Nature Vs. Nurture Flashcards
What is the heritability coefficient?
To what extent a characteristic has genetic basis
What does the nature argument say?
Characteristics are hereditary (i.e. inherited from parents/ancestors)
What is a nativist?
Someone who believes in the nature side of the debate
What does the nurture argument say?
Characteristics are a result of our environment
(Mothers state during pregnancy & cultural, historical, social conditions we grow up in)
What is an empiricist?
Someone who believes the nurture side of the debate.
We are born a blank slate, learning and experience moulds us.
What is an issue with using twin studies in the nature/nurture debate?
You can never be completely sure that the concordance rates are completely due to genetics and not the environment
What is the interactionist approach?
An approach that considers how both nature and nurture interact and influence each other
What are 4 examples that support the interactionist approach?
The temperament hypothesis
PKU
Diathesis-stress model
Epigenetics
What is the temperament hypothesis?
The idea that children have an innate personality which will affect the parent’s response to them, therefore influencing attachment type.
What is PKU?
A genetic condition where someone is unable to break down a specific amino acid.
It can lead to brain damage if protein is eaten.
What can be done to live healthily with PKU?
If detected at a young age, a low-protein diet can be followed to ensure development is normal.
Why does PKU support the interactionist approach?
Cannot say that one alone is responsible for brain damage (gene is present but only triggered when an external factor (protein intake) takes place)
What is the diathesis-stress model?
The idea that psychopathologies are caused by a genetic vulnerability and an environmental trigger (e.g. family history of schizophrenia and being raised in a dysfunctional family increases the likelihood of developing schizophrenia)
What is epigenetics?
Refers to a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. Interactions with the environment leave epigenetic marks on our DNA which tell our body what genes to ignore and which to use which is then passed on.
