Paper 3 Flashcards
Synoptic
Application of previously learnt content to a new/different area
Interactionist approach
Nature and nurture are intertwined and a two-way process. Supported by diathesis stress model (inherited vulnerability to behaviours but they can only be activated by environmental stressors), cross cultural studies show the degree that characteristics are shared or up to culture
Features of the nature/nativist argument
Descartes argues all behaviours are innate and not learned, favours empirical evidence and biology over psychology
Features of the nurture/empiricist argument
Argues that babies start off as a blank slate and all behaviours are learned/conditioned by interaction with the environment
Dias and Ressler
2014, gives male lab mice electric shocks when they are exposed to certain smell. Mice became scared of smell. The rat’s children and grandchildren also feared the smell despite never smelling it before
Tienari
2004, found that group of Finnish adoptees most likely to develop schizophrenia had biological relatives with a history of the disorder and had dysfunctional relationships with adoptive families
Supports diathesis stress model but may be due to nurture as they are adoptees
Nature vs Nurture debate essays
All paragraphs must be in favour of the interactionist approach
Free will
The basis of moral responsibility is that an individual is in charge of their own actions regardless of innate factors or influences of early experiences
Hard determinism (fatalism)
All human behaviour has a cause. Assumes that everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control
Soft determinism
All human behaviour has a cause but with some nuance. People have conscious mental control over the way they behave.
Biological determinism
Emphasises role of biology on behaviour e.g. autonomic nervous system controls stress. All behaviour is innate, inherited and determined by genes. Draws on the biological approach
Environmental determinism
Believes all behaviour is a result of conditioning and you do not have control over your behaviour. Draws on behaviourist approach. Skinner described free will as an illusion - ‘choice’ is a sum of reinforcement contingencies that have acted throughout our life
Psychic determinism
Emphasises the influence of biological drives and instincts. Draws on psychodynamic approach. Freud believes free will is an illusion and behaviour is determined by conflicts which are usually repressed in childhood. Freud believes there is no such thing as an accident e.g. slips of the tongue influenced by unconscious.
Example of psychic determinism
Gender behaviours are determined by the phallic stage and resolution of the Oedipus/Electra complex which results on the child taking on the identity of the same-sex parent
Evidence that biological determinism is not accepted by courts and operates on the idea of free will
1981, Stephen Mobley argued that he was ‘born to kill’ after killing pizza shop manager. Family had a disposition towards violent/aggressive behaviour. American court rejected this argument and believed he was guilty.
