Nature vs Nurture

Introduction/issuify points

• throughout the development of psychology there has always been tension between those who favour nature and those who favour nurture.

• nature refers to inherited traits that you are born with, characteristics that you cannot help or control. The Nature belief suggests that not all behaviours/traits are treatable, and that some issues therefore cannot be managed, thus influencing the allocation of blame for actions. Having said this, some medications may be able to alter biological factors e.g. hormonal medication (however this is limited)

• nurture refers to socialised traits that are learned throughout your lifetime, and these can be changed, therefore suggesting we should hold more accountability for our actions. The belief of nurture over nature has impacts on the treatments available, for example use of therapy or counselling, as they use the belief that behaviours can be changed

• it is important for society to understand whether certain traits are as a result of nature or nurture to help determine the strategies we use to prevent it. In the instance of aggression or crime it may also affect court decisions in trial and the allocation of blame as a result of this

Nature (biological)

• AO1 - Amygdala as controlling emotion processing such as fear/anger, PFC as logical thinking, inhibition
  AO3 - Raine classic study, brain abnormalities in murderers as shown by PET scans and how this proves this

• AO1 - High levels of testosterone and low levels of cortisol leads to outburst of aggression
  AO3 - Proved by studies e.g. Giammanco or Dolan’s study, statistical more men in prison than women

• Brendgen twin study found that concordance rates for physical aggression was twice as high in monozygotic twins compared to same-sex dizygotic twins - suggests influence of genetics or nature

(however lack of ecological validity which reduces the validity of the findings in contributing to the nature-nurture debate)
(research into the role of hormones and neurotransmitters in behaviour such as aggression can be correlational so other factors could affect the reason for increased aggressive behaviour e.g. role models)

Nurture (biological)

• Dr Jim Fallon - possession of correct brain structure of a criminal, epigenetics

• Raine nurture - despite underlying genetic predisposition an environmental trigger is needed for violent behaviour

• Freud - psychosexual stages of development

• Charles Whitman also had abusive father in upbringing

• There is not 100% concordance rate between MZ twins in Brendgen’s study - shows factors other than purely genetics influence aggression

• Evolutionary theory, we are socialised into gendered roles

• Brain function influenced through taking recreational drugs

Nature (learning theories) - needs updating/checking

• Classical conditioning: the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response are biological reactions. Example of the fear response to the metal bar for Little Albert, and the salivation in Pavlov’s dogs.
  The fear shown by Little Albert to the banging of the metal bar could be an evolved trait as unexpected loud noises may be a threat to survival - nature explanation of fear responses

• Olds and Milner showed that rats stimulated along a dopamine reward pathway would continue pressing a lever for further stimulation - nature influence of learning/addiction. (However the rats have different chromosomes and brain structures so humans so the results may not be generalisable)

Nurture (learning theories) - needs updating/checking

• Little Albert learnt to fear the white rat and other inanimate objects e.g. santa beard by associating the loud noise with other objects through stimulus generalisation. This change in behaviour shown by Albert throughout the study from no fear in the baseline conditioning to strong fear response (crying and avoidant behaviour) shows influence of nurture in causing phobic reactions in humans
  (however Little Albert had hydrocephalus at the time and this could have been the cause for his behaviour)

• Pavlov’s experiment where dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, showing classical conditioning and change of behaviour as a result of socialising

• BF Skinner used puzzle box to teach rat how to open latch, learned behaviour

• Classical conditioning - ability to change a neutral stimulus into something that gives a conditioned response

• Bandura Bobo Doll experiment (results). Role models may influence aggressive behaviour through observation and imitation of aggressive acts which may be rewarded.

• becker

• success of treatments e.g. systematic desensitisation which rely upon classical conditioning principles that any learnt behaviour can be unlearnt

Nature (cognitive) - needs checking

• Sebastien and Hernandez-Gil showed that in both populations the digit rate levelled off (at either 15 or 17 depending on the country). This shows that even socialisation beyond this point has little effect

• (AO1) Patient KF memory tasks, damaged phonological loop but intact VSS, WMM (AO3) Only experienced memory loss or damage after incident resulting in brain damage. Improves that it is this impairment in brain functioning that is responsible for memory, fundamentally nature

• MSM and WMM are not socialised or developed, born with these inherent abilities. MSM model suggest that the capacity for memory is fixed e.g. STM = 30 second duration, 7+-2 items, acoustic encoding (Peterson & Peterson, Miller) these are not subject to change

Nurture (cognitive) needs updating/checking

• (AO1) schema theory, parcels of information. Top-down/bottom-up processing shows schemas can be changed or updated, hence not fixed biological predispositions. Schemas are individual to a person, developed through their own life experiences rather than a universal constant between everyone

• (AO3) War of Ghosts evidence, reconstructive memory - participants altered the story to become more culturally aligned with themselves

• multi-store model rehearsal as a key process to remembering information - suggests that we are not biologically capable of retaining all information automatically, but that the individual must have motivation and attention to remember something. Dependent upon experience rather than innate biological capacity

• semantic encoding LTM relies on meaning - this is a learned experience

Nature (social) needs checking

• Milgram’s initial theory was that the German race were exceptionally obedient in nature, and this is how events like the Holocaust were able to occur

• Milgram suggests that people are born with the potential for obedience and that socialisation processes influence how obedient we become. autonomous state we are born with, and agentic shift happens unconsciously in the presence of authority. Blass found cross culturally no differences in rates of obedience

• social identity theory suggests that an aspect of human nature is the desire to protect our own self esteem. Minimla groups study, formation of groups and prejudice happens naturally without any explicit cause or competition, innate part of human nature (confounding variable of money and Margaret Wetherall replication)

Nurture (social) needs updating/checking

• Milgram’s variations on his experiment e.g. plain clothed experimenter, run down office block gave different results, affected by factors other than biological predisposition to obedience

• Sherif resource stress and competition, found that prejudice and hostility increased once introducing the boys to a series of competition style events - suggests that prejudice is influenced by environmental factors

• Social impact theory - strength, immediacy, number (Sedikides and Jackson)

• Social identity theory - social identification, adopting beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviours of the group. (Tajfel minimal groups). Margaret wetherall

Conclusion

There is no definitive answer to this debate, however based on the research I have evaluated, I would suggest that human behaviour is a result of nurture. The most likely conclusion is that human behaviour is not simply nature or nurture but is a combination of the two. Genetic predisposition towards a certain behaviour being triggered by environmental factors  

Nature (clinical)

• Genetic explanation of schizophrenia, neurotransmitter explanation of schizophrenia

• Neurotransmitter explanation of depression as a biological cause (however can only show correlation and not causation)

• Effectiveness of biological treatments for both depression and schizophrenia

• Gottesman & Shields concordance rates between twins

Nurture (clinical)

• Social causation explanation of schizophrenia, the social world acts in precipitating schizophrenia

• Idea of epigenetics influencing the expression of genes

• Wahlberg/Tienari adoption study found that environmental factors had greater impact than inheriting genes from a schizophrenic mother

• Depression cognitive explanation, Ellis ABC model as triggered by an activating event

Nature (child)

• Idea of Type B attachment as the modal attachment type universally (Van Izjendoorn & Kroonenberg, Ainsworth SST)

• Bowlby monotropic theory of mother as primary caregiver, idea of a critical period between 6-12 months

• Amygdala dysfunction explanation of autism

Nurture (child)

• Case studies of the reversal of privation effects e.g. the Czech twins

• Van Izjendoorn and Kroonenberg intracultural and intercultural differences in attachment styles of children. Grossman, Miyake and Sagi data shows that child rearing practices and attachment styles differ worldwide

• Treatments for autism e.g. occupational therapy and VR as effective

• Influence of day care upon development Li et al