Evaluation Of Nature Nurture

Question 1

Nature affects nurture or the other way around?

Answer 1

• Genes may exert an indirect effect in a number of ways.
• Plomin suggests that genetic factors create a micro environment. If a child has genes that make them more aggressive they are more likely to get aggressive responses from others. Meet more aggressive individuals as the child is reacting to its own genetically influenced behaviour.
• Maguire studied London taxi drivers and found that their hippocampi were larger than the hippocampi of a control group. Taxi drivers must learn and internalise a map of huge complexity and the region around the hippocampus is key to such memory. Their brains grew due to their environment they were working in. Nature created their brains but the environment changed them.
• While Plomin suggest nature argument as individuals are a product of their genes, Maguire supports nurture argument as it suggests the environment has a strong influence on us as it can affect our biology - Strength if arguing for nature

Question 2

However - Nature affects Nurture or the other way around?

Answer 2

• This contradictory evidence shows that the debate is far from straight foward and actually the eclectic stance the Interactionist approach takes is more sensible.

Question 3

Implications of nativism and ermpicism

Answer 3

• The extreme positions taken by nativists and empiricists have had an impact in social and political circles.
• Nazis followed the sciences of Eugenics which says that races are qualitatively different and that such differences can be measured. The Nazis believed that the Aryan race was superior and had to be protected from inferior genes through the extermination of inferior races. The Holocaust was motivated by this type of nativist thinking.
• If we take it that hertidity is absolute and cannot be affected by the environment then we are fixed from conception. Determinist position and has led to appalling policies being implemented in areas such as race and intelligence.
• Empiricists at the opposing end of the spectrum have also been extreme in their views that environment can change any behaviour. Skinner believed that ultimately a perfect work could exist where only desirable behaviours are conditioned and undesirable behaviours avoided. Could be achieved through behaviourist conditioning and control of citizens by the state. This is mind control and raises
  The question of who gets to decide what hat the perfect society should be like.

Question 4

Epigenetics

Answer 4

• Thought that our heredity was fixed absolutely and genetic material in the cells of our body could not be altered by environmental influences. Seems that this is incorrect and recently Epigenetics has emerged to explain this. Provide evidence that lifestyle can leave Epigenetics marks on our DNA which can act as switches turning genes on or off. Switches are passed on to subsequent generations and can affect their lives - good or bad
• Dias and Ressler classically conditioned mice by pairing electric shocks with the smell of acrtophenone. Mice showed a conditioned fear to the smell of this. Researchers also found that their offspring also showed the fear response even though they had never been exposed to the chemical. Fear response also appeared in 3rd generation.
• Experience of the parent generation changed the genetic codes of the next generation. Implication is that if you smoke you are potentially harming subsequent generations not just yourself.
• Supports both sides of nature nurture debate as it suggests that environment and genes continuously interact.

Question 5

However - Epigenetics

Answer 5

• When asked whether nature or nurture as more important - Hebb said it is a meaningless questions as they both contribute
• The disorder phenylketonuria which is an inherited disorder that prevents the amino acid phenylalanine being metabolised resulting in brain damage.
• If this condition is detected at birth and infant can be given a special diet and brain damage is avoided.
• Prevention was avoided through environmental manipulation this shows you cannot say for definite that this illness is caused by nature or nurture.