9. Asesss The Cause Of Behaviour By Nature And Nature Flashcards
What is the structure of this debate?
AO1= Description of nature/nurture and examples from topic
AO3= support or against
What is the AO1 definition of nature?
-behaviours seen to be a product on innate factors (biological and genetic)
What is the AO1 definition of nurture?
-behaviour is a product of environmental influences (learning approach)
For biological topic- cause of aggression- evidence for nature and nurture
AO1: Aggressive behaviour can be explained by brain structure (nature) for example, under activity/ damage to prefrontal cortex means that it won’t inhibit the emotional responses or the amygdala, leading to irrational and impulsive aggressive behaviour. Increased amygdala size has a positive correlation to increased aggression
AO3 STRENGTH: Raine et al is evidence to support brain structure being a cause of aggression, as in the brains of murderers who pleaded NGRI he found lower glucose metabolism activity levels in the left hippocampus and amygdala, but higher activity in the right sides, then lower activity levels in the PFC, corpus collosum
AO3 WEAKNESS: However Bandura’s social learning theory supports the idea that aggression is caused by nurture, it is a learned behaviour. He found children were more likely to display acts of aggression after observing an aggressive model, and even more likely to if it was the same sex model
AO3 JUDGEMENT: The diaethesis stress model suggests that it’s an interaction of both nature and nurture, in that you have to be genetically exposed, which then interacts with the environment
For cognitive topic- memory- strength and weakness
AO1: memory can be linked to areas of the brain e.g the hippocampus which was found to be responsible for converting short term memory to long term memory in the brain. This suggests memory is caused by nature as is a biological structure in the brain which is responsible
AO3 STRENGTH: Case study of HM had his hippocampus surgically removed in an attempt to make his epilepsy symptoms less severe, however the removal of this brain part meant he couldn’t form any new long term memories, showing how it is responsible/ involved in the functioning of memory.
AO3 WEAKNESS: case study has low generalisability because the case of HM was very unique and rare, having severe epilepsy and suffering a motorbike accident. This is not representative of the general population therefore it questions the credibility if memory is caused by nature as results can’t be generalised
AO3 JUDGEMENT:
For learning topic- acquisition of phobias- strength and weakness
AO1: Phobias are more nurture then nature as they usually develop as a result of an experience, for example a spider falls on you as you open the garage door, and you scream and run away. From then onwards every time you see a spider you will become fearful because of this negative and frightening past experience. This phobia has been learnt through association
AO1 STRENGTH: Watson and Rayner classically conditioned a fear response in a 9 month old baby to rats by striking a metal pole behind his ear when the rat was shown. This was generalised to a Santa mask, rabbits, fur coat and a dog. He was screened before the experiment to see what he was scared of already. Supports nurture explanation
AO3 WEAKNESS: Phobias may also be developed genetically however through our ancestors. Most people will fear lions despite never coming into contact with one, because we know from the past people who were around lions died as they were attacked and eaten, therefore we have learnt to stay away from lions in order to keep ourselves safe. This would suggest phobias can also be nature
AO3 JUDGEMENT: Likely to be a combination of both nature and nurture, depending on what the phobia is. Phobias which most of the population would have e.g snakes and lions are likely to be genetically inherited whereas more obscure ones like cotton wool is something that it likely to be learnt to due to how specific it is.
For social- obedience- strength and weakness
AO1: Obedience is mostly caused by nurture, as from a young age you are brought up being taught who to obey and listen to, e.g your parents at home, the teachers at school etc. This is how society works with a hierarchy on who to follow. If children weren’t taught to listen to teachers from the age of 4, teachers wouldn’t have the authority over children to tell them what to do.
AO3 STRENGTH:
AO3 WEAKNESS: We are born with a moral sense of what’s right and what’s wrong, therefore naturally if we saw someone in a uniform/ looking important we would naturally obey them, suggesting it’s an ennate response, not one that we’ve just learnt.
