Term
What is Ridleys major positon in his book?
What are some of his arguments in favor of the major position of his book? |
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Definition
His major position is that human behavior must be explained by both nature and nurture.
Ripley says that the more that we reveal the gene, the more vulnerable to experience they seem to be. |
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Term
1) Why does Ridley say that we should not be disappointed that humans have only 30,000 - not 100000 genes as originally estimated?
2) According to Ridley, what tow errors are people making when they express dismay at this relatively low number of |
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Definition
1) A mere 33 genes, each coming in just two varieties (on or off) would be enough to make every human being in the world. There are more than 10 billion ways of flipping a coin 33 times.
2) Error 1: Fewer genes implies more environmental influences. Error 2: 30,000 genes are too few to explain human nature, but 100,000 would be enough (the initial estimate). |
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Term
| Explain what nativism and empiricism came to be associated with in terms of extreme political views. |
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Definition
Nurture=Communism
Nature=Nazi (Facism), "breeding" better humans. |
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Term
| "Human behavior has to be explained by both nature and nurture" but he adds, "that does not mean I am taking a "middle of the raod" compromise." Explain, in detail, what he means by this, drawing from actual claims he makes in his book. |
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Definition
| He isnt taking one because middle of the road means compromises, instead he firmly believes that it involves both elements of nature and nurture. |
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Term
| Explain what Ridley means what he says, "Similarity is the shadow of difference" and "Difference is the shadow of similarity". |
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Definition
| Sameness and difference are relational. Two things resemble or differ with respect to something else. You can find differences or similarites infinitly in anything. |
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Term
| What are some of the broad differences between Darwin and Descartes with respect to possible similarities between humans and other animals? |
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Definition
| Descartes beleives in differential absolutes, where Darwin seperated in matters of degree. For insstance, Descartes says "animals are machines" where Darwin says "Animals are like humans in that.......and they are different in that...." |
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Term
| With respect to comparing genetic similarities between humans and other primates, wxplain Ridley's analogy about comparing Dickens with Salinger. |
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Definition
| Humans and chimps have the same genes just in different order, with different timings of on and off, just like Dickens and Salinger may use the same words, just in a different order. |
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Term
| Explain the importance of taking into accoutn temporal factors in genetic development |
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Definition
| Timing is everything with genetic development... A chimp has a different head from a human being not because it has a different blueprint for the head, but because it grows the jaws for longer and the cranium for less long than does the human being |
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Term
| Is it true or false that the size of the human brain has declined over the past 15000 years? How does Ridley explain the awswer to this question? |
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Definition
| It is true that the size of the brain has declined, and Riply says that this is the case because at one point....roughly 15000 years ago it was better to have a larger (more mature) brain but as society developed having a larger (more aggressive) brain became problamatic and those invididuals were removed from society. |
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Term
| What is a skyhook, generally speaking, and what functions as Ridleys skyhook specifically? |
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Definition
Its a rough equivilent to a civil engineer hanging scaffoling from the sky.
His skyhook is the genome organizing device, or God for short. |
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Term
| What are the two major points Ridley makes about the role of oxytocin and vasopressin? |
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Definition
| 1) Hormones can have many different purposes so nature "God" is an economizer. 2) These two particular hormones where already somewhere else (fish urine) and were used to influence interactions with the opposite sex. |
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Term
| Money vs. Diamond: what is the issue at stake in their debate? pp. 56 |
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Definition
| Money thinks experince rules in gender (you can train someone to gender roles), whereas Diamond thinks that gender ultimatly relies on genes. |
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Term
| Who is Branda/David Reimer? What does that case prove, according to Ridley? |
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Definition
| This is the penis chopped off guy, who was raised a girl. Hes told that he is a guy at age 15 and "becomes" a man and adopts children. While he was growing he never adopted his female gender role. This proves that Diamond was correct that genes, not experience control sexual orientation. |
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Term
| Ridley qotes Dennett as saying that, "With the human species, you can never be sure that what you see is instinct, because you might be looking at the result of a reasoned argument, a copied ritual, or a learned lesson." What does Ridley have to say in r |
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Definition
| Ridley says that nature and nurture reinforce each other, some of what men and women desire in each other is the same, but there are some universal difference that are shaped by culture. |
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Term
| How could one ever separate the two influences (nature and nurture), experimentally, if you thought of them as having independent effects? Are the twin studies helpful in this regard? |
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Definition
| Yes the twin study does hold water because identical twins show more similarities when raised apart then other combinations of siblings. |
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Term
| Twins reared together might turn out to be more different than twins raised apart. why? |
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Definition
| Because when twins are raised together, they are attempting to be different. However, if they are raised seperate, this fight for personality wont occur, and genes will have more of an effect on their personality. |
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Term
| Identical twins raied apart show high correlation of attitudes about politics and religion. Fraternal twins raised apart show little correlation. What are the impications of this? |
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Definition
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Term
| Be able to explain, briefly, who Galton was, and why Ridley mentions him. |
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Definition
| Galton did studies on twins. He popularized the phrase "nature vs. nurture" and advocated nurture, that IQ could be inherited. |
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Term
| What is the general conclusion of contemporary twin studies? |
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Definition
| Your going to be most like your twin. |
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Term
1)Why is there a difficulty the very notoin of cause according to Hume?
2)What does Ridley say?
3)Explain Ridleys analogy about the light circuit and how it relates to the notion of causation.
4) Why does Ridley say that both nature a |
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Definition
1)Hume says that you cant attribute cause because of constant conjuction.
2)Ridley says that cause is a combation of nature and nurture, we still dont get it.
3)A light goes out and you dont know what caused it. It could have been the fuse, a wire, you never know unless you search for the answer.
4)Because your immune system needs to be weak first for the bacteria to infect you, and with the phenylketoneuria you need to be genetically suseptiable in the first place. Both require N and N. |
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Term
1)Why is there a difficulty the very notoin of cause according to Hume?
2)What does Ridley say?
3)Explain Ridleys analogy about the light circuit and how it relates to the notion of causation.
4) Why does Ridley say that both nature a |
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Definition
1)Hume says that you cant attribute cause because of constant conjuction.
2)Ridley says that cause is a combation of nature and nurture, we still dont get it.
3)A light goes out and you dont know what caused it. It could have been the fuse, a wire, you never know unless you search for the answer.
4)Because your immune system needs to be weak first for the bacteria to infect you, and with the phenylketoneuria you need to be genetically suseptiable in the first place. Both require N and N. |
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Term
1)Why is there a difficulty the very notoin of cause according to Hume?
2)What does Ridley say?
3)Explain Ridleys analogy about the light circuit and how it relates to the notion of causation.
4) Why does Ridley say that both nature a |
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Definition
1)Hume says that you cant attribute cause because of constant conjuction.
2)Ridley says that cause is a combation of nature and nurture, we still dont get it.
3)A light goes out and you dont know what caused it. It could have been the fuse, a wire, you never know unless you search for the answer.
4)Because your immune system needs to be weak first for the bacteria to infect you, and with the phenylketoneuria you need to be genetically suseptiable in the first place. Both require N and N. |
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Term
1)What are the some of the causes of schizophrenia?
2)What is the larger point? |
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Definition
1)Refidgerator mother (cold bitch), genes, synapses, viruses, faulty development, diet.
2)N and N are to blaim! |
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Term
1) Who was Kraepelin, and what is interesting about his approach to medical taxonomy?
2) What does Ridley mean when he says that, for Kraepelin, "Diagnosis wsa the child, not the father, of prognosis"? |
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Definition
1) He characterized schizophrenia, under the name dementia praecox. He beleived that prognosis preceeds diagnosis. You look at patient history, not current symptoms.
2)Look above you bastard. |
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Term
| Genes are enablers, "dont be frightened of genes. They are not gods; they are cogs." |
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Definition
| Genes dont take free will, they just influence what you may do. Soft determinism. |
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Term
| Genes are enablers, "dont be frightened of genes. They are not gods; they are cogs." |
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Definition
| Genes dont take free will, they just influence what you may do. Soft determinism. |
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Term
| Parents, "Being a good parent still matters." |
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Definition
| Parents have inflence over their children. |
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Term
| Peers, "individuality is product of aptitude reinforced by appetite." |
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Definition
| Because of your genes youll like to participate in things your naturally good at. Eliza sucks balls. |
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Term
| Free Will, "Free will is entirely compatible with a brain exquisitely prespecificed by, and run by, genes." |
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Definition
| Nature via nurtue......figure it out asshole |
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