nature vs nurture

Question 1

what is a nativist?

Answer 1

eg. descartes
the belief that human behaviour is innate and hereditary

Question 2

/

what is an empiricist?

Answer 2

eg. locke
the belief that all individuals are born with a blank slate and that experience dictates behaviour and who we are

Question 3

‘what is the heritability coefficient?

Answer 3

• indicates the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis
• heritability doesnt indicate what proportion of a trait is determined by genes and what proportion is determined by environment
• prop of differences between individuals in a pop (regards to particular trait) that is due to genetic variation

Question 4

what would a heritability of 0.01 mean?

Answer 4

genes contribute almost nothing to individual differences and 1.0 = genes are the only reason for individual differences

Question 5

what are lerner do?

Answer 5

lerner identified different levels of the environment - narrow - ex. pre-natal influences or post-natal conditions

Question 6

what are 3 post-natal conditions?

Answer 6

• social conditions
• cultural conditions
• historical conditions

Question 7

what is the interactionist approach?

Answer 7

• nature-nurture - which is behaviour more influenced by?
• any behaviour/characteristic usually arises combo - even eye colour - 0.80 heritable
• bowlby claimed attachment type = warm + continuity of love (environment) vs kagan - innate personality affects attachment
• NATURE (temperament) CREATES nurture (parents’ response)
• INTERACTION

Question 8

what is the diathesis-stress model?

Answer 8

suggests behaviour caused by biological/environmental vulnerability (diathesis) which is only expressed when coupled with a biological/environmental ‘trigger’ (stressor)
example = ocd - genetic vulnerability does not help develop disorder but psych trigger can make it appear

Question 9

what is epigenetics?

Answer 9

• change in genetic activity without changing genes caused by interaction with environment
• aspects of our lifestyle/events we encounter ex. smoking can leave marks on DNA switching them off or on
• something like smoking lifelong influence even when stop - changes gene expression
• can even influence genetic codes or children onwards
• third element - exp of prev gens

Question 10

evaluate nature vs nurture?

Answer 10

-

Question 11

how is there support for epigenetics?

Answer 11

• nazis blocked distribution of food to dutch people - thousands died from starvation
• susser + lin 1992 - reported women who became preg during famine had low birth weight babies
• also 2x likely develop sz when grew up than typical pop rates
• ## life exp of prev gens can influence offspring

Question 12

how is there a real-world application of the nature-nurture debate?

Answer 12

• nestadt et al - heritability of ocd .76
• help inform genetic counselling - important to understand high heritability doesnt mean inevitable individual will get disorder
• people who have high genetic risk bc of fam background can get advice and how to prevent
• important to understand interaction

Question 13

how is the implications of the debate a limitation?

Answer 13

• nativists suggest ‘anatomy is destiny’ - genetic makeup determines characteristics + behaviour with little environmental input
• extreme determinist stance - controversy - linking ethnicity, genetics + intelligence
• approach used by hitler + nazis - create ‘master race’ and remove those inferior

Question 14

how is there supporting research for interactionism?

Answer 14

• nurture + nature work together
• maguire et al - hippocampus (nature) increased in size because of memorisation of london routes (nurture/environment)