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HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
1st degree (Bachelor)
Responsible Department:
psychology
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Dr. Salomon Israel
Coordinator Office Hours:
To be determined (will be update before the beginning of 2nd semester)
Teaching Staff:
Dr.
Course/Module description:
People are not blank slates, nor are they determined by their genes. We will survey recent studies showing how nature and nurture interplay to influence our political, social, and economic behaviors.
Course/Module aims:
Provide an overview of different methods for examining genetic effects for complex behaviors, focusing on twin models and molecular genetic techniques.
Provide an overview of how genes and the environment interplay to influence social behaviors.
Highlight candidate biological systems involved in human social behavior.
Connect biological processes to relevant social domains e.g. politics, economics, criminal offending.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Describe methods for estimating the heritability of a behavioral trait
Categorize the different ways in which genetic and environmental factors may correlate or interact
Identify biological systems involved in social behavior, and describe how genetic variants associated with these systems contribute to individual differences in social behavior
Describe processes in which social experiences influence gene expression
Briefly summarize the main aspects of a behavioral genetics paper (method, results, implications on the field)
Attendance requirements(%):
Students are expected to attend lectures, although attendance will not be checked
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Frontal lectures
Course/Module Content:
Topics covered in the course:
The twin method
Basics of molecular genetics
Gene environment interactions and correlations
Prosociality- oxytocin and vasopression
Aggression
Politics
Biological embedding of experience (epigenetics and gene expression)
Telomeres, stress, and aging
Psychopathology
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS)
Required Reading:
Caspi, A., McClay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., ... & Poulton, R. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science, 297(5582), 851-854.
Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007). For better and for worse differential susceptibility to environmental influences.Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(6), 300-304.
Donaldson, Z. R., & Young, L. J. (2008). Oxytocin, vasopressin, and the neurogenetics of sociality. Science, 322(5903), 900-904.
Eisenegger, C., Naef, M., Snozzi, R., Heinrichs, M., & Fehr, E. (2010). Prejudice and truth about the effect of testosterone on human bargaining behaviour. Nature, 463(7279), 356-359.
Oxley, D. R., Smith, K. B., Alford, J. R., Hibbing, M. V., Miller, J. L., Scalora, M., et al. (2008). Political attitudes vary with physiological traits. Science, 321(5896), 1667-1670.
Miller, G. (2010). The seductive allure of behavioral epigenetics. Science, 329(5987), 24-27.
Cole, S. W. (2009). Social regulation of human gene expression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(3), 132-137.
Epel, et al., (2004). Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, (17312-17315)
Additional Reading Material:
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 85 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 15 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %
Additional information:
Students are required to submit 5 short (about a paragraph or two) summaries of the reading material, summaries count for a total of 15% of the grade. A basic understanding of genetics is helpful, but not a formal requirement for the course.
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