Nature-Nurture Debate

Question 1

what does the nature nurture seek to answer?

Answer 1

• whether our behaviours is more influenced by nature or nurture
• any behaviour arises from a combination of both

Question 2

what does Brauer and Chopra say?

Answer 2

• eyecolour is not completely determined by genetics, 0.80 heritable

Question 3

what are examples of the nature nurture debate?

Answer 3

• Bowlby = baby’s attachment type is determined by the warmth and continuity of parental love
• Kagan = baby’s innate personality affects the attachment relationship

Question 4

what is the diathesis stress model?

Answer 4

• suggests that our behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability and is only expressed when coupled with a biological or environmental trigger

Question 5

what is an example of the diathesis stress model?

Answer 5

• OCD = a person who inherits a genetic vulnerability for OCD may not develop the disorder but if combined with a psychological trigger this may result in the disorder

Question 6

what is epigenetics?

Answer 6

• refers to a change in genetic activity without changing the genes themselves
• happens throughout our life and is caused by interaction with the environment
• aspects of our lives or events can leave marks on the DNA which can turn genes on and off
• epigenetic changes may go on and influence the genetic code as well as their children

Question 7

what does nature refer to?

Answer 7

• inherited influences or heredity

Question 8

who argues for nature?

Answer 8

Descartes’

Question 9

what does Descartes say about nature?

Answer 9

argues that all human characteristics and some aspects of knowledge are innate
- psychological characteristics like intelligence or personality are determined by biological factors just like physical characteristics

Question 10

what does nurture refer to?

Answer 10

• influence of experience and the environment

Question 11

who is involved with nurture?

Answer 11

• empiricists like Locke
• Lerner

Question 12

what does Locke say?

Answer 12

• mind is a blank slate at birth (tabula rasa) and our mind is shaped by the environment, this view later became an important feature of the behaviourist approach

Question 13

what did Lerner say?

Answer 13

identified different levels of the environment, including prenatal factors like physical influences(smoking) or psychological influences(music) affect a foetus
- more generally development is influenced postnatally, e.g. social conditions a child grows up in

Question 14

how can nature and nurture be measured?

Answer 14

• degree to which two people are similar on a particular traits can be represented by correlation coefficient, concordance

Question 15

what does concordance do?

Answer 15

provides an estimate about the extent to which a trait is inherited = heritability

Question 16

what is heritability?

Answer 16

proportion of differences between individuals in a population, with regards to a particular trait, due to genetic variation

Question 17

what does a figure of .01 mean?

Answer 17

• genes contribute almost nothing to individual differences

Question 18

what does a figure of 1.0 mean?

Answer 18

genes are the only reason for individual differences

Question 19

what id a general figure of heritability?

Answer 19

IG which is .5 across multiple studies in varying populations (Plomin)

Question 20

what does Plomin’s research suggest?

Answer 20

• about half of a person’s intelligences is determined by genetic factors and the other half must be environmental

Question 21

what are the evaluation points for nature-nurture debate?

Answer 21

+use of adoption studies
+support for epigenetics
+real world applications