The nature-nurture debate Flashcards
The nature-nurture debate
-the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a result of inherited or acquired characteristics
The nature-nurture debate
Parts
Nature Nurture Heredity Environment Interactionist approach Diathesis stress model Epigenetics
The nature-nurture debate
Nature
-early nativists e.g. Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
└human characteristics innate/heredity
-empiricists e.g. John Locke (1632-1704)
└mind is a blank slate at birth upon which learning and experience writes (environment)- foundation of behaviourist approach
-heritability coefficient: numerical figure ranging from 0-1 indicating the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis
└Plomin (1994)- IQ= 0.5
The nature-nurture debate
Nurture
-Lerner (1986)
└identified levels of environment: pre-natal (mothers state in pregnancy) and post natal (culture and historical context)
Heredity
- the genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics
- from one generation to another
Environment
- any influence on human behaviour that isn’t genetic
- e.g. cultural and historical influences
Interactionist approach
- the idea that nature and nurture are liked to such an extent that it doesn’t make sense to separate the two
- researchers study how they interact and influence each other
Diathesis stress model
-Diathesis stress model: models of mental illness
└psychopathy is caused by a biological vulnerability (diathesis) which is only expressed when coupled with
└Pikka Tienari et al (2004)
└Finnish adoptees where more likely to develop schizophrenia if they had biological relatives with the disorder (vulnerability, diathesis) and dysfunctional relationships with adoptive families (trigger, stress)
Epigenetics
-changing genetic activity without changing genetic code
└interactions with environment e.g. smoking leave epigenetic marks on DNA
└introduces the life experiences of previous generations into the nature-nurture debate
-Dias and Ressler (2014)
└gave make male mice electric shocks every time they were exposed to the smell of a chemical used in perfume
└=fear when scent presented (behaviourist)
└rats children and grandchildren also feared the smell, even though they had not previously been exposed to it
Approaches in order
Nature → nurture
(Nature) Biological Psychodynamic Cognitive Humanistic Social learning theory Behaviourist (nurture)
The nature-nurture debate
Limitations
Summary
Implications of nativism and empiricism Shared and unshared environments Constructivism Genotype-environment interaction Relationship to other debates
The nature-nurture debate
Limitations
Implications of nativism and empiricism
-nativists: inherited genetic makeup determines our characteristics and behaviour- little environmental input
└=controversy when liked to race, genetics, and inheritance
-empiricists: any behaviour can be change by changing environmental conditions (behaviour shaping)
└has practical application in therapy (desirable behaviours reinforced, undesirable punished)
└could lead to manipulating society
The nature-nurture debate
Limitations
Shared and unshared environments
-Dunn and Plomin (1990)
└shared and unshared environments
└individual differences may mean that siblings may experience life differently e.g. age/temperament may mean experience same life event differently
└explains why even MZ twins raised together don’t show perfect concordance rates
└supports the view that heredity and the environment (nature/nurture) can’t be meaningfully separated
The nature-nurture debate
Limitations
Constructivism
-constructivism: elaborates the idea that genes and the environment interact
└people create their own nurture by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature
-Plomin (1994)
└refers to this as niche-picking and niche-building
└supports the view that heredity and the environment (nature/nurture) can’t be meaningfully separated
The nature-nurture debate
Limitations
Genotype-environment interaction
-Scarr and McCartney (1983)
└theory of gene-environment interaction that involves 3 types
└passive interaction: parents genes influence how they treat their children
└evocative interaction: child’s genes influence the environment they grow up in
└active interaction: child creates its own environment through the people and experiences it selects (like Pomlins concepts)
└suggests complex interactions between nature and nurture
