The nature-nurture debate

what is the environment?

everything that is outside our body, which includes people, events and the physical world

what’s hereditary?

the process by which traits are passed from parents to their offspring, usually referring to genetic inheritance

what’s the interactionist approach?

With reference to the nature-nurture debate, the view that the processes of nature and nurture work together rather than in opposition.

what’s nature?

Behaviour is seen to be a product of innate (biological or genetic) factors.

what’s the nature-nurture debate?

The argument as to whether a person's development is mainly due to their genes or to environmental influences.

what is nurture?

Behaviour is a product of environmental influences.

what are the examples of the influence of nature?

1. genetic explanations

2. Evolutionary explanations

what do family, twin and adoption studies show?

that the closer two individuals are genetically, the more likely that both of them will develop the same behaviours.

what do concordance rates in Sz show?

that nature has a major contribution to the disorder.

what is evolutionary explanations based on?

based on the principle that a behaviour or characteristic that promotes survival and reproduction will be naturally selected.

why are characteristics that promote survival and reproduction naturally selected?

because such behaviours/characteristics are adaptive and thus the genes for that behaviour/ characteristic will be passed on to subsequent generations.

what did Bowlby propose?

proposed that attachment was adaptive because it meant an infant was more likely to be protected and therefore more likely to survive. In addition, attachment promotes close relationships which would foster successful reproduction.

what are examples of the influence of nurture?

1. behaviourism

2. SLT

3. psychological explanations for sz

What did John Locke describe newborn infants as?

a tabula rasa a blank slate on which experience is written.

what do behaviourists assume?

that all behaviour can be explained in terms of experience alone.

what did behaviourists suggest that attachment could be explained in terms of?

classical conditioning (food is the mother who feeds the baby) or operant conditioning (food reduces the discomfort of hunger and is therefore rewarding).

what’s indirect vicarious reinforcement?

Indirect encouragement of behaviour through observation of consequences for other peoples' behaviour

what did Bandura propose?

that behaviour is acquired through learning, adding the new dimension of indirect (vicarious) reinforcement.

what did Bandura say about anger shown in people?

he acknowledged that the urge to behave aggressively might be biological, but the important point was that the way a person learns to express anger is acquired through environmental influences

what do contradictory messages lead to?

prevent the child developing an internally consistent construction of reality, which may lead to symptoms of schizophrenia.

what does the double bind theory suggest?

suggests that schizophrenia develops in children who frequenty receive contradictory messages from their parents

what does the diathesis stress model offer a way of?

understanding nature and nurture (the interactionist approach

what is the diathesis often used for?

This is often used to explain mental disorders such as phobia or sz

what is a diathesis?

A diathesis is a biological vulnerability, such as being born with certain genes that predispose a person to developing a disorder.

what do stressor do?

triggers the expression of the gene or genes depending on experience

what does the diathesis stress model state?

person's nature is only expressed under certain conditions of nurture.

what is another example of how nature and nurture interact?

Neural plasticity is another example of how nature and nurture interact

what is Neuroplasticity?

is a term which describes the changes in the structure of the brain (nature), as a result of life experience (nurture)

what did Maguire investigate?

investigated the hippocampi volume of London taxi drivers’ brains

what did Maguire find?

She found that this region of the brain was larger in taxi drivers in comparison to non-taxi drivers

what did Maguire conclude?

Maguire concluded that driving a taxi (nurture) actually had an effect on the size of the hippocampi (nature).

what are the three separate types of gene-environment interactions?

1. passive gene-environment interaction

2. evocative gene-environment interaction

3. active gene-environment interaction

what happens in passive gene-environment interaction?

parents pass on genes and also provide an environment, both of which influence the child’s development

what happens in evocative gene-environment interaction?

heritable traits influence the reaction of others and hence the environment provided by others.

what happens in an active gene-environment interaction?

a child’s heritable traits influence his or her choice of environment.

who has described types of gene-environment interactions?

Plomin

what’s evidence to support the diathesis stress model?

Tienari

evaluation points

• deterministic view of nature/nurture = lack of responsibility in crime

• identifying the role of nature = lead to biological treatments

• interactionist approach