Nature V Nurture

Psychology Unit 1 Module 2

Nature V Nurture

Relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological trait behaviors.

Plato v Aristotle

Plato - Inherit character and intelligence and that certain ideas are also inborn. (Nature)

Aristotle - nothing in the mind that does not first come in from the external world through the sense. (Nurture)

Locke v Descartes

Locke - mind is a blank slate on which experience writes. (Nurture)

Descartes - believing that some ideas are innate. (Nature)

Darwin 1859: The Origin of Species (Nature)

Natural Selection

Nature selects traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.

Nature V Nurture Today

• Nurture works on what nature endows

• Both are important and have an effect

• One may be more prominent