DNA donated by both
parents.
• Offspring are similar to parents, but different due
to the many possible combinations of the 4 bases.
• Every individual is unique.
 Environment and development
Personality Development
• People develop their personalities over the course of their
lives.
• While scientists have debated for years whether nature or
nurture plays a bigger role in personality development, most
social scientists today believe that environmental factors have
the biggest influence.
• According to social scientists, the principal factors that
influence personality and behavior are heredity, birth order,
parental characteristics, and cultural environment.
• Studies of isolated children suggest the importance of
environment in personality development.
 Conclusions about Heredity-Environment Interaction

• Both genes and environment are necessary for a person to exist.

• The emerging view is that genes give people a propensity for a
particular developmental trajectory that is ultimately realized through
environmental circumstances.

• THANK YOU FOR YOUR LISTENING