Nature v Nurture

Question 1

Nature

Answer 1

People behave the way they do because they are animals who act in accordance with their animal instincts and are determined by their biology.

Question 2

Nurture

Answer 2

People behave the way they do because they are determined by the things other people teach them, the things are determined to observe around them, and because of the different situations they are put in.

Question 3

Background to Nature

Answer 3

• Nativist, Biology, physiology, Genetics and Evolutionary Theory
• Behaviour is caused by genetic determinism, inherited influence, hormones, brain activity
• Can’t change behaviour/Eugenics
• Reductionist
• Scans, Experiments, DNA, Twin and Adoption

Question 4

Background to Nurture

Answer 4

• Empiricism philosophy, behaviourism, social psychology
• The mind is ‘tabula rasa’ at birth, knowledge and behaviour are the result of experience and learning from the environment
• Can change, be prevented and treated
• Reductionist
• Case Studies, Feild E, US interviews

Question 5

Interactionism

Answer 5

• Widely accepted that heredity and the environment do not act indepenedntly and both nature and nurture are essential for almost all behaviour
• Instead of extreme nativist and environmentalist views, most are interested in investigating why nature and nurture interact
• The interactionist approach is the view that both nature and nurture work together to shape human behaviour
• Diathesis-Stress Model

Question 6

Diathesis-Stress Model

Answer 6

• Diathesis: Vulnerability to Psychological Disorders= Genetic inheritance, biological processes, brain abnormalities or NT problems and early learning experiences
• Environmental Stressors: Noxious physical stressors, relationship problems, traumas, abuse, neglect

Question 7

Social Psychology Key Assumptions

Answer 7

• Our roles in society influence our behaviours
• The group we are a part of influences our behaviour
• The situation we are in influences behaviours

Question 8

Social Psychology: Agency Theory and Social Impact Theory

Answer 8

1. ) AT: Tendency to obey due to evolution as it aids survival as society works in a hierarchy (Nature) / AF present in the environment and based on the situation you are in (Nurture)
2. ) SIT: Being out-numbered or of low status causes submission through obeying to aid survival (Nature)/ Number, prox and power are social factors (Nurture)

Question 9

Social Psychology: Realistic Conflict Theory and Social Identity Theory

Answer 9

1. ) SIT: Want to belong to a group, social animals, aids survival in evolution forms a social identity. In nature process to use comparison to maintain self-esteem (nature) / Presence of another group in a social situation causes prejudice (Nurture)
2. ) RCT: Form groups to survive, competition is a natural part of the evolution as it aids survival when limited resources/Limited resources and sero sums fates are all environment

Question 10

Social Psychology: Sherif

Answer 10

• Forming groups is a natural tendency as it aids survival (Nature)
• Sherif changed the environment in stages through the introduction of competition with games like baseball
• Changing friendship levels as a measure of prejudice as a social factor. For example, he scored their outgroup friendships at the end of the friction and integration phases and found the Rattlers went from 6.4% to 36.4%. (Nurture)

Question 11

Social Psychology Debate Evaluation

Answer 11

• Field Experiments (Sheriff) are high in ecological validity in which behaviour will reflect real life and as a result, as it is more suitable in explaining behaviour as nature/nurture as it maintains control over some variables
• Lab Experiments (Milgram) operationalises abstract concepts (prejudice, obedience) as things like an increase in voltage of electric shock administered which is highly scientific but lacks the detail necessary for understanding the complexity of behaviour
• Social psychology assumes the behaviour is mostly due to nurture so any undesirable behaviours can be changed
• Field has low internal validity, Lab have high R but low task validity
• Milgram’s ‘Ordinary Man’ variation found that 80% of ppts left the experiment once the Confederate suggested they increase the shock level showing that environmental factors affect obedience, so nurture

Question 12

Cognitive Key Assumptions

Answer 12

• Human Brian functions like a computer
• Brain processes information in a linear fashion
• Nature and Nurture interact

Question 13

Cog: MSM and WMM

Answer 13

1. ) MSM: Memory is universal (Nature) but the rehearsal is dictated by the environment on is in (Nurture). Peterson and Peterson=ppts were told to remember nonsense trigrams (e.g. BNV) and they found that after 3s 80% of trigrams were recalled but after 18 seconds less than 10%. Therefore this supports the existence of rehearsal aiding memory during the 3 s and the process of decay after an extended period at 18s.
2. ) WMM: Memory is universal but memory impairment occurs when two pieces of info using the same type of encoding occur from the environment. Seltz and Schumann-Hengsteler (2000) Ppts carried out simple maths sums that were disrupted by visual and sound interference tasks and they found that only sound tasks caused impairment. Suggests that visual and verbal information are processed separately and that two tasks in one slave system cause impairment.

Question 14

Cog: Schema Theory and Brain Damage

Answer 14

1. ) Schema Theory: Reconstruction of past events is a process that involves cognition and takes place in our brains (nature). Schemas are formed based on the environment and our experiences in our environment.
2. ) Brain Damage: Impairment of memory can be a result of damage to areas of the brain that is involved in memory (hippocampus). Dyslexia can affect memory. Impairment in their phonological loop which slows down the processing of words due to not being able to subvocally rehearse and so the capacity of their STM may be lower. In primary dyslexia, much research focuses on hereditary factors. Researchers have recently identified specific genes identified as possibly contributing to the signs and symptoms of dyslexia. (Nature). Brain damage can be caused by the environment, such as an accident. KF’s case study supports. He suffered STM impairment due to a motorbike accident and had a digit span of one (Nurture)

Question 15

Cog: Baddeley

Answer 15

(Nature) Memory is universal. Therefore encoding in the STM being acoustic and encoding of the LTM being semantic. It is the same for everyone. Around 40% of people recalled acoustically similar words correctly in trial 2 compared to 60% for acoustically dissimilar words. Around 50% of semantically similar words were recalled in trial 4 compared to 85% of semantically dissimilar which was a significant difference.
(Nurture) Acoustically and semantically similar words differ between culture and languages. So differing sounds are caused by the environment.

Question 16

Cognitive Evaluation

Answer 16

• Low task validity when operationalising memory as recalling word lists doesn’t reflect how memory works in real life and results have low credibility
• Reducing memory to word lists makes it more scientific
• Memory is universal however factors from the environment that cause impairment are easily treatable
• Standard Procedure in LE make them more R and easy to compare to test for consistency and they also have high control allowing cause and effect to be established between memory being nature/nurture. Seb and Hern Gil controlled their sample to ensure no individual differences.
• Bartlett study showed that there were inaccuracies in recalling American Folk story due to schemas influencing details that weren’t familiar such as someone dying at sunset instead of the sunrise which shows nurture influences memory. Bartlett’s (1932) War of the Ghosts study supports when testing people on an unfamiliar Native American folk tale, he found that ppts recalled inaccuracies such as someone dying at sunset instead of sunrise and excluding the ghosts entirely shows that rationalisation and confabulation occur in order to make sense of memory using our schemas. English Participants.

Question 17

Biological Psychology Key Assumptions

Answer 17

• CNS and brain governs our behaviour

- Evolution and natural selection play a significant role in human behaviour

Question 18

Bio: Evolution, Brain Structures, NTs and Hormones

Answer 18

• Evolution: Behaviour like agg is innate due to natural selection from evolution favouring aggressive genes that aid survival being passed to offspring. But changes in the environment also change behaviour depending on the situation. Also what genes get passed on are determined by the environment and it’s suitability.
• BS: Abnormalities in the brain cause differences in behaviour such as becoming more agg. But that damage is due to the environment
• NT: Electrical messengers in the brain that can cause changes in behaviour such as an increase in dopamine increasing aggression. But NT can be disrupted by drugs (Nurture)
• H:Chemical Messengers in the body that cause change in behaviour such as increase of testosterone increasing aggression. But H levels can be disrupted by drugs and environmental pressures and cause things like stress. Cortestorne released in response to stress

Question 19

Bio: Raine

Answer 19

• Used PET scans to investigate differences in the brain between murderers pleading NGRI compared to non-murderers
• These focus on activity and structure of the brain that causes behaviour and this case criminality
• Events from the environment cause as an aggressive response
• Not the same situation in which they committed murder. It wasn’t an aggressive situation and used a task that wasn’t violent.

Question 20

Biological Evaluation

Answer 20

• PET scans looking at activity in the brain are objective due to quantitative data making them more reliable and easy to analyse which increases the credibility
• Ignores factors from the environment causing behaviours such as agg so explanations are inadequate due to lack of complexity
• Focuses mainly on the nature argument causing bevahiour which means the likelihood of getting rid of the problematic behaviour is low but it does allow us to predict who is most at risk and potentially put in place preventative treatments. But sets a dangerous precedent.
• LEs have low EV as they are artificial and unnatural so participant behaviour is more likely to be affected by DCs and not reflect their actual behaviour.
• Case study of Charles Witman who killed 16 people in his autopsy showed that he had a tumour pressing against his amygdala support agg being caused by nature. Tumours are linked to both hereditary factors and environment. Mayo clinic says higher risk when exposed to radiation or have a family history

Question 21

Learning Psychology key Assumptions

Answer 21

• We are born as a Blank State (Tabula Rasa)
• We are shaped exclusively by the environment through stimulus-response
• No free will due to behaviours being determined by the events we experience

Question 22

Learning Psychology: CC, OP, SLT and Phobias

Answer 22

1. ) CC: Reflexes and unconditioned responses to a certain stimulus in the environment are biological such as salivation at the sight of food. The Conditioning process however and the association of stimulus in the environment conditions behaviours such as associating a rate with fear due to hearing a loud noise whenever it appears.
2. ) OP: Reflexes as a response to things in the environment are biological such as salivation to the sight of food. Reinforcers that reward/punish certain behaviours from the environment such as an anorexic patient receiving money for weight gain.
3. ) SLT: Behaviours are only learned through observation of things in the environment. Such as learning aggression by observing someone else being aggressive. themselves.
4. ) Phobias: Some are innate due to being developed from evolution as they aided the survival of our ancestors such as fear in response to loud noise and heights as they pose a threat. Mechanisms of learning phobias come from the environment such as fear of spiders due to observing other people being scared in there presence.

Question 23

Learning: Watson and Rayner

Answer 23

• Little Albert showed the reflective fear response of jumping when he heard a loud sound that was sudden which is a biological innate reaction to loud noise.
• Conditioned a phobia into little A successfully by associating a neutral stimulus of a rat with the unconditioned stimulus of a loud noise that came from the environment

Question 24

Learning Psychology Evaluation

Answer 24

• Lab Experiments have high control over EVs and C and E can be established between behaviour being learned as a result of conditioning
• Operationalising learnt aggression as the amount of verbally and physically violent actions towards the Bobo doll allows the complex process of learning behaviours to be measurable and so is more scientific
• Behaviours being largely nurture has implications of undesirable behaviours being easily changed through methods like changing role models children see and led to things like the Watershed (Violent and sexually explicit shows are on after 9 pm)
• Observations like Bandura have low validity due to the subjectively of overseeing behaviour but had high inter-rater r as there were multiple researchers in an attempt to remove subjectivity and rates were as high at 99%
• Bandura found that children who observed role models acting agg towards the Bobo doll reproduced the same behaviour suggesting nurture. Also unpunished and same sex.

Question 25

Clinical Psychology: Biological Explanation of disorders and Biological Treatments

Answer 25

1. ) Explanations: Dop Hypothesis for Szh states that an imbalance of the NT dopamine which is a biological electrical message causing the disorder, neurodevelopmental hypothesis for Szh states abnormalities in the brain such as enlarged ventricles, Genes (EPHX2 responsible for cholesterol and depression) for AN that is inherited causes the disorder (NATURE) / Abnormal brain functioning and imbalanced NTs can be the result of environmental factors such as an accident or drugs or even the flu during pregnancy (NURTURE)
2. ) Drug Treatments: Szh is caused by excess dopamine, an NT that can be regulated through biological means of chemical binding to the receptors, AN having co-morbid symptoms that may cause the disorder can be changed through drugs that alter brain chemistry with biological SSRIs that change serotonin levels (NATURE) / Intervention in the form of drug therapy is made from the environment (NURTURE)

Question 26

Clinical: Social Explanations and Treatments

Answer 26

1. ) Explanation: SCH states Szh develops as a result of stress from the environment from factors like low social class, social adversity, immigration which are environmental factors AND the Socio-Cultural explanation states that AN develops as a result of influence from things in the environment such as cultural norms and the media presenting models exclusively who are skinny (NURTURE)
2. ) Treatments: ACT is a treatment for Szh that is often paired with drug treatments due to being insufficient on his own which looks at treating disorders through bio methods (NATURE) / ACT treats Szh by using environmental factors such as the community to aid peoples functioning to assit with recivery, Token econmies treat AN by using environmental reinforcers like money when the desirabl behvaiour of gaining wieght for example is shown (NURTURE)

Question 27

Clinical Psychology Evaluation

Answer 27

• Low validity in social explanations as they can’t be tested in a lab limiting a cause and effect relationship being established and so lacks credibility
• Reducing the cause of a disorder down to one factor lacks important detail that may lead to better treatment and so is inadequate compared to theorists such as the diathesis-stress model
• Nature causing disorders means there is little chance of curing but thier symptoms can be treated behaviour nurture causing a disorder is easier to treat
• Twin studies never have 100% concordance rate which suggests interactions between nature and nurture animal studies aren’t generlisable
• Paul and Lentz found that 11% of drug patenis needed drug therapy alongside the token econmy to treat AN suggesting the cause may have nature element to it

Question 28

Criminal Psychology

Answer 28

1. ) Biological Explanations: XYY - extra Y occurring through conception, Brain abnormalities - focusing on diff areas, Eyesneck - certain personality traits are biological and they cause criminality for example extroversion is caused by ARAS favouring inhibition of stimulation,(NATURE) Brain Injury - accidents and Personality - friends (NURTURE)
2. ) Hormone Treatment: Bioprocesses of chemical messengers that cause change like high agg and so treatment fixes it / Intervention made by environment and access dependent on the environment
3. ) Environmental Explanations: Labels may be based on behaviour that they are biologically predisposed to, innate tendencies to categorise things as it aids survival due to helping people understanding of what is happening around them / Labels given to people based on their behaviours are from environment and SLT states that we learn through observation of role models in our environments
4. ) CBT: Cognition is an innate biological process which this therapy aims to change such as changing thoughts on anger, uses methods such as counting to 10 reduce physiological symptoms such as elevated heart rate when experiencing anger (NATURE) / Focuses on triggers from the environment that cause a biological response such as an agg, Methods to reduce undesirable behaviours are from the environment such as counting to 10 (NURTURE)

Question 29

Crim: Loftus and Palmer

Answer 29

Impairment in memory recall was caused by asking Leading Qs in which the verb suggested the speed of a car that are factors from the environment.

Question 30

Criminal Psychology Evaluation

Answer 30

• XYY syndrome only applies to males and so lacks credability in explaining wheter criminality in females ia a result of nature or nurture
• Causes of criminaity being reduced to injuries in certain areas of the brian like the Pre-frontal cortex reduces behaviour to certain biological elements that cen be measured scientfically with brain scanning
• Argues both sides of the debate, nature and nuture. Little chance of change versus meaning it can be treated
• Case Studies into why criminals offend have high validity due to their complex and in-depth processes and proedure providing details and understanding but lack R so hard to replicate and test for consistency
• Federoff found that only 15% of criminals re-offended when taking MPA compared to 68% of those not taking MPA supporting criminality being nature

Question 31

Clinical Psychology: Rosenhan

Answer 31

• Focus on environmental impacts on patients on a psychiatric ward.
• Nobody had any actual disorders