Nature vs nurture

Question 1

supporting and criticising nurture (behaviour shaping has led to therapy but may be misused in society) CW

Answer 1

P: Behaviour shaping has had practical application in therapy.
E: Desirable behaviours are selectively reinforced and undesirable behaviour are punished or ignored
C: However, if taken to the extreme, these assumptions may lead one to advocate a model of society that can control and manipulate its citizens using these techniques.
E: This would be an ethical issue as some would argue that it removes individuals free will.

Question 2

criticising nature (diff in concordance rates may actually be due to nurture) HB

Answer 2

P: The premise of using twin studies is that the only difference between MZ and DZ twins is genetic similarity.
E: However, environemental influences may mean that MZ twins are more similar, for example, they may be treated more similarly than DZ twins because they look the “same” and assumptions might be made that they are interested in the same thing too.
E: This means that the difference in concordance rates between MZ and DZ twins may actually be more due to nurture rather than nature.

Question 3

criticising nature ( has led to controversy) DW

Answer 3

P: The extreme determinist stance that our inherited genetic makeup determines our characteristics and behaviours has led to controversy.
E: Governments have attempted to link race, genetics and intelligence and this has been applied to eugenics policy such as the sterilisation of feeble minded individuals in America.
E: This means that the nature side of the nature nurture debate can have negative implications on the lives of indviduals who are discriminated against which is unjust.
I: The nature aspect of human behaviour needs to be carefully considered to ensure that assumptions are not used in society.

Question 4

criticising nature +nurture (interactionist approach is more realistic) HB

Answer 4

P: There is evidence to support that the interactionist approach is a more realist way of considering influences on behaviour.
E: PKU is caused by the inheritance of two recessive genes. If the child is diagnosed early, they are placed on a low protein diet for the first 12 years which helps revert this potentially lifelong disorder.
E: Therefore the disorder PKU is not expressed because of an altered environment showing how both nature and nurture interact to impact on behaviour.

Question 5

Criticising nature + nurture ( diathesis- stress model may be more appropriate) HB

Answer 5

P: There is evidence to support the diathesis stress model as a more appropriate explanation on behaviour than the nature nurture approach.
E: A Finnish adoption study compared 155 adopted children whose biological mothers had schiz, with a matched group of children with no family history of schiz. They found that the group with the schiz mothers had a 10% rate of schiz. But they also discovered that all the reported cases of schiz occurred in families rated as ‘disturbed’. When the family environment was rated as ‘healthy’ even in the high risk sample (group with schiz mother) the occurence of schiz was well below the general population rates.
E: The research provides evidence that schiz is best explained by looking at an interaction between genetic inheritance and environmental triggers.