nature/ nurture

• nature

  characteristics determined by genes, these may be present at birth or appear later as you mature
• nurture

  view that everything is acquired through interactions with the env- the physical and social world. may be more widely rereferred to as experience
• twin & family studies for nature nurture:

  • similarities between family members may suggest a genetic influence on the behaviour but family members also commonly shared the same environment. there are some famous studies of identical twin studies who were brought up in different homes.
• infant studies

  • behaviour a child seems to do without instruction like walking and talking is probably related to genetic predispositions
• application of nature nurture- chaney

  • one application is linked to chaney. they showed that the children with asthma can be encouraged to take their medication by having a more rewarding experience with the funhaler
• application of nature nurture- eugenics

  • eugenics refers to the attempt to improve the quality of human beings through selective breeding. eg. wanted to improve general lvl of intelligence in the country we will encourage intelligent ppl to have lots of children and unintelligent to have none - there are many problems with the eugenics approach to intelligence which was discussed in goulds study
• nature and nurture- milgram

  milgram looks at how ppl will behave when instructed to harm another person , milgram later went on to concider why ppl obey authority and speculated that we have a genetic tendency to be obedient - however many ppl make choice to not obey and it is difficult to see how fits into genetic theory
• nature/ nurture- bandura

  • bobo study asks question whether children are born to be aggressive or whether they learn to do it
  • importance of this debate centres on what we should do abt aggressive behaviour that we should do abt agrssive behaviour that we think is inappropriate- if it is genetic then the solition will have to be medical but if it is learned the solution will be through some training
• similarities- free will and determinism

  • nature nurture links with free will and determinism bc if our behaviour is determined by genetic influences there is beru little we can do abt it and we have relatively few choices in life
  • however nurture influences may equally be determinist
• individualexplainations and situational explainations- simerlatiries and differencesto nature and nurture

  • individual explanations can be compared with a nature approach (inherited personality)
  • whereas situational explanations may be associate with nurture (env in influences ur behaviour including the ppl around u)
• strengths and weaknesses of nature and nurture

  • strength= makes us concider what makes us unique, we are partly formed by our genetic make up and partly life experiences - but which has the greatest influence?
  • affects what we do abt the behaviour- if individual differences in aggression are largely due to genetic factors then we will need genetic or biological solutions to change it
  • weakness- polarises argument as if the answer is nature or nurture when it is allways a combo