CH. 4: Nature-Nurture

Question 1

What is “Nature vs. Nurture”

Answer 1

Nature versus nurture” is a psychology term related to whether heredity or the environment most impacts human psychological development (behavior, habits, intelligence, personality, sexuality, aggressive tendencies, and so on).

Question 1

Nature

Answer 1

• In the “nature vs nurture” debate, nature refers to an individual’s innate qualities (nativism).
• Example: Nature is your genes. The physical and Personality traits determined by your genes stay the same irrespective of where you were born and raised.
• Factors: Biological and Family

Question 2

Nurture

Answer 2

• In the “nature vs nurture” debate, nurture refers to personal experiences (i.e. empiricism or behaviorism).
• Example: Nurture refers to your childhood, or how you were brought up. Someone could be born with genes to give them a normal height, but be malnourished in childhood, resulting in stunted growth and a failure to develop as expected.
• Factors: Environmental and Social

Question 3

Environmentalists - Empiricists - Nurture

Answer 3

Tabula Rasa - Blank Slate - emphasis on learning
Attachment. How the infant attaches to parent: Learning or instinct
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Social Genetic Effects

Question 4

Becoming Attached: Nativists

Answer 4

Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) discovered the concept of imprinting in newly hatched goslings. Nativism

John Bowlby (1907–1990) argued that infants innately channel their signals to primary caregivers to form attachment. A Nativist

Harry Harlow - Attachment in monkeys. Nativist

Question 5

Nativist Explanations

Answer 5

(Noam Chomsky)
Argue that language is innate; more evidence converges on this theory.

• Nativist theory: Language development is best explained as an innate biological capacity.
• Language acquisition device (LAD): Collection of processes that facilitate language learning.

Question 6

Empiricist Explanations

Answer 6

Emphasize learning and imitation.
(B. F. Skinner)
Empiricist views are in the nurture category

Question 7

Observational Learning (nurture): Look at Me!

Answer 7

Albert Bandura (1925–) studied aggressive observational learning using the Bobo doll experiment
Children imitate adult behaviors and are sensitive to the consequences of their aggressive behavior.
Mirror Neurons

Question 8

Approaches to Psychology
Nature
|
\/
Nurture

Answer 8

Biological Approach

• Focus on genetic, hormonal, and neurochemical explanations of behavior.

Psychoanalysis

• Innate drives of sex and aggression (nature). Social upbringing during childhood (nurture).

Cognitive Psychology

• Innate mental structures such as schemas, perception and memory and constantly changed by the environment.

Humanism

• Maslow emphasized basic physical needs. Society influences a person’s self concept.

Behaviorism

• All behavior is learned from the environment through conditioning.

Question 9

Intelligence

Answer 9

Francis Galton (mid to late 1800’s) - Statistician- coined term Nature-Nurture

Arthur Jensen - 1970’s - Psychologist- Heritability of Intelligence

Eugenics

Socio-economic opportunity (nurture)

Question 10

Nature-Nurture Research Methods

Answer 10

Behavioral Genetics – Empirical science of how genes and environments work together

Adoption Studies

Question 11

Twin Studies

Answer 11

Monozygotic twins share 100% of their genes in common, whereas dizygotic twins share 50% of their genes, the same as other siblings.

Studies of monozygotic and dizygotic twins help researchers estimate the relative contributions of genes and environmental influences on behavior.

Identical Twins - same genetics
Fraternal Twins - siblings
Reared together vs reared apart
Identical Twins reared apart compared to identical twins reared together = differences due to environment, similarities due to heredity
Identical twins reared apart - genetics account for similarities
Fraternal twins reared together = differences due to genetics, similarities environment
Heritability - a population concept, not an individual concept
Movie: “Three Identical Strangers”

Question 12

Heritability Coefficient

Answer 12

Measures how strongly differences among individuals for a trait are related to differences among their genes. Not the same as Inherited

Question 13

Epigenetics

Answer 13

Study of environmental influences that determine whether or not genes are expressed

• Or the degree to which genes are expressed, without altering the basic DNA sequences of the genes.

Epigenome - a layer of information associated with DNA and can be altered by experiences and environments
Phenotype
Genotype

The Epigenome - Information about us stored outside our DNA in “tags” that can become attached to DNA and result in silencing or activating specific genes

Epigenetics is the study of the function of the material in the epigenome
“Epi” means above, thus above the gene and thus is material called tags that impact the expression of the genetic material
Epigenetics - the study of changes in gene expression brought about by environmental impact rather than changes in DNA

Question 14

Epigenetics and the Persisting Effects of Early Experience

Meaney & colleagues - rat studies

Answer 14

In recent research, Meaney and colleagues demonstrated that epigenetic processes play a critical role in long-lasting effects of early life experiences.
Results from rat studies demonstrate persisting effects on stress resistance when raised by high- and low-grooming rat mothers
New analyses of suicide victims abused as children also reveal widespread epigenetic changes when compared with a control group of nonabused individuals