Issues & Debates - Nature vs Nurture

Question 1

Define nature

Answer 1

Behaviour is shaped by innate characteristics which may be present at birth. The biological approach strongly supports the role of nature in affecting behaviour. Innate characteristics may be due to genetic inheritance.

Question 2

Define nurture

Answer 2

Behaviour is shaped by the environment, for example the circumstances of upbringing and learning. At the extreme of this view, people are born as ‘blank slates’, with no innate characteristics. Behaviourists support the role of nurture.

Question 3

Describe the interactionist approach in the nature-nurture debate

Answer 3

Nature and nurture interact to influence behaviour, for example in reciprocal attachments between babies and caregivers.

Question 4

Describe the diathesis-stress model in nature-nurture debate

Answer 4

A vulnerability to a behaviour such as a mental disorder is combined with a trigger to cause it to develop. Vulnerabilities and stress triggers could be biological or environmental.

Question 5

Describe epigenetics in the nature-nurture debate

Answer 5

Interactions with the environment causes change in genetic activity, therefore affecting the genes which are passed on to offspring. Dias and Ressler (2014) found that giving rats electric shocks after presenting them with a chemical smell conditioned a fear of the smell in the rats, but this fear was also present in their offspring (despite the fact that the offspring had not been shocked).

Question 6

Evaluate nature-nurture debate - twins

Answer 6

It is too difficult to investigate the effects of nature and nurture due to the fact they are so closely linked (for example, twin pairs sharing genes and environments).
However, twins who were raised in different environments could be used in investigations into how nature vs nurture affects behaviour.

Question 7

Evaluate nature-nurture - ethical concerns

Answer 7

Taking the nature, or nurture side of the argument could have negative consequences, for example suggesting that ‘biology is destiny’ could be used to justify different treatment of certain groups. Suggesting that behaviour is shaped by the environment may lead to attempts to control behaviour by environmental manipulation.