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Sexual Reproduction
This entry presents an analysis of human sexual reproduction at two different time scales, one nested within the other, respectively, addressing the ultimate and proximate levels of causation: (a) the adaptive functions of sexual reproduction over the time scale of human evolution and (b) the physiology of human sexual reproduction over the time scale of individual human development.
The Adaptive Functions of Sexual Reproduction Over Evolutionary Time
The essence of sexual reproduction is the recombination of genes. In humans, this is accomplished by the fusing of two haploid gametes, a sperm cell from the diploid father and an egg cell from the diploid mother, into a diploid offspring zygote. Sexual conjugation in certain microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, ciliates, dinoflagellates, and diatoms), which involves a direct exchange of genetic ...
- Aging
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- Ageism
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- Bridge Employment
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- Centenarian
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- College Education, Long-Term Benefits of
- Death Rates, Leading Causes by Developmental Period
- Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Pensions
- Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order
- Driving and Mobility in Late Life
- Elder Abuse
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- Evolutionary Theories of Aging
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- Generativity
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- Grandparents
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- Integrity Versus Despair
- Late Versus Early Parenthood
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- Old Age
- Oldest Old
- Palliative Care
- Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST)
- Pivot Generation
- Population Aging
- Positivity Effect
- Presbyopia and Diseases of the Eye in Late Life
- Programmed Theories of Aging
- Retirement
- Senescence
- Skill Attainment and Loss
- Stereotype Threat
- Stereotypes of Aging
- Successful Aging
- Supercentenarian
- Technology and Aging
- Terminal Decline
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- Role Taking
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- Social and Emotional Behavior
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- Facial Expressions, Perception of
- Fantasy–Reality Distinction
- Flow
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- Gender Identity Development
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- Imagination
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- Touch
- Universal Education
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- Age-Irrelevant Society
- Animism
- Art
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- Capacity Building
- Civic Engagement
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- Cooperation
- Corporal Punishment
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- Death Rates, Leading Causes by Developmental Period
- Demographic Transition
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- Life Span
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- Poverty and Brain Development
- Prenatal Development
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- Sensitive Period
- Set Point
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- Socialization
- Specificity Principle
- Transition to Adulthood
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- Genetics and Biology
- Appetite
- Autonomic Nervous System
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- Brain Development
- Cancer
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- Teratogens
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- Ethology
- Field Experiments
- Focus Groups
- Goodness of Fit
- Growth Curve Modeling and Longitudinal Factor Analysis
- Hypothesis Testing
- Individual Differences in Life-Span Development
- Informed Consent
- Intensive Measurement Designs
- Interviewing Children
- Life-Span Research Projects
- Longitudinal Versus Cross-Sectional Design, Analysis
- Measurement
- Meta-Analysis
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- Mixed Method Study
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- Telehealth
- Time Sampling
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- Validity
- Personal Characteristics
- Ability
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- Aptitude
- Attractiveness
- Behavioral Inhibition (Shyness)
- Big Five Personality Traits
- Career Choice
- Character Strengths and Virtues
- Competence Versus Performance
- Creativity
- Dismissive-Avoidant Individuals
- Ego Development
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- Expertise
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- Giftedness
- Grit
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- Identity
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- Jealousy and Envy
- Joviality
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- Motivation (Intrinsic, Extrinsic)
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- Planning Skills
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- Pride
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- Self-Esteem
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- Online Communication
- Organization of Relationships: Messiness and Reparation
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- Parent–Child Conflict
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- Parental Authority
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- Parenting
- Parenting by Lesbians and Gay Men; Outcomes for Children and Youth
- Parenting Style
- Peer Rejection
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- Peers
- Pets
- Popularity
- Public Engagement
- Remarriage
- Romantic Relationships
- School–Family Links
- Siblings, Sibling Relationships
- Single Parenthood
- Social Capital
- Social Competence
- Social Exclusion
- Social Groups
- Social Information Processing
- Social Isolation
- Social Networks
- Social Relationships
- Social Support
- Stepfamilies
- Stepfamilies and Blended Families
- Street Life
- Teen Parenthood
- Transactions
- Victimization
- Work/Family Conflict
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- Continuing Care Retirement Communities
- Early Child Care
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- Census
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- Deception
- Discipline
- Dissent
- Empathy
- Ethics
- Familism
- Forgiveness
- Free Will
- Gender
- Generosity
- Glass Ceiling
- Human Rights
- Identity Development
- Ideology
- Inequality
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- Law
- Leadership
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- Negotiation
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- Reciprocity
- Rejection Versus Acceptance
- Sin
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- Stereotype (Stereotyping)
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- Crying
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- Discriminating Sociability
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- Emotion Socialization
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- Emotion-Focused Coping
- Emotions
- Empathy
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- Gender Identity Development
- Gratitude
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- Happiness
- Hope
- Jealousy and Envy
- Life Goals
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- Loneliness
- Love
- Parent–Child Interaction
- Persuasion
- Phobias
- Prosociality
- Psychological Needs
- Psychosexual Stages of Development
- Psychosocial Development
- Psychosocial Moratorium
- Regret
- Sadness
- Self
- Self-Actualization
- Self-Deception
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Perceptions
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Worth
- Sensation Seeking
- Sex Differences
- Sex Education
- Sexual Assault
- Sexual Attitudes
- Sexual Identity
- Sexual Risk Behaviors
- Shame
- Smile
- Social and Emotional Behavior
- Social Anxiety
- Social Development
- Social Understanding
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- Theory of Mind
- Trust
- Theory
- Activity Theory
- Developmental Theory
- Diathesis–Stress Model
- Dynamic Systems Theory
- Eriksonian Theory
- Ethnotheories
- Evolutionary Theories of Aging
- Information Processing
- Life History Theory
- Piaget’s Theory
- Programmed Theories of Aging
- Psychoanalytic Theory
- Relational Developmental Systems
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Equity Theory
- Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
- Solidarity Theory
- Specificity Principle
- Universals
- Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
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