The Dutch Hunger Winter

The Dutch Hunger Winter took place in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands during the winter of 1944-1945, near the end of World War II. A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from farm areas to punish the reluctance of the Dutch to aid the Nazi war effort. After the Allied Forced landed in Europe, the conditions grew worse in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. The Allies able to free the southern part of the country, however they were not able to gain control of the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. Even after the embargo was partially lifted the canals froze and it became impossible to transport food supplies. Some 4.5 million were affected and survived because of soup kitchens. About 22,000 died because of the blockade Most vulnerable according to the death reports were elderly men.
There were made three noticeable studies. First of them was the observation of the babies born/conceived at the time of the Dutch Hunger Winter. This study showed that if the babies were well nourished during the time of conception and only malnourished for the last few moth of their pregnancies. The babies were likely to be born small and also the years of study showed that this person was unlikely to be obese and stayed small throughout his life. The babies there were conceived during that time were likely to be born big and stayed big throughout their life's. The other study was a study of schizophrenia. It was found that genetics plays major role if this illness will develop or no. Schizophrenia is tragically common. When two identical twins are born and one of them has schizophrenia, the other twin has a 50% chance of having it, too. The 3rd study was focused on abused children. Even if the child is taken away from them and put into another family that loves him. Sometimes everything works out for the child. Sadly majority of such kids who have suffered from abuse or neglect in their early years grow up with a substantially higher risk of adult mental health problems than the gen­eral population. All too often such a child grows up into an adult at high risk of depression, self-harm, drug abuse, and suicide.
Epigenetics is referring to all the cases in which the genetic code alone is not enough to describe whats happening, there also must be something else going on. Its like the surroundings around us even before we are born have an affect on us for the rest of our lives.

Understanding and Applying the Theory of Evolution

Explain the theory of evolution.
The theory of evolution seeks to explain the origin of life on Earth and the origin of different species. According to evolutionary theory, life began billions of years ago, when a group of chemicals inadvertently organized themselves into a self-replicating molecule. This tiny molecule gave rise to everything that has ever lived on the planet. Different and more complex organisms grew from this simple beginning through mutation of DNA and natural selection.

Explain the “nature vs nurture” debate.
The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development. For example, when a person achieves tremendous academic success, did they do so because they are genetically predisposed to be successful or is it a result of an enriched environment?

What is wrong with the concept of “nature vs. nurture”?

 That we can never find out what is it that determines how we are. The majority of people found their 'truth' somewhere in between those two statements.

What is meant by “social Darwinism”?
Social Darwinism is defined by the idea of "survival of the fittest" and how it applies to socioeconomic environments. By this reasoning, the weak and the poor are "unfit" and should be allowed to die without societal intervention.

Explain eugenics.
 It is a study of human genetics and of methods to improve the inherited characteristics, physical and mental, of the human race. 

What is the problem with the concept of eugenics?
 That it would end up by smoothing out the 'bad' genes by killing the one that have them, which is not acceptable by today's society.

What does the term “fitness” mean in relation to evolution?
It's the ability to survive long enough to pass on genes by having many offspring and the ability for those offspring to then do the same.

What is meant by “genetic determination”?
It is the belief  that genes, along with environmental conditions, determine morphological and behavioral phenotypes.

What is “fixation”?

 It is a persistent attachment, not only to the specific instinctual aims of a particular era, but, instead, to the entire complex of self and object relation at that time.

What is “canalization”?
  The tendency of heredity to restrict the development of some characteristics to just one or a few outcomes.

What is “punctuated equilibrium”?
The hypothesis that evolutionary development is marked by isolated episodes of rapid speciation between long periods of little or no change.

How does evolution relate to psychology?
It created a new branch of psychology and showed the link between the two sciences. Darwin's work on human evolution and the expression of emotions demonstrated how empirical tests can be performed using data from different species to learn about how behaviour evolves. This “comparative method” is the most important method in evolutionary psychology.

Examine one evolutionary explanation of behavior

Curtis (2004) : Investigated whether there were patterns in people's disgust responses. 

Participants: 77 000 altogether, from 165 different countries. Conducted an Internet based survey in which participants were shown series of 20 photographs, an asked to rank each image for how disgusting it was. There were seven pairs in which one was infectious and a matching image was not (e.g. body fluids, coloured liquid). Those images containing substances that would most strongly harm the immune system were rated highest on disgustingness. Disgust decreased with age and female were more disgusted than males, which supports the idea that disgust is a form of protection to enhance chances of successful reproduction.