Nature/Nurture

Question 1

Definition of Nature

Answer 1

Our behaviour is caused by our biological make-up, such as the genes we inherit from our parents.

Genes are responsible for our characteristics/behaviour.

Relates to innate characteristics such as genes, hormones, and the brain.

It is what we are born with, including any processes that develop as we mature and any effects on ourselves before birth - predetermined features

Question 2

Definition of Nurture

Answer 2

Refers to behaviour being learnt and is due to environmental factors.

Determined after birth.

The development of our behaviour can be influenced by parenting styles, interactions with peers, education, and the media.

Question 3

Nature: Sherif

Answer 3

• Results may have been due to nature - boys may have evolved to be prejudiced, boys were name calling and breaking out into fights when competing for scarce resources (penknives), evolutionary theory as an explanation (those most adaptive will survive and pass on their genes)
• Despite the controls and random allocation to the 2 groups, the Rattlers were tough and swore and the Eagles cried more when injured and were anti-swearing, suggests nature (personalities of group members) may underpin a group’s engagement in competition/prejudice
• Primarily focuses on prejudice, a universal behaviour, suggests a stronger
  emphasis on nature.

Question 4

Nurture: Sherif

Answer 4

• Levels of prejudice affected by competition and cooperation created by Sherif through the introduction of the tournament (tug of war) and the superordinate goals (fixing the water supply), suggests prejudice is a result of nurture (environment)
• Proposed the shift from cooperation to competition highlights the powerful impact of social environments in shaping behaviours, furthers the argument that nurture (social influences) plays a significant role in shaping attitudes and actions
• Introduction of superordinate goals demonstrated the power of the environment (nurture) in
  shaping behaviour, boys were able to overcome their hostilities when they needed to collaborate for a common goal

Question 5

Nature: Baddeley

Answer 5

• Highlighted the role of the short-term memory (STM) which may have a biological basis
• Findings that acoustically similar words cause more difficulty in STM suggests the brain’s natural processing of sounds influences memory
• Study mainly focused on memory ability, a universal cognitive process, suggests a stronger emphasis on nature

Question 6

Nurture: Baddeley

Answer 6

• Highlighted the role of the LTM which may develop through learning and experience
• Findings that semantically similar words cause more difficulty in LTM suggests that participants’ previous exposure to language influences memory
• Participants’ performance may be based on individual differences in educational background, strategies learned for memory recall, shaped by nurture
• Participants shared similar experiences/environmental influences, all volunteers from the Cambridge area (more affluent with better schools)

Question 7

Nature: Raine

Answer 7

• Size of amygdala and level of activity in brain determined by genes, suggests that aggression is programmed in us
• Correlation between aggression and brain functioning exists, not a causal relationship, cannot be certain that aggression is due to nature
• Study mainly focused on aggression (universal behaviour), emphasises nature

Question 8

Nurture: Raine

Answer 8

• Childhood experiences may affect brain functioning (physical abuse as a child = misshapen frontal lobes), may increase aggression
• Possibility of aggressive criminals being rehabilitated through changes in their environment, evidence that aggression may be shaped by environmental influences (nurture)
• Higher rate of aggression noted in males may suggest that environmental influences (exposure to competitive sports, fighting) may be responsible for increases in aggression rather than brain functioning

Question 9

Nature: Watson and Raynor

Answer 9

• Identified that Little Albert naturally displayed fear (crying and withdrawal) in
  response to a loud noise (UCS), reaction is an innate reflex (supports nature)
• Though the loud noise and white rat used in the procedure are environmental stimuli, the fear response of crying is an innate, reflex response, suggests phobias are determined by both nature and nurture
• Possible that humans have an evolutionary predisposition to fear certain stimuli, such as animals, because they might have historically posed threats to survival, wasn’t directly tested in the study, provides a potential explanation for why Albert generalised his fear to objects like the white rat and other furry items

Question 10

Nurture: Watson and Raynor

Answer 10

• Study designed to investigate whether fear could be learned through association, pairing of the NS (a white rat) with the UCS (a loud noise) conditioned Albert to associate the white rat with fear (became the CR) shows how nurture (environmental stimuli) can override natural responses and create new learned behaviours (phobias)
• Little Albert’s fear response extended to other similar stimuli (rabbit, fur coat, Santa Claus mask), shows how environmental experiences can lead to the generalisation of learned responses (nurture)
• Proposed to reverse Little Albert’s phobia using a form of systematic desensitisation (pair pleasant stimulus with the presentation of the white rat), help him learn that the rat is not something to be frightened of, supporting the idea that behaviour change is due to environmental stimuli and nurture

Question 11

Nature: Rosenhan

Answer 11

• Found that bio factors (genetic predispositions, neurochemical imbalances,
  or brain abnormalities) were overlooked by clinicians diagnosing pseudo patients in favour of labelling and subjective interpretation, suggests a failure to consider nature in the diagnostic process
• The pseudo patients’ inherited personality traits such as resilience may have
  affected how they coped with their experience of being in a psychiatric hospital, suggesting that nature may influence their behaviour
• Psychiatrists may have believed that the pseudo patients’ symptoms had a biological cause and hence they were prescribed medication to try and remove their symptoms, supporting the nature side of the debate

Question 12

Nurture: Rosenhan

Answer 12

• Proposed the diagnosis and treatment of the pseudo patients as mentally ill by
  the staff, including experienced psychiatrists was due to the culture and procedures of the hospital, suggests the environment of the psychiatric hospital shaped perceptions and responses
• Suggested that the staff’s behaviour toward the pseudo patients, such as ignoring their requests, influenced by their expectations and stigmas surrounding mental health, shows that nurture (societal and institutional attitudes) can shape interactions and clinical judgments
• Found that once the pseudo patients were diagnosed with a MHD and confined to the hospital, all their behaviours were viewed through that label - shows the powerful impact of the environment with staff members (any deviation from expected behaviours, such as writing behaviour, was evidence of illness) supports the role of nature