The Nature-Nurture Debate

Question 1

What is the Interactionist Approach?

Answer 1

• Not really a debate as every characteristic rises from a combination of both - psychologists are now more likely to discuss the relative contribution of each (how the two interact, an interactionist approach)

Question 2

What is the Diathesis-stress model?

Answer 2

• Behaviour is cause by biological or environmental vulnerability (diathesis), which is only expressed when coupled with a trigger (stressor). E.g OCD

Question 3

What are Epigenetics?

Answer 3

• A change in our genetic activity without the genes themselves changing - happens throughout life and is caused by interaction with the environment - leave ‘marks on our DNA, which switch genes on or off
• This explains why factors such as smoking have a lifetime effect - it has changed the way your genes are expressed.

Question 4

What is nature?

Answer 4

• Inherited influences, everything psychological is first biological

Question 5

What is nurture?

Answer 5

• The influence of experience and the environment
• Lerner identified levels of the environment, including prenatal factors and how physical influences (smoking) and psychological influences (music) effect the foetus

Question 6

How nature and Nurture are measured?

Answer 6

• represented by a correlational coefficient and is called concordance which provides an estimate of to what extent is the trait inherited - heritability.
• heritability is the proportion of differences between individuals in a population, with regards to a particular trait
• Figure of 0.1mean genes contribute almost nothing and 1 means genes are the only reason for individual differences
• General figure for heritability is 0.5 across multiple studies in varying populations

Question 7

What studies are useful in researching the nature nurture debate?

Answer 7

• Adoption studies (if similar to adopted parents nurture if similar to biological parents nature). Meta analysis conducted by Rhee and Waldman found genetic influences accounted for 41% of variance in aggression

Question 8

What is a counterpoint regarding adoption studies?

Answer 8

• Some suggest nature and nurture are not merely two entities that can be pulled apart. Plomin suggested people create their own nurture by selecting environments compatible with their nature. A natural aggressive child will chose aggressive playmates ‘niche playpicking’

Question 9

How can nature nurture apply to the real world?

Answer 9

• OCD is a highly heritable disorder Nestadt out heritability at .76. Can help people with genetic predisposition for OCD to be comforted by the fact they may not necessarily inherit the disorder and preventative measure. The interactionist approach can educate and be helpful.