Biological Bases of Behaviour II 2500-EN-PS-OB1L-1

Ethology:
All animal behavior is the product of evolution. The founder of modern biology Darwin immediately realized this. He also took note that human psychological functions are products of evolution. In ‘The expression of emotions in man and animals’ he showed how similar these expressions can be between mammal species.
As all evolved through natural selection in a more or less continuous way, the behavior of animals is relevant for understanding human behavior. Ethology hence is an interesting field to learn about these continuities. After dealing with the bare bones of the theory of evolution, some key concepts and insights of ethology will be handled. Concepts such as fixed action patterns, adaptation and fitness will be introduced. Then we will explore some general patterns of answering the second most important activity of animals: finding food (and for many species: not ending up as food for another species). Socially organizing this activity for some species is essential. The core of the course will focus on the most important activity: sex and offspring. This is how genes of an animal get into the next generation, so a huge machinery of mating systems and ways of dealing with offspring has evolved. One major message of the course is that all evolutionary outcomes are liable to be temporary equilibriums full of conflicts that must be handled to survive. At all times comparisons between the behavior of humans and other animals will de leading.
We will end this brief journey by looking at some more complex human behaviors, such as the powerful communication tool of language, unique in many ways to our species. As with all scientific perspectives, there are limits to it, and we will finish by looking at some of the problems those ideas in the evolution of human behavior face.

Basic principles of genetics:
Basic knowledge on classical and molecular genetics is essential in understanding the origins of human behavior. The lecture is an introduction to molecular biology and genetics. Students will be presented with the basic terms and concepts of genetics (e.g. inheritance, gene, allele, genotype vs. phenotype) as well as the cell cycle and different types of cell division. During the course we will focus on nucleic acids (types, structure, arrangements and basic mechanisms of encoding and processing genetic information). In particular, processes of DNA replication, transcription and translation will be analyzed. In addition, mechanisms of gene regulation and expression, types of genetic mutations, their effects and DNA repair as well as the basics of epigenetics will be discussed.

The second part of the course will be dedicated to the inheritance of genetic information. Fundamental mechanism and laws of inheritance and exceptions to them will be presented. Additionally, the basic types of genetic variation and fundamentals of population genetics will be described.