Week 1

Question 1

Outline what is meant by ‘nature versus nurture’

Answer 1

Nature - native, innate, rationalism. Things like language cannot be learned. Argues we have specific inherit psychological abilities that allow us to learn
Nurture - empiricism, child as blank slate, John Watson quote (can make any a doctor, lawyer etc)

Question 2

Define ‘heritability’

Answer 2

Heritability refers to how much of the variation of a trait (phenotype) is due to differences in the genetics in that population. It is not the same as ‘inherited’

Question 3

What two situations may cause heritability to increase?

Answer 3

1) If genetic variation increases

2) If the environmental influence decreases