Nature vs Nurture

• Nature is the view that human behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors
• Heredity is the process by which traits are passed down from one generation to the next
• Nurture is the view that human behaviour is the product of environmental influences and is therefore influenced by external factors
• The environment is seen as everything outside the body which can include: people, experiences and the physical world
• Interactionism is the view that both nature and nurture interact and work together to produce human behaviour
• This debate can be investigated using twin studies, identical twins have the same genetic material which means they should share exactly the same traits and behaviours. Concordance rates should be 100% and if they’re not it suggests that environment plays a role in determining behaviour
• The debate can also be investigated using adoption studies which involve the comparison of a child’s traits with their biological and adoptive parents. The parent they share the trait we are interested in with can tell us whether nature or nurture is the strongest predictor of that behaviour or disorder
• A limitation is the presentation of two extreme views on behaviour. Nature sees behaviour as being due to internal biological processes and nurture sees behaviour as being due to external influences. This gives a narrow explanation of behaviour and doesn’t explain behaviour as fully as the interactionist view
• Both approaches have merit in explaining behaviour and suggests attachment is innate and should be universal but it isn’t a full picture of human attachment. The fact that both perspectives offer credible explanations of the same behaviour suggest that both are useful and shouldn’t be looked at in isolation
• Each side of the debate has practical applications. The nature side introduced drug therapies and the nurture side introduced systematic desensitisation and flooding for phobias