Nature/Nurture

• Nature-Nurture debate

  Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour of a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.
• Nature

  The view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors. It has been thought that human characteristics and knowledge are innate (Rene Descartes). This means behaviours are due to hereditary factors (genetic transmission of characteristics from one generation to another).
• Example of Nature in psychopathology

  • OCD is inherited as individuals inherit specific genes which causes OCD.
  • COMT gene which regulates the production of dopamine. High levels of dopamine is associated with OCD.
  • SERT genes which is responsible for the transport of serotonin. Low levels of serotonin is associated with OCD.
• Example of Nature in Attachment

  • Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.
  • A child has an innate need to attach to one main attachment figure known as monotropy. This concept of monotropy suggests that there is one relationship which is more important than the rest.
• Nurture

  • The view that behaviour is a product of environmental influences.
  • Nurture refers to the influence of the environment.
  • John Locke argued that the mind is a blank slate at birth and is then shaped by the environment.
• Levels of the environment

  • Pre-natal experiences: The mothers physical and psychological state during pregnancy.
  • Post-natal experiences: The social conditions the child grows up in or the cultural and historical context they are a part of.
• Examples of Nurture in psychopathology

  • The acquisition of phobias is seen to occur through classical conditioning such as the experience of a traumatic event which then gives rise to fear from it happening in the future.
  • The maintenance of phobias is seen as occurring through operant conditioning, where avoiding a fearful situation acts as a negative reinforcer.
• Examples of nurture in social learning theory

  • Bandura proposed that aggression can also be learnt through observational learning.
  • Aggressive acts carried out by a role model will be internalised and reproduced in the future.
  • If the role models behaviour is seen to be rewarded then a child can learn that this is a way of getting what they want through the process of vicarious reinforcement.
• Example of Nurture in Attachment

  • Behavioural psychologists explain attachment in terms of classical conditioning where food (UCS) is associated with the mother (NS) and through many repeated pairings the mother becomes the CS who elicits a CR in the child.
  • Therefore the child form an attachment based on the pleasure experienced as a result of being fed
• Interactionist approach

  • A way to explain the development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors , including both biological and psychological ones.
  • Most importantly such factors don’t simply add together but combine in a way that can be predicted by each one separately.
• Example of an interactionist approach

  • Bowlby claimed that a baby’s attachment type is determined by the warmth and continuous parental love (environmental influence)
  • Kagan proposed that a babies innate personality affects the attachment relationship.
• Diathesis-stress model

  • Suggests behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability (diathesis) which is only expressed when paired with a biological or environmental trigger (stressor)
• Example of a diathesis stress model- Schizophrenia

  • Tienari found that children from adopted families whose biological mothers had schizophrenia were more likely to develop schizophrenia themselves, but only in those adopted families who were assessed to have child-rearing styles which was critical and lacking empathy
• Epigenetics

  • A change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves.
  • It is a process that happens throughout life and is caused by an interaction with the environment.
  • Aspects of our lifestyle or events we encounter e.g smoking, diet, trauma leave marks on our DNA which switch genes on and off.
  • Epigenetic changes go on and influence the genetic codes of our children as well as future generations.
• Research support for epigenetics

  • Dias and Ressler
  • Gave male laboratory mice electric shocks every time they were exposed to acetophenone
  • The mice showed fear when they were exposed to the scent,
  • The offspring of the mice also showed the fear of the scent and so did their offspring.
• One strength of research into the nature-nurture debate is the use of adoption studies. Adoption studies are useful because they separate the competing influences of nature and nurture. If adopted children are similar to their adoptive parents this suggests the environment is the bigger influence. Whereas if the adopted children are more similar to their biological parents then genetic factors are dominant. Therefore this shows how research can separate influences of nature and nurture.
• Adoption studies counterpoint: However, research has suggested nature and nurture cannot be pulled apart. Plomin, argued that people create their own nurture by actively selecting environments which are appropriate for their nature. For example, a naturally aggressive child is likely to feel more comfortable with children who show similar behaviours. Then their chosen companions further influence their development. Therefore this suggests that it does not make sense to separate nature and nurture.
• One strength of the nature-nurture debate is evidence for epigenetics. One example of how environmental effects can span generations through epigenetics comes from the events of WW2. In 1944, the Nazi’s blocked the distribution of food to the Dutch people and 22,000 died of starvation. Susser and Lin, reported women who became pregnant during the famine had low birth weight babies. Additionally these babies were twice as likely to develop schizophrenia when they grew up. therefore this supports the view that life experiences of previous generations can leave epigenetic makers that influence the health of their offspring.
• One strength of the nature-nurture debate is it has real-world application. For example, OCD is highly heritable mental disorder. Nestadt et al put the heritability rate to 0.76. Such understanding can inform genetic counselling, people who have a high genetic risk of OCD because of their family background can receive advice about the likelihood of development the disorder and how they might prevent this. Therefore understanding the interaction between nature and nurture can improve the quality of life of individuals who might inherit the predisposition to a mental health disorder.