Nature V Nurture Debate Flashcards
Nature definition:
The view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors
Nature:
Heredity definition
(Genetic inheritance)
is the process in which traits are passed down from one generation to the next.
Example of nature:
Bowlby proposed that children come into the world biologically programmed to form attachments because this will help them to survive.
This suggests attachment behaviours are naturally selected, and passed on as a result of genetic inheritance (heredity mechanisms).
Nurture definition:
The view that behaviour is the product of environmental influences (everything outside the body)
Nurture example:
Behavioural psychologists explain attachment in terms of classical conditioning, where food (UCS) is associated with the mother (NS), and through many repeated pairings, the mother becomes the CS who elicits a CR in the child.
Therefore, the child forms an attachment based on the pleasure experiences as a result of being fed.
Interactionist approach definition:
The view that both nature and nurture work together to shape human behaviour.
Example of interactionist approach:
Detected by prick heel test when born.
The genetic disorder PKU is caused by genetic inheritance of two recessive genes. People with PKU are unable to break down an amino acid which builds up in the blood and brain and causes mental retardation, where they have severe learning difficulties.
BUT, if a child with PKU is placed on a low protein diet for the first 12 years, they avoid this serious lifelong disorder.
What does the biological approach place emphasis on?
Genetic (nature) rather than environment (nurture)
What do behaviourists think behaviour is caused by?
Learning (nurture)
What does the psychodynamic approach assume?
Assumed innate or inherited drives are modified by early experience - so represents an interaction of genes and environment.
What is meant by the ‘nature-nurture’ debate in psychology? [2 marks]
Nature is the view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors, and nurture is the view that behaviour is the product of environmental influences.
The nature versus nurture debate centres on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) to human development.
