The Nature-Nurture Debate Flashcards
What is nature?
The view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors (heredity).
What is nurture?
The view that behaviour is the product of environmental influence.
What is the interactionist approach?
The view that both nature and nurture work together to shape human behaviour.
How do genes support nature?
Genes provide the blueprint for all behaviours: some present from birth, and others pre-programmed to emerge with age.
What theories support genes that are pre-determined to emerge with age?
-Freud’s psychosexual stages.
-Schaffer’s stages of attachment.
How does Bowlby’s theory of attachment support nature?
Bowlby proposed that children are biologically predetermined to form attachments as this will help them to survive. This suggests that attachment behaviours are a genetic evolutionary trait.
What is the overarching concept of nurture?
We are born as a ‘blank slate’, and develop as a result of experiences to gain from environmental interaction, so the quality of the environment 9s key.
What are studies that support nurture?
-Watson & Rayner (1920) study on Little Albert (classical conditioning).
-Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment (vicarious reinforcement).
What are studies that support interactionist approach?
Maguire’s taxi study suggests that the brain has the capacity for plasticity in response to environmental demands.
Evaluation points for nature:
-Scientifically tested, empirical evidence.
-Bowlby’s theory of attachment considers environmental influences (e.g. the infant who is most strongly attached to the caregiver who responds most sensitively to the child’s needs).
-Transgenerational effect: a child’s development may be determined by their mother’s environment.
Evaluation points for nurture:
Empirical evidence showing conditioning.
-Ignores biological factors.
