Nature vs Nurture

Question 1

Nature

Answer 1

– Deterministic -
– It’s all in our DNA
– Biological

Question 2

Nurture

Answer 2

• Blank slates
• It’s all experience
• Social sci. perspective

Question 3

Early views

Answer 3

Francis Galton (1822-1911)
-Wrote Hereditary Genius (1869)
-Believed intelligence was largely inherited
-Conducted early twin studies
• Plato and Aristotle also argued the relative influence of
nature vs. nurture.

Question 4

Little Albert experiment

Answer 4

Tried to condition fear (in this case of furry things) in a small child. Allegedly worked, but ethically and scientifically unsound.

Question 5

Evidence for Innate Behaviour

Answer 5

Fixed action patterns
– Rigid, stereotyped motor behaviours 
Species-specific behaviours
• Behaviours performed by all members of a species regardless of rearing
-Human universals: smiling, greeting “eyebrow flash” 
Naïve behaviour of young animals
- e.g. Visual cliff paradigm
Isolation experiments
-Development of birdsong

Question 6

Problems with concept of innate behaviour:

Answer 6

1. Behaviour is not preformed in genetic material – what about development?
2. Environment is broader than just learning e.g. self stimulation
3. Isolation experiments – impossible to remove all the environmental input

Question 7

Interactionist paradigm

Answer 7

Contingency of gene action; biological is not inevitable; development requires many “ingredients”
Both biology and environment interact throughout development to produce the phenotype

Question 8

Phenotypic Plasticity

Answer 8

The way in which an organism responds to environmental variation (either during morphological development or behaviourally) is itself likely to be programmed genetically
• E.g. height

Question 9

IQ

Answer 9

• Formal quantitative genetic models of the inheritance of intelligence have been controversial.
• Dates back to Galton and the 19th C
• Explored by twin methods, MZ/DZ twins reared together vs. reared apart.

Question 10

Fox P2 gene and the evolution of language

Answer 10

• Located at chromosome 7
• Codes for protein needed for language development
• Failure of normal language acquisition
• Hereditary, suggesting a genetic cause
 -the K’s, UK, grandmother, 4 out of her 5 children,
• 11 out of 23 grandchildren
• Intelligence not affected
• ‘the language gene”
 -But other genes involved too!!

Question 11

Sex differences in general behaviour

Answer 11

Influenced by imprinting on the X
- The extent of the behavioural difficulties found in Turner’s syndrome girls (XO) is influenced by whether their X is from their mother or their father
• Those with the X from their mother have more behavioural characteristics usually associated with boys