Nature vs Nurture

• Who is considered a nativist in the nature vs nurture debate?

  René Descartes
• What does the nativist perspective claim about human characteristics?

  They are innate and determined by biological factors (genes)
• What is the term for the mind being a blank slate at birth?

  Tabula rasa
• According to Richard Lerner (Nurture side), what influences development prenatally?

  Physical (smoking) and psychological (music) influences
• What does a correlation coefficient represent in measuring nature vs nurture?

  Degree of similarity on a trait
• What does heritability estimate in a population?

  Genetic variation's contribution to differences
• What does a heritability coefficient of 0.01 indicate?

  Genes contribute almost nothing to differences
• Studies supporting “Nature” influence on behaviour

  • Bowlby‘s monotropic theory of attachment
  • Genetic & Neural explanations of OCD
  • Fight or Flight response
• Studies supporting “Nurture” influence on behaviour

  • SLT of gender development
  • Learning theory of attachment
  • Phobias - learning and treating
• What does the interactionist approach suggest about nature and nurture?

  They are intertwined and inseparable- doesn’t make sense to separate them, so look at the relative contribution of each influence
• What does epigenetics refer to?

  Changes in genetic activity without gene alteration
• What can cause epigenetic changes?

  Lifestyle and life events e.g. smoking, diet, stress, war
• How can life events influence genetic expression?

  It can turn genes on and off

  Epigenetic changes can influence the genetic codes of our children & grandchildren
• What is the diathesis-stress model?

  Vulnerability expressed with a trigger
• What did Pikka & Tienari et al (2009) find about Finnish adoptees?

  Higher schizophrenia risk if biological relatives had it & had a dysfunctional relationship with their adoptive parents
• Studies supporting nurture vs nurture

  • separate the competing influences of nature vs nurture
  • if adoptive children were more similar to adoptive parents= environment is the bigger influence
  • if adoptive children were more similar to their biological parents= genetic factors bigger influence
• What did Rhee & Waldman (2002) find about genetic influences on aggression?

  Genetic influences accounted for 41% of the variance in aggression
• Counterpoint to adoption studies support- ‘niche picking’

  Plomin: people create their own nurture by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature
• What historical event supports the concept of epigenetics?

  The Dutch Hunger Winter during WWII
• What was the outcome for babies born during the Dutch Hunger Winter?

  Higher likelihood of low birth weight- these babies were 2x more likely to develop schizophrenia
• real world application

  OCD is highly heritable

  Gerald Nestadt et al: heritability rate at 0.76 or 76%

  Understanding can inform genetic counselling - important to understand that high heritability does not mean it is inevitable

  = people who have a high genetic risk of OCD can receive advice about the likelihood of developing the disorder & how they might prevent this
• Implications of the debate

  Nativists suggest that ‘anatomy is destiny’ = deterministic

  
  

  Empiricists suggest behaviour can be changed by altering environmental conditions (behaviour shaping, behaviourist concept) - desirable behaviours are reinforced& undesirable ones are punished BUT carried out to an extreme can lead to complete social control by the state
• Who is the Empiricist in the Nature Nurture debate ?

  John Locke
• What does a heritability coefficient of 0.1 mean

  Genes are the only reason for individual differences
• How does the Dutch Hunger Winter support epigenetic

  Supports the view that the life experiences of previous generations can leave epigentic markers that influence the health of their offspring