The nature-nature debate

Question 1

outline

Answer 1

the nature-nurture debate relates to a discussion centred around whether behaviour is a product of inherited characteristics (nature) or experience (nurture)

Question 2

Example

Answer 2

the example of intelligence where heritability coefficient for IQ has been found to be 0.5. This suggests that although there are hereditary factors that influence our intellect, there are also environmental. i.e did mother smoke?

Question 3

Interactionist approach

Answer 3

that accepts both nature and nurture work together. The diathesis stress model is an example of this as it says that our behaviour is caused by genetic vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with a social or environmental ‘trigger’.

Question 4

Epigenetic factors

Answer 4

can also play a role in illnesses like schizophrenia as how parents lived their lives can affect the expression of certain genes linked to the disorder which can then be passed on to their offspring.

Question 5

Evaluation strength: support for interactionism

Answer 5

constructivism suggests that people partake in ‘niche building’ which involves creating their own ‘nurture’ by actively selecting environments that are suitable for their ‘nature’.

Question 6

Evaluation strength: support for genotype-environment interaction

Answer 6

Scarr & McCartney (1983) who proposed a theory which suggests that genes and environment interact in a variety of ways. i.e active interaction where a child creates its own environment through the people and experiences it selects.

Question 7

Evaluation strength: also links in with other debates

Answer 7

Both link in to the idea of hard determinism as the nativist idea that anatomy is destiny relates to biological determinism.

Question 8

Evaluation weakness: negative implications

Answer 8

Nativists suggest that our genetic makeup determines our characteristics and behaviour - something that has led to the eugenic movement where compulsory sterilisation of feeble minded people with low IQ was accepted.

Question 9

Evaluation weakness: how to accurately measure the influence of environment

Answer 9

I.E. Twin studies of siblings raised in the same family have found that they do not have the same experiences, something reflected in the fact that identical twins still turn out differently. This shows that hereditary and the environment cannot be meaningfully separated.