Issues and Debates: Nature vs Nurture Flashcards
Nature
View that human characteristics or knowledge are innate and consequently due to heredity (the genetic transmission of mental or physical traits from one generation to another).
Heritability coefficient is used to assess heredity on a scale between 0 and 1.
Nurture
Any influences of the environment and thus is not due to genetics. This can range from the womb, through to cultural and historical influences at the societal level.
Interactionist Approach
Nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that they cannot be meaningfully separated. Instead, we should speak about how the two interact.
Diathesis-stress model
The diathesis-stress model is psychological theory that attempts to explain a disorder, or its trajectory, as the result of an interaction between a predispositional vulnerability, the diathesis and a stress caused by life experiences.
Epigenetics
The environment alters the expression of genes.
Matching the continuum from most determinist to least determinist:
The biological approach
The psychodynamic approach
The cognitive approach
The humanistic approach
The behavioral approach
Evaluation
Nativism vs Empiricism
Nativism: anatomy is destiny. You are your genetic inheritance. One issue with this is eugenics and other socially sensitive issues, such as the role of genetics in IQ.
Empiricists: environment is destiny. You are your situation. If you grow up in a bad quality environment, you are destined for a terrible future. Doubtless, behavioral shaping is why your parents/guardians decided to send you to Kings.
Constructivism
eval
Constructivism suggests that people crate their own ‘nurture’. They ‘naturally’ becoming attracted to people and situations that match their genetic traits and then consequently have similar environments to them.
Plomin (1994) referred to this as niche-picking and niche-building.
