R03_ARE YOU A "NATURAL?" BY Bouchard, Lykken, McGue, Segal, Tellegen (1990)

Question 1

The domination of the behaviorism theory of human nature during the second half of the 20th century likely caused the spread of what we call “environmental bias” (the tendency of individuals to think that genes do not play a part in one’s psychological factors)

Answer 1

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Question 2

“The influence of behaviorism is reflected on today’s firmly entrenched popular belief that experience is the primary or exclusive architect of human nature.”

Answer 2

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Question 3

The findings (correlation) indicate that genetic factors (or the genome) appear to account for most of the variations in a remarkable variety of human characteristics.

Answer 3

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Question 4

“The basic underlying assumption in Bouchard and Lykken’s research is that human characteristics are determined by some combination of genetic and environmental influences. When the environment exerts less influence, difference must be attributed more to genes. The converse is also true: as environmental forces create a stronger influence on differences in a particular characteristic, genetic influences will be weaker.”

Answer 4

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Question 5

“The authors are saying, in essence, that family environment exert LESS influence over the kids who grow up to be than do the genes they inherit from birth.”

“Bouchard and Lykken are quick to point out that genes are not necessarily destiny and that devoted parents can still influence their children in positive ways, even if they are only working on a small percentage of the total variation.”

Answer 5

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Question 6

“Bouchard and Lykken suggest the implication that…it’s not the environment influencing people’s characteristics but vice versa.”

Answer 6

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