Issues and debates- Nature nurture debate Flashcards
What is the debate concerned with?
-The extent to which particular aspects of behaviour are a product of either inherited (genetic) or acquired (learned) charcteristics
Define nature
Pre- Pre-wiring influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological factors
Define nurture
External factors- product of exposure, experience and learning
What are nativists?
-Those who adopt an extreme hereditary position
What do nativists assume?
-Characteristics of the human species are a product of evolution
-Individual differences are due to their genetic codes
What are environmentalists/empiricists?
Those who sit on the furthest side of the nurture debate
What are environmentalists’/empiricists’ basic assumptions?
-At birth, the mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate)
-Gradually filled as a result of experience
What does the interactionalist approach argue?
Both genetics and environment act separately/ independently
Give evidence of the interactionalist approach.
Psychopathology- somebody will most likely have a genetic predisposition to develop a disorder, but an environmental trigger is usually required for symptoms to develop
Define epigenetics
-Study of inevitable changes in gene expression that does not involve changes to the underlying DNA sequence
Which three theories are on the nurture side of the debate?
-Behaviourism
-Humanism
-SLT
Explain why behaviourism is on the nurture side of the debate? + Give examples
-All behaviour is learnt from the environment via conditioning (operant and classical)
-Pavlovs dogs
-Skinners rats
-Tabula rasa
-Little albert
Explain why humanism is on the nurture side of the debate? + Give examples
-Maslow emphasised basic physical needs
-Soceity influences a persons self concpet
-Free will
-Conditions of worth
Explain why SLT is on the nurture side of the debate? + give examples
-We idnetify and imitate role models behaviour
-Learning via vicarious reinforcement
-Bandura bobo dolls
Explain why the cognitive approach is in the middle of the debate + give examples
-Innate mental framework/structures such as schemas
-Perception and memory constantly changed by the enviroment
-KF + HM + clive wearing
Explain why the psychodynamic approach is in the middle of the debate + give examples
-Innate drives of sex and aggression
-Socialisation during childhood
-Oedipus + electra complexes
-Psychosexual stages
Explain why the biological approach is on the nature side of the debate + give examples
-Focus on genetic, hormonal and neurochemical explanations of behaviour
-Darwins theory of evolution
-Genotype + phenotype
-Bowlbys theory of monotropic attachment-essential evolutionary mechanism needed for the survival of the species
What is the heritibility coeffecient used for?
-to determine the extent to which phenotype is determined purely by genotype - or by other, external factors
Heritability is calculated as a figure ranging from 0 to 1, explain what this means
-A value of 1 means that the behaviour/trait is purely genetic
-A value of 0.5 means that half of the behaviour/trait is genetic and half is determined by environment
-A value of 0.1 means that the behaviour/traits is not genetic and is determined by environment
Give some examples of research methods used by nativists
-Brain scanning, e.g. fMRI, EEG
-Concordance rates as used in twin studies
-DNA analysis via urine or saliva samples
Give 3 examples of research which is relevant to nurture
-Classical conditioning and operant conditioning as part of behaviourism
-conformity to social roles as in the Stanford Prison experiment
-field studies such as Schaffer & Emmerson (1964)
Give a strength of the nature debate
-Understanding genetic inheritance has helped to identify atypical chromosome patterns as seen in conditions such as Klinefelter’s syndrome
-This is a clear indication of a biological basis to behaviour as the condition is not determined by environmental influence
-Therefore, the nature side of the debate can be evidenced using clinical data
-Practical application fot treatment and diagnosis
Give a weakness of the nature debtae
-Twin studies have failed to show 100% concordance between MZ (identical) twins across a range of studies e.g.
-McGuffin et al. (1996) found that MZ twins showed a 46% concordance rate for depression compared to 20% in DZ (non-identical) twins
-Gottesman (1991) found a 48% concordance rate for schizophrenia in MZ twins and a 17% concordance rate in DZ twins
-As MZ twins share exactly the same DNA then the concordance rate should reflect this (and as it does not then environment must play a role in behaviour as well)
Give a strength of the nurture debate
-The argument that nurture is a key influence on behaviour is evidenced by the two-process model of phobias
-This model demonstrates phobias as being learned via classical conditioning
-An aversive experience (e.g. a dog bite as a child) changes a neutral stimulus (the dog that bit you) into a conditioned phobic stimulus (dogs in general)
-The phobia is reinforced via operant conditioning
Every time you see a dog, you feel high anxiety, fear, panic, etc., which only ceases when the dog is out of sight
Give a weakness of the nurture debate
-The nurture side of the debate cannot account for individual differences within children raised in the same family environment
-One child may turn to crime while the other child never breaks the law
-One child may develop a drug addiction while the other child does not
Give a strength of the interactionalist approach
-Hollistic
-acknowledges the complex relationship between biology, psychology and environment
-For example Maguire’s study on brain plasticity
-This is a more valid explanation of behaviour than just nature or nurture alone
