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 study, statistical more men in prison than women

• Gottesman & Shields study - significantly higher concordance rate for schizophrenia found between MZ twins than DZ

Nurture (biological)

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

• Freud - psychosexual stages of development

• Charles Whitman also had abusive father in upbringing

• There is not 100% concordance rate between MZ twins in twin studies - shows factors other than purely genetics

• 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

Nurture (learning theories) - needs updating/checking

• 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)

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

• (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

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’s autonomous state we are born with, and agentic shift happens unconsciously in the presence of authority

• social identity theory suggests that an aspect of human nature is the desire to protect our own self esteem

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

• 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)

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