Heredity & Environment
Heredity supplies the potential; environment decides how much of it is realised. Exams almost never accept a pure answer here — options claiming that one factor alone determines development are wrong by design. The accepted position is interaction.
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Heredity & environment — true or false?
6 statements · 12s each
What each contributes
| Heredity | Environment |
|---|---|
| Physical features — eye colour, height potential | Nutrition and health care |
| Intelligence potential | Schooling and stimulation |
| Temperament tendencies | Family, peers, culture |
| Some disorders | Language exposure, media |
Neither works alone. A child with high inherited potential and poor nutrition will not reach that potential; enrichment cannot exceed the biological ceiling either.
The mechanism, briefly
- Each human cell carries 46 chromosomes, in 23 pairs
- One of each pair comes from the mother, one from the father
- The 23rd pair determines sex: XX female, XY male
- Genes on the chromosomes carry the inherited instructions
Environment begins before birth — prenatal nutrition, maternal health and stress all count as environmental influence.
Sort the influence
Mainly heredity or mainly environment?
0/6Religious beliefs
Which group does it belong to?
The numbers to fix
Commit, then check
1/3How many chromosomes are there in a normal human body cell?
40
Method, in order
Match the term to its meaning
Quick reference
Exam tip: the phrase to remember is "heredity sets the limits, environment decides the extent". Almost every question in this topic is a restatement of that sentence.