A03 The Nature-Nurture Debate

• Implications of nativism and empiricism


  Nativists suggest 'anatomy is destiny'- the environment has little input. This extreme determinist stance has led to to controversy like its attempt to link race, gender and intelligence and the application of eugenics policies. Contrastingly, empiricists would suggest that any behaviour can be changed by atlterting the environment conditions.
• Behaviour shaping (Implication of nativism and empiricism)

  Behviour shaping, has had practical appliction in therapy. Desriable behaviours are selectively reinforced while undesirable ones are punished/ignored. This may lead one to advocate a model of society that controls and manipulates its citizensusing these techniques.
• Shared and unshared environments


  Research attempting to differentiate the environment is complicated as even siblings raised in the same home may not have had exactly the same upbringing.
• Dunn and Plomin (Shared and unshared environments)


  First introduced idea of shared and unshared environments, who suggested that individual differences mean siblings may experience life events differently. E.g: age/temperament would mean that a life event like parental divorce would have different meaning to each sibling. Explains twins and concordance rates.
• Constructivism


  Notion that genetics and environment interact. People create their own 'nurture' by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their 'nature'. This environment affects development.
• Plomin


  Refers to this as niche-picking and niche-building. This is further evidence that it is impossible and illogical to try to separate nature-nurture influences on behaviour.
• Genotype-environment interaction

  Scarr and McCartney put forward theory of genotype-environment interaction that includes 3 types.
• 3 types of genotype-environment interactions

  Passive interaction is where parents' genes influence the way they treat children. Evocative interaction is where child's genes influence and shape the environment in which they grow up. Active interaction is where child creates its own environment through the people and experiences its selects. This points to a more complex and milti-layered relationship between nature-nurture.
• Relationship to other debates


  A strong commitmet to either nature or nurture coreespons to hard determinsm. Nativist perspective suggests 'antomy is destiny' while empiricists argue interaction with the evironment is all. Equates to biological and environmental determinsm.