Nature vs nurture

Nature AO1

• Believes that behaviour & characteristics are innate & determined by genetic inheritance & biological processes

• Behaviours are the result of hereditary (the passing of genetics from parents to offspring)

• Heritability coefficient is used to measure heredity (a numerical scale of 0 - a value of 1 means trait is 100% genetically determined

• Research comes from twin studies eg Gottesman who found a 48% concordance rate of sz in MZ twins

Nature topic link AO2

• Bowlby’s monotropic theory of attachment

• Believes babies form a monotropic attachment to a primary caregiver during the critical period , which is an innate behaviour that aids survival

• Believes babies are born with social releasors, which automatically elicits caregiving responses from adults

Nurture AO1

• Believes that behaviour & characteristics are learned through environmental influences & experiences rather than being innate, such as childhood upbringing and learning

• Empiricists such as John Locke believe we are born as Tabula Rasas (blank slates) where behaviours develop through interaction with the environment

Nurture topic link AO2

• Believes that attachment is learned through experiences

• CC - infant forms a conditioned response where they associate their caregiver with the pleasure of being fed

• OC - infants associate caregivers with positive reinforcement due to being fed & caregivers negatively reinforced as feeding the infant stops them from crying

Nature strength AO3

• P - scientific credibility as biological influences on behaviour can be studied using objective and empirical methods.

• E - Genetic research, such as twin and adoption studies, allows psychologists to estimate heritability by comparing concordance rates between monozygotic and dizygotic twins. For example, Gottesman conducted a twin study and found a 48% concordance rate in MZ twins, suggesting a substantial genetic influence for sz. Additionally, advances in neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI and PET scans, enable researchers to observe brain structure and function in real time, providing measurable evidence of biological processes underlying behaviour. This reliance on controlled, replicable methods aligns psychology with the natural sciences, increasing the reliability of findings as they can be replicated to check for inconsistencies, aswell as the validity.

• T - As a result, the nature approach supports the view that behaviour is orderly and predictable, strengthening psychology’s status as a scientific discipline rather than a purely theoretical field

Nurture strength AO3

• P - provides an optimistic view as it assumes that behaviours are learned and therefore changeable with environmental adaptions

• E - This has direct practical applications in psychological interventions. For example, systematic desensitisation, based on classical conditioning, treats phobias by gradually replacing learned fear responses with relaxation, demonstrating that conditioned behaviours can be modified through environmental manipulation. Similarly, in the treatment of schizophrenia, family therapy addresses environmental stressors, such as marital skews and high expressed emotion, which can exacerbate symptoms. By improving family dysfunction, nurture-based interventions reduce relapse rates and enhance patient functioning, showing that behaviour can be altered even in the presence of a biological predisposition

• T - These applications highlight the practicality of nurture explanations and support the idea that behaviour is flexible and responsive to environmental interventions, reinforcing the optimism inherent in the nurture perspective.

Nature & nature limitation AO3

• P - a strong commitment to either a nature or nurture position results in hard determinism, implying that human behaviour is controlled by factors outside an individual’s control.

• E - In nature, biological determinism suggests that behaviour is dictated by genes, neurochemistry, or brain structures, meaning that individuals have little personal control over their actions. For example, someone with a genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia might be seen as predisposed to develop the disorder, regardless of their choices or environment. In nurture, environmental determinism claims that behaviour is shaped entirely by upbringing, reinforcement, or socialisation, implying that individuals are merely products of their environment. This determinism has ethical implications, such as reducing perceived personal responsibility or moral accountability—for example, in legal contexts, if a criminal’s behaviour is explained purely by genetic or environmental factors, it may be argued that they cannot be held fully responsible for their actions. This undermines the integrity of the justice system.

• T - Therefore, the deterministic nature of both perspectives limits their realistic applicability, as humans clearly retain some degree of agency and choice over their behaviour

Compromise AO3

• P - the interactionist approach arguably offers a better explanation to human behaviour as it provides a compromise between extreme nature and nurture explanations, recognising that behaviour results from both biological predispositions and environmental influences

• E - , the diathesis-stress model explains schizophrenia as developing when a genetic vulnerability (diathesis) is triggered by environmental stressors, such as trauma or social pressure. This demonstrates that while lower-level biological factors play a role, behaviour cannot be fully understood without considering the broader psychological and social context, bridging the gap between reductionist and holistic perspectives.

• T - the diathesis stress model has led to practical applications, such as combined treatments where sz patients are given antipsychotic medication to address biological symptoms while simultaneously engaging in CBT or family therapy to manage stress and improve coping strategies. Therefore, the interactionist approach provides a more nuanced and realistic understanding of human behaviour than either the reductionist nature of taking a solely nature or nurture side.