Lecture 2 Flashcards
Traditional views
Nature: genetic infleunce
Nurture: environmental influences (e.g. health, stress, fmaily, community, school, culture)
Essential question: how much of any characteristic, behaviour, trait, etc is the result of genes and how much of the result of the environment/experience?
Nature vs nurture
SikoRA et al (2010): access to home library as an adolescent correlated with boost in scores in adult literacy, numeracy and technological problem-solving
Headline sreadiness:
- growing up in a house full of books is a major boost tgo literacy and numeracy, study finds
- research data from 160,000 adults in 31 countires concludes that a sizeable home library have been seen school leavers skills equivalent to uni graduated who didn’t read
- having more books as a kid makes you smarter: study
- growing up surrounded by books could have powerful, lasting effect on the mind - a new study suggests that exposure to large home libraries have a long-term impact on profile cx in three key areas
Criticism: does the number of books in the home have an environmental causal effect on chidlren”s reading ability<
Gene-environment interaction
Genotypes (individual’s inherited genetic makeup) react to environmental factors different to create that individual’s phenotype (individual’s observable charctersrics, behaviours and traits)
- e.g. phenylketonuria (PKU) - rare genetic mutation where ody can’t break down phenylaline (an amino acid found in some food). The build-up disturbs brain development leading to severe learning disabilities
Different susceptiblity: varying sensitivity to environmental influenceds (genes or experinces)
Genes also infleunce our enviornment
- e.g. appearance, personality traits, atypical behaviour
How do we test for nature/nurture interactions?
- twin studies
- fmaily studies
- adoption studies
Considerations
- degree of genetic relatedness
- shared vs different environmental exposures
