A Peculiar Case of Idiosyncrasy

Pleiotropy is the phenomenon in which a single gene impacts multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. For example, defects in the SOX10 gene cause Waardenburg Syndrome Type 4, or WS4, which can cause defects in pigmentation, hearing impairments, and an absence of intestinal contractions necessary for elimination. This diversity of phenotypes results from the expression pattern of SOX10 in early embryonic and fetal development. SOX10 is found in neural crest cells that form melanocytes,...

Conditioned taste aversion, also known as sauce béarnaise syndrome, is a phenomenon in which an individual develops an aversion to a certain food taste following a negative experience, typically illness. This form of aversion is a type of classical conditioning in which the taste of the food (conditioned stimulus, CS) is associated with the experience of illness (unconditioned stimulus, UCS).
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single...

There are many research methods available to psychologists in their efforts to understand, describe, and explain behavior and the cognitive and biological processes that underlie it.

The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias?