Issues and Debates- Nature-Nurture Debate and the Interactionist Approach Flashcards
What does the nature-nurture debate discuss?
Discusses whether human behaviour’s due to nature (genes) or nurture (environment, experiences).
What’s Nature?
Nativist psychologists believe in importance of hereditary (nature) - the idea human characteristics/ behaviours are innate and passed on from one generation to the next through genes.
e.g. Bowlby’s Monotropic Theory suggests attachment’s innate.
What’s Nurture?
Empiricists (e.g. Skinner) argue the mind’s a ‘blank slate’ at birth and our behaviour’s shaped by our environment, learning, experience.
e.g. behavioural psychologists explain attachment in terms of classical conditioning and association, and attachment’s learned behaviour.
How has the nature-nurture debate changed in recent years?
Difficult to answer the nature-nurture debate as environmental influences in a child’s life begins as soon as it’s born.
The nature-nurture debate’s changed in recent years- instead of trying to decide whether behaviour/ thoughts are due to nature or nurture, psychologists are now more concerned with the relative contribution of each.
What does the Interactionist Approach take a stance between?
The extreme nature-nurture debate.
It argues both genetics and the environment play a part in human behaviour.
What does the Interactionist Approach state?
States genetics give us a predisposition to certain behaviours (potential to act in a certain way).
However our genetics are influenced by environment e.g. OCD.
Individual may be born with SERT gene which makes them vulnerable to OCD, may not develop disorder unless they experience stressful life event (triggering OCD).
AO3: Nature can’t be full explanation of human behaviour
P: Nature side of debate can’t be full explanation of human behaviour.
E: Because if genes were 100% sole cause of behaviour, monozygotic twins who share 100% of genes should have 100% concordance rate.
E: This isn’t the case for example in biological explanation of Sz concordance rates for monozygotic twins are only 48%.
L: There must be other factors that affect human behaviour e.g. the environment/ experiences (nurture debate).
AO3: Interactionist approach is a more appropriate view
P: Interactionist approach is a more appropriate view when explaining human behaviour.
E: Genetics give us predisposition to certain behaviours/ our genetics are influenced by environment and experience.
E: Research by Tienari found in a group of adoptees those most likely to develop Sz had biological relatives with Sz and had dysfunctional relationships with adoptive families.
L: Showing both sides of debate, nature and nurture impacted likelihood individual developed Sz, supporting idea of interactionism.
AO3: Genetic vulnerability
P: Looking at addiction, idea of genetic vulnerability being a risk factor in addiction.
E: Supports nativist view our behaviour’s inherited from biological parents.
E: Other risk factors in development of addiction e.g. stress, peers and family influence are controlled by environment supporting nurture position of debate.
L: All factors can be risk, it seems an interactionist approach which takes into account nature and nurture would be more appropriate to explain addiction.
