PSYCH; Nature - Nurture Debate

whats the interactionist approach

explains that behaviour is influenced from how nature and nurture interact with eachother

e.g. Bowlby (1958) claimed that a baby’s attachment type is determined by warmth/continuity of parental love (environmental influence - nature)

but Kagan (1984) proposed that a baby’s innate personality (temperament - nurture) also affects the attachment relationship

therefore, the nurture (child’s personality) creates nature(the parent’s response)

so environment and heridity interact

whats the diathesis stress model

suggests behaviour is caused by a biological/environmental vulnerability

which is expressed if the vulnerability is coupled with a stressor

e.g. a person inherits genetic vulnerability for OCD but doesnt develop it, but once combined with a psychological trigger (traumatic experience) it may result in the disorder appearing

whats meant by epigenetics

refers to the change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves

its a process that happens through out life and caused by interaction with the environment

meaning aspects of our life style (smoking/diet) and events (war/trauma) leave ‘marks’ on our DNA which changes the way the genes in DNA are expressed

whats the nature side of the nuture-nature debate

refers to inherited influences or heredity;

Descartes argued that all human behaviours are innate

and that psychological characteristics like intelligence/personality are determined by biological factors (genes)

whats the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate

refers to the influence of experience and environment;

Locke argued that the mind is a ‘blank state’ at birth which is shaped by the environment

Lerner (1986) identified different levels of the environment;

prenatal factors - how physical influences (smoking) or psychological influences (music) affect a foetus

post natal factors - the social conditions the child grows up in

how is nature and nurture measured

the degree to which two people are similar on a particular trait can be represented by a correlation coeffecient and concordance rates;

concordance provides an estimate of the extent a trait is inherited (heritability)

whats meant by heritability

means that the proportion of differences between individuals in a population, is due to genetic variation

a figure 0.1% means genes contribute almost nothing to individual differences

1.0% (or 100%) means genes are the only reason for individual differences

strength of nurture side - high practical application in therapies

E; Nurture side argues that all behaviour is learned through interactions with the environment so behaviourists suggests that conditioning, shapes behaviour.

e.g. Bandura’s Bobo doll study demonstrated aggressive behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation

E; This means the nurture perspective has high practical value in therapies like systematic desensitisation for phobias, as its based on changing learned responses

L; however, this approach can be environmentally reductionist, as it reduces complex human behaviours down to simple stimulus-response links, ignoring potential biological factors.

strength of nature side - supported by objective empirical data from brain scans and genetic analysis

E; Gottesman (1991) found a 48% concordance rate for schizophrenia in monozygotic twins compared to 17% in dizygotic twins. Bowlby’s monotropic theory also suggested that attachment is an adaptive, innate mechanism for survival

E; This means the nature approach is supported by objective, empirical data

L; However, the extreme nature views lead to biological determinism, ignoring the potential for environmental change.

strength of interactionist approach - higher explanatory power and application to treatments

E; Diathesis stress model uses the interactionist approach to suggest genetic vulnerability requires an environmental trigger to manifest a disorder e.g. OCD.

E; This interactionist view is more holistic and valid as it acknowledges the complex behaviours being influenced by internal factors and external factors.

L; Therefore, this is a holistic approach bc it provides higher explanatory power and promotes combined treatments - such as medication (nature) alongside behavioural therapies (nurture) which is most effective.