nature-nurture

• key terms?

  • Nature-nurture debate - the argument as to whether a person’s development came from their genes or environmental factors 
  • Heredity - Traits being passed from the parent to the offspring
• Nature?

  • This is also called a nativist approach.
  • The characteristics are innate, which is the result of heredity. This is any characteristic determined by genes. 
• Examples of nature in genes?

  Family, twin and adoption studies show that the closer 2 individuals are , the more likely they are to develop the same characteristics.

  Examples of influence of nature in research ( genes ) 

  • OCD: Nestadt et al
  • First degree relatives of OCD sufferers had a 5x greater risk of developing OCD compared to the control group. 

  Aggression: O’ Connor:

  • He found a concordance rate of 72% for both MZ twins and 42% for DZ twins reared together. It was also 64% and 34% for reared apart. 
  • This suggests the role of genes as MZ concordance rate was much higher. 
• Examples of nature in evolution?

  • Relationships:
  • Intersexual selection argues that human mate choices have evolved to increase reproductive success. Females prefer males with resources to provide but males look for indicators of fertility
  • Aggression:
  • Sexual jealousy explains to prevent cuckoldry and to stop females from straying, their partner will attempt to avoid infidelity, which acts as a cue for sexual jealousy
  • Attachment: Bowlby’s evolutionary argues that attachment evolved to increase survival in the short term for food and protection and in the long term to provide a IWM   
• What is nurture?

  • This is also called an empiricist approach.
  • People believe that characteristics are the result of the environment.
  • People are blank slates and all characteristics are due to their environment. 
• Examples of influence of nurture? (phobias and aggression)

  • Phobias: Everything can be explained through experience alone. The two-step process model shows this. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning can be seen in Little Albert. 
  • Aggression: Bandura argues that aggression is learnt through modelling, which is imitating the behaviour of a person someone has seen. This is supported by bobo doll studies.
  • When the children watched an aggressive model, they repeated the aggression only if they saw it happen compared to 2 others who did not. 
• Example of influence of nurture (attachment?)

  • Attachment: Behaviourism argues that attachment is learnt through classical and operant conditioning.
  • The person providing the food becomes associated with pleasure and becomes a conditioned stimulus.
  • After feeding, the hunger drive is reduced and it is rewarding.
  • Since the mother provides the food, she becomes a secondary reinforcer and the infant strives to be close to her and become attached.
• Interactionist approach?

  • Nature and nurture should be working together rather than separately.
  • For example, a child’s temperament will influence how its parents respond to it.
  • So their attachment type will be determined by an interaction between nature and nurture.
  • In institutions, someone that may cause violence in prison may not necessarily do it just because of the depriving resources but also due to their personality as a violent person. 
• No seperation negative evaluation (part 1)?

  • A problem with the debate is you can't separate nature and nurture.
  • They are intertwined with each other so it makes no sense to separate them
  • This is where the idea of interactionism comes from, the diathesis stress model is an example of the interactionist approach.
• No separation negative evaluation? (part 2 - further information)

  • It is used for explaining mental disorders such as OCD.
  • Genetics can create vulnerability but other factors (stressors) affect whether a condition develops or not and which disorder it is.
  • Supporting this approach is evidence from Cromer et al where over half of all patients have suffered a traumatic event.
  • It is best to consider interactionism when conducting research. 
• methodological issues negative evaluation? (twin studies)

  • A problem with research investigating the comparative effects of nature and nurture are twin studies.
  • It is based that MZ twins have 100% of the same genes and DZ have 50% of the same genes with the same environmental influences.
  • However, MZ twins may have more similar environments than DZ twins as they look identical, they are treated more similarly.
  • Therefore, a similar environment may be the reason that MZ twins concordance rates are higher than genes being the cause.
  • This means twin studies are not valid for the debate.
• Biological determinism evaluation base point?

  • The extreme nature stance is an example of hard biological determinism.
  • It has led to controversy as it argues that our inherited genetic make-up determines genes and behaviour with no environmental input. In the case of African-Americans in American IQ tests, Americans came first, European immigrants and then African-Americans afterwards.
  • This later enforced negative racial stereotypes that Americans were genetically superior in terms of intelligence.
• Biological determinism implications evaluation? (part 2)

  • This research was used to justify new ways of social control. Between 1907 and 1963, 64,000 women were forced to be sterilised under eugenics legislation in the USA.
  • Out of these 64,000, the US Senate committee revealed that at least 2000 women were sterilized without knowing or without consent.
  • This shows that findings only came due to the results of culturally biased IQ tests which favoured White Americans and that IQ is affected by the environment, not only genetics. 
• Ethical implications of biological determinism?

  • Psychologists taking an extreme nurture stance showed hard environmental determinism.
  • Behaviour can be changed by altering environmental conditions.
  • This has been applied positively in therapy where desirable behaviours are reinforced and undesirable behaviours are ignored like token economies.
  • However, in extreme terms, there are many ethical implications with this technique restricting human rights.
  • It leads to manipulation and control of society using these techniques. Both an extreme nat/nurt stance can present ethical implications