The nature - nurture debate

• The Nature - Nurture debate discusses whether human behaviour is due to nature (Genes) or nurture (environment, experiences)
• Nature

  > Nativist psychologists believe in the importance of hereditary - the idea that human characteristics are innate and passed on from one generation to the next via genes

  > For example, Bowlbys monotropic theory states that babies come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments through behaviours such as social releasers - attachment is innate
• Nurture

  > Empiricists (such as skinner) argue that the mind is a 'blank slate' at birth and our behaviour is shaped by our environment, learning and experience

  > For example, behavioural psychologists explain attachment in the terms of classical conditioning where food (UCS) is associated with the mother (NS) and through repeated pairings the mother becomes a CS producing a CR in the child (pleasure) - attachment is a learnt behaviour
• The interactionist approach

  > Takes a stance between the extreme nature and the extreme nurture debate.

  > It argues both genetics and the environment play apart in human behaviour (diathesis - stress model)

  > For example, genetics give us a predisposition to certain behaviour

  > Diathesis stress model - individual may be born with a gene (PCM1) making them vulnerable to schizophrenia but may not develop the disorder until they experience a stressful life event eg. family dysfunction
• Nature - Nurture AO3

  :( Nature cannot be a full explanation

  > If genes were the sole cause of a behaviour MZ twins would have 100 % concordance rates

  > In the biological explanation of schizophrenia concordance rates for MZ twins are only 48 %

  > Therefore, there must be other factors that affect human behaviour such as the environment eg. family dysfunction
• Nature - Nurture AO3

  :) More appropriate view would be the interactionist approach

  > This would argue that genetics give us a predisposition to certain behaviours and that our genetics are then influenced by our environment

  > Tienari found that in a group of Finnish adoptees those most likely to develop sz had biological relatives with sz and had dysfunctional relationships with their adoptive families compared to those with the diathesis but no stressor

  > Showing both sides of the debate, nature and nurture, impacted on the likelihood that an individual developed schizophrenia
• Nature - Nurture AO3

  :( Idea of constructivism

  > An individual creates their own nurture by actively seeking environments which are appropriate for their nature

  > For example, a naturally aggressive child is likely to feel more comfortable around children who show similar behaviours and will choose their environment according to this.

  > This therefore complicates further the attempt to determine if nature or nurture have a larger impact on effecting human behaviour as the two may combine