Nature nurture explanations

Question 1

What is this debate about?

Answer 1

Whether behaviour is the product of our genetics or our upbringings

Question 2

Nature explanations

Answer 2

Behaviour is determined by genetic inheritance (including unchanging biological factors) so innate factors dictate how we act

Question 3

Nurture explanations

Answer 3

Behaviour is determined and dependent on upbringings: past experiences, encounters, learnt behaviour s

Question 4

Strengths of the nature explanation

Answer 4

Supported by evidence that behaviour can be difficult to change
Research wouldn’t be ethnocentric since biological factors are same across cultures (species specific) so we don’t have to repeat in diff cultures
Useful for genetic modification

Question 5

Weaknesses of nature explanations

Answer 5

Limited use since it suggests it’s hard to change someone’s nature
Behaviour is too complicated to be attributed to genes (reductionist)
Socially sensitive by saying behaviours and problems can’t be changed

Question 6

Strengths of nurture explanations

Answer 6

Supported by evidence that behaviour is open to changing based on upbringing/learning eg behaviourism and brain plasticity
Can be useful by suggesting how to change behaviour due to upbringings

Question 7

Weaknesses of nurture explanations

Answer 7

Might be ethnocentric because cultures vary in upbringing so we cannot generalise findings from one study to all human behaviour
Socially sensitive by blaming parents/ external influences for negative behaviour

Question 8

Way of resolving debate

Answer 8

Studying identical twins with same genetics against non identical twins
And determining if there are greater similarities in behaviour between identical twins or the other

Question 9

Findings of twin studies

Answer 9

Interactionist = behaviour is due to a bit of both