Course Code: CCST9025

Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature

Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

Course Co-ordinator: Professor Pak Chung Sham (Tel 2831 5425, Email: [email protected])

Teachers:

Professor Pak Chung Sham (Tel 2831 5425, Email: [email protected])

Dr Larry Baum (Email: [email protected])
Dr Wanling Yang (Tel 2831 5077, Email: [email protected])

Tutors:

Miss Nicole Lau (Tel 2831 5429, Email: [email protected])

Mr Tony Chow (Email: [email protected])

Course Description

The overall theme of this course is that genetics and evolution provide a useful perspective for
understanding many important aspects of our lives, including our psychological makeup and how we
relate to others. The course will draw on multiple intellectual disciplines – genetics, evolution,
mathematics, statistics and psychology – to address the following fundamental issues:

• How life is maintained from one generation to the next through genes, and how living organisms
can adapt to the environment through changes in the genes.
• How human individual and group differences in important domains such as personality, abilities
and talents, behaviour and health, are influenced by genetic and environmental differences.
• How the nature of humankind may have been shaped by our evolutionary past, and the
implications this has on the future of our species.

Learning Outcomes

1. Describe and explain the basic principles of genetics and evolution, and give an account of the
principal historical figures and their major ideas and contributions.
2. Evaluate the evidence concerning the relative roles of nature and nurture (or genes and
environment) in the determination of human individual differences, and to discuss the
implications of the findings of such studies.
3. Analyze how humankind's evolutionary past may have shaped our emotional makeup and thereby
impact on how we behave to each other and the material world.
4. Develop critical thinking abilities in facing different genetics and environment related topics in
different roles.
5. Build up competencies in communication skills, specifically oral, written and visual literacies.

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Course Code: CCST9025
Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature
Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

Required Reading

• Dawkins, R. (2006) The selfish gene (30th anniversary ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford
University Press. Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13
• Pinker, S. (2003) The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. London: Penguin Books.
Chapters: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19

Assessment

• 100% coursework

Assessment tasks Weighting

Tutorial activities and attendance 30%

In-class quizzes 30%

Creative project 10%

Presentation and peer evaluation 30%

Schedule of assessments Topic release date Submission deadline

Creative project 05/10/2022 (Wed) 19/10/2022 23:00 HKT (Wed)

Submission of draft for peer review

09/11/2022 23:00 HKT (Wed)

Submission of peer review comments

Final presentation 26/10/2022 (Wed) 16/11/2022 23:00 HKT (Wed)

Submission of final presentation ppt

20/11/2022 23:00 HKT (Sun)

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Course Code: CCST9025
Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature
Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

• Tutorial discussion
Participate actively in meaningful discussion during tutorials.

Tutorial Schedule and Topics

Date Topic
13-19 Sep 2022 Tutorial 1: Mechanisms of Heredity and Evolution
20-26 Sep 2022 Tutorial 2: Nature vs Nurture
Tutorial 3: Diseases of Human Nature
27 Sep – 3 Oct 2022
How to do Concept Map & Reflective Writing
04-05 Oct 2022 Chung Yeung Festival (No tutorials)
11-12 Oct 2022 Reading Week (No tutorials)
17-19 Oct 2022 Tutorial 4: Positive and Negative Psychology
24-26 Oct 2022 Tutorial 5: Cognitive Biases
31 Oct – 02 Nov 2022 Tutorial 6: Evolutionarily Stable Strategy
07-09 Nov 2022 Tutorial 7: Dialectics
Tutorial 8: After Genes (Memes)
14-16 Nov 2022
How to Make Presentations
21-23 Nov 2022 Tutorial 9: Student Presentations
28-30 Nov 2022 Tutorial 10: Student Presentations

• Presentation
In groups of 3 to 5 people (to be assigned), design and present slides on an assigned topic,
and submit via Moodle. You will be given details and topics later in the semester.

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Course Code: CCST9025
Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature
Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

• Quizzes
• Open-book and online, during each lecture starting with Lecture 3.
• Each quiz will have 4 multiple choice questions, which will cover the required reading and
lectures, as follows:

Quiz Date Relevant lecture(s) for the quiz Relevant reading for the quiz
07/09 No quiz No quiz
14/09 No quiz No quiz
1 21/09 Lecture 1: Mechanisms of heredity and evolution Selfish Gene: Chapters 1, 2
Lecture 2: Intelligence – nature and nurture Blank Slate: Chapters 19
2 28/09 Lecture 3: Genetics of mental disorders Blank Slate: Chapters 17
12/10 Reading Week No quiz
3 19/10 Lecture 4: The denial of human nature Blank Slate: Chapters 1, 2, 6, 7
4 26/10 Lecture 5: The science of happiness Blank Slate: Chapters 9, 10, 11
5 02/11 Lecture 6: “Selfish gene” and altruism Selfish Gene: Chapters 3, 4
6 09/11 Lecture 7: The evolution of conflict and Selfish Gene: Chapters 5, 6, 7,
hierarchies 8, 9
7 16/11 Lecture 8: The evolution of cooperation and Selfish Gene: Chapters 10, 12
deceit Blank Slate: Chapter 14
8 23/11 Lecture 9: Politics and political orientation Blank Slate: Chapters 15, 16
9 30/11 Lecture 10: Knowing our genes Selfish Gene: Chapters 13

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Course Code: CCST9025
Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature
Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

Lectures: MWT7 (1/F, Meng Wah Complex), Wed 14:30-16:20

Date Topic Description Lecturer

07/09 1. Mechanisms Provide overview of current knowledge on gene structure Dr L.
of heredity and and function. Introduce Darwin’s theory of evolution. Baum
evolution
14/09 2. Intelligence – Introduce the concept of intelligence. Provide data on the Dr L.
nature and impact of intelligence on achievement. Introduce the Baum
nurture concept of heritability and how to estimate it. Discuss
implications of heritability estimates.
21/09 3. Genetics of Introduce various common mental disorders. Provide data Prof P.C.
mental disorders on the heritability of these disorders. Provide data on Sham
specific genes contributing to heritability.
28/09 4. The denial of Describe various aspects of human nature. Discuss the Prof P.C.
human nature influences on human nature and individual differences. Sham
12/10 No lecture Reading Week None
19/10 5. The science Discuss the concept of happiness, philosophical views Prof P.C.
of happiness about the “good life,” and data from scientific studies on Sham
happiness.
26/10 6. “Selfish gene” Introduce the gene-centric (Neo-Darwinian) view of Prof P.C.
and altruism evolution. Show how this explains altruistic behaviours. Sham
02/11 7. The evolution Introduce mathematical game theory and its use to analyze Prof P.C.
of conflict and the evolution of animal behavior. Demonstrate how game Sham
hierarchies theory explains evolution of aggression in animals and
establishment of dominance hierarchies in a community.
09/11 8. The evolution Introduce the iterated prisoner dilemma game and show Prof P.C.
of cooperation how features of this game lead to the emergence of Sham
and deceit voluntary cooperation between self-interested individuals.
Show how deceit, and defense against it, may have evolved.
16/11 9. Politics and Discuss how different forms of government are consistent Dr L.
political or inconsistent with human nature. Baum
orientation
23/11 10. Knowing our Discuss the potential benefits and hazards of genetic testing Dr W.
genes in relation to different diseases and traits and settings. Yang
30/11 11. Genomic Provide overview of current genomic technologies and Dr W.
sciences and our possible future developments. Discuss how these could Yang
future shape our future – including both benefits and risks.

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Course Code: CCST9025
Course Title: Genetics and Human Nature
Year: 2022-2023
Subclass: A

Communication-intensive Course Syllabus Statement

CCST9025 The Evolution of Civilization

This is a certified Communication-intensive (CI) Course which meets all of the

requirements endorsed by HKU’s Senate, including
• the teaching and assessment of oral, written and visual communication
‘literacies’; and
• at least 40% of the course grade assigned to communication-rich
assessment tasks.

What communication knowledge and skills will students learn in this course?

By working in a group to design a presentation, students will learn oral communication skills in the context of
collaboration. By writing the presentation, students will learn how to combine graphics and text to express data
and ideas effectively. As each student presents their part of the presentation in a 3-minute talk, they will gain
experience integrating oral and written communication so as to reinforce the message of the other medium.

How will students learn these?

Students will learn oral, written and visual knowledge and skills. In creative project, students will learn how to
use concept map to brainstorm and build up connections with various theories and concepts learnt in lectures
and tutorials, which help them to write up a structured and organized essay and improve the writing
techniques.

Written, oral and visual skills can be developed in the final presentation as students will have chances to
formulate their topics and issues, structure the presentations, form the logical arguments with different
perspectives and present it in an organized way with suitable graphs and data. Their oral presentation abilities
will be assessed in terms of enunciation, expression and clarity.

Furthermore, through collaboration and peer evaluation, students will learn from each other by providing and
receiving feedbacks which facilitate the knowledge exchange.

What does a good communicator look like in this course?

Upon the completion of the course, students will be equipped as an effective and good communicator. They
will be able to associate different related concepts visually and form the arguments and structure an organized
reflection and supported by conveying their personal experience. Furthermore, students can be able to
collaborate with their peers in groups to formulate their presentations and argumentations as well as giving
constructive comments to peers so as to learn how to prepare and improve their own presentations.

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