nature - nurture evaluations

Question 1

what is a strength of the research in the nature-nurture debate

Answer 1

P- adoption studies are useful as it helps identify the influences on nature/nurture on behaviour

E- if child more like adoptive parents = environmental influences
Rhee and Waldman (2002) - meta analysis of adoption studies showed that genetic influences accounted for 41% of variance in aggression

E- shows how research can separate the influences of nature and nurture

Question 2

counterpoint

Answer 2

P- plomin niche picking theory suggests a child will create their own nurture by selecting an environment appropriate to their nature

E- an aggressive child will pick aggressive friends and will become more aggressive

E- suggests it doesn’t make sense to look at evidence of either nature/nurture

Question 3

what is another strength of the nature-nurture debate

Answer 3

P- support for epigenetics

E- 1944 the Nazi locked of food distribution to the Dutch and 22,000.
Susser and Lin (1992) - women who were pregnant at this time, gave birth to low weight babies who were 2x as likely to develop schizophrenia

E- suggests that life experiences of past gens can leave epigenetic ‘markers’ which influence the health of their offspring

E- increases validity of nature -nurture debate as there is evidence supporting epigenetics

Question 4

what is a further strength of this debate

Answer 4

P- can have real world application

E- Nestadt et al (2010)put the heritability rate for OCD at .76 which shows it is highly heritable.

E- This info can inform genetic counselling as ppl who have a high genetic risk of developing OCD can receive education about management, prevention etc. of the disorder

E- increases reliability of this debate as it isn’t just theoretical but it is also important at a practical level to understand the interaction between nature and nurture.