Nature vs Nurture Debate

• Nature - Nurture Debate:
• Nature vs Nurture Debate: The Nature Nurture debate is concerned with the extent to which aspect of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.
• Nativists: Those that subscribe to the nature argument, they are known as Nativists.
• Descartes' Argument: Descartes argued that all human characteristics were innate and hereditary.
• Heritability Coefficient


  This is used to assess heredity.
• Heritability Coefficient Value: It is a number between 0 and 1.0 which indicated the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis.
• Concordance Rates - Holland (1988): Holland et al (1988) compared concordance rates in MZ and DZ twins to find support for genetic causes.
• MZ Twins Anorexia Concordance: 56% of MZ twins concordant for Anorexia.
• Genetic Component of Anorexia: This shows that Anorexia had a large genetic component.
• Heritability for MZ Twins: Heritability can be as large as 0.8 for MZ twins.
• Empiricists: Those that prescribe to the Nurture side of the debate are known as Empiricists.
• John Locke's Blank Slate: John Locke argued that at birth, 'the mind is a blank slate on which learning and experience write.
• Environment's Role in Behaviour: The argument that environment was the key contributor to individual characteristics later became an important feature in the behaviourist approach.
• Levels of Environment: Richard Lerner identified different levels of environment.
• Pre-natal Environment: Pre-natal: Mothers physical and psychological state during pregnancy.
• Post-Natal Environment 1: Post-Natal (1): Social conditions the child grows up in.
• Post-Natal Environment 2: Post Natal (2): Cultural and historical context that they are part of.
• Interactionist Approach: Attachment between a parent and a child is a two-way street.
• Nature Creating Nurture: In this case, nature is creating nurture and heredity and environment are reacting.
• Passive Interaction: Parents genes influence how they treat their children.
• Evocative Interaction: The child's genes influence and shape the environment in which they grow up in.
• Active Interaction: The child creates its own environment through the people and experiences it selects.
• Diathesis-stress Model: The Diathesis-stress model explored how heredity and environment interact with regards to mental illness.
• Environmental Trigger for Mental Conditions: The model suggests that mental conditions are caused in the first instance but are only triggered by an environmental trigger.
• Schizophrenia Study: In a study of Finnish adoptees, Tienpari et al (2004) discovered that those most likely to develop schizophrenia had biological relatives with a history of the disorder.
• Epigenetics Definition: The term epigenetics refers to a change in our genetic activity, without a change in our actual genetic code.
• Causes of Epigenetic Changes: This change happens throughout our lives because of interaction with the environment, the lifestyle we lead, and events we encounter.
• Epigenetic Marks: Things like smoking, diet, exposure to pollution, and war leave 'epigenetic' marks.
• Epigenetic marks: Marks left by factors like smoking, diet, exposure to pollution, and war that tell our bodies what genes to use and which to ignore.
• Dias and Ressler study (2014): A study where lab mice were given electric shocks when exposed to a chemical smell, leading to fear of that smell in the mice and their descendants.
• Interactionist approach: An approach that suggests nature and nurture work together and cannot be separated, providing a better explanation of behavior.
• Maguire's taxi study: A study that found London taxi drivers had significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than a matched control group, indicating that driving a taxi affects the size of the hippocampi.
• Nativism: The belief that behavior is primarily determined by genetics and biological factors, which can lead to deterministic views.
• Eugenics: A controversial idea linked to nativism that attempts to connect race, genetics, and intelligence, often used to justify segregation.
• Behaviour shaping: A therapeutic tool where desirable behaviors are reinforced and undesirable behaviors are punished, potentially influencing societal control.
• Nature vs Nurture: Limitation AO3:

  • One limitation is the idea that nature and nurture cannot be separated.
  • An alternative explanation of behaviour can be provided by interactionists.
  • Maguire’s taxy study demonstrates that nurture affects nature. o Maguire studied the brain of London taxi drivers and found significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in a matched control group.
  • This concluded that driving a taxi had an effect of the size of the hippocampi.
  • This is a limitation because it demonstrates that nature and nurture can work together and cannot be separated. o Furthermore, the interactionist approach is better because solely believing in one causes issues for our current legal system.
  • For example, if everything is just to do with nature – people have an excuse.
• Nature vs Nurture: Limitation: AO3:

  • An issue with the nature debate is that there are negative implications of nativism (believing in nature).
  • This is because nativists argue that ‘Anatomy is identity’ which is an extremely deterministic stance to take.
  • This is very controversial because it attempts to link race, genetics, intelligence, and Eugenics.
  • An example of this is seen through the Nazi idea to create an Aryan race.
  • Arthur Jensen and Cyril Burt are notorious in psychology for fuelling a racist argument through exploring eugenics.
  • These arguments are harmful as they have been used by extremist groups to support arguments for segregation.
• Nature vs Nurture: Limitation: AO3:

  • The empiricist argument suggests that all behaviour can be influenced or controlled by altering the environment.
  • Behaviour shaping is a tool used in therapy where desirable behaviours are selectively reinforced, and undesirable behaviours are punished.
  • Behaviour shaping could be used to advocate a model of society that controls and manipulates its citizens using these techniques,
  • However, a strength of using behaviour shaping is that it has been used to treat selective mutism.