I&D 03/04: Nature- nurture (a) A01

Explain what the nature- nurture debate is about. (3).

* Whether behaviour is influenced more by heredity (nature)...

* ...or by the environment and experience (nurture)

* i.e. the relative importance of each

Explain what genes are (3)

* Strands of DNA which contain instructions for the body to make proteins.

* They are passed from parents to children., i.e., mechanism of inheritance

* Building blocks of body and brain

Using examples, explain what is meant by the (i) pre- natal and (ii) post- natal environment. (4)

* Pre-natal = before birth

* e.g. mother’s physical state when pregnant, such as drugs in bloodstream

* Post-natal = after birth

* e.g. how child is treated by others; influences from wider culture such as the media

Explain the heritability coefficient (3)

* Number between 0 and 1...

* ... representing to what extent individual differences in a given trait within a population...

* ... can be explained by genes.

Explain the interactionist approach to the nature- nurture debate (3)

* Nature and nurture are inextricably linked...

* ...so it only makes sense to study how they interact together...

* ...to give rise to characteristics or behaviours.

Identify the approaches most closely identified with (a) nature and (b) nurture, including the specific factors involved in each case (3+3)

(a) nature= biological approach

* i.e., innate factors / genes

* Neural and hormonal influences

(b) nurture = learning approach

* i.e., behaviourism and social learning theory

* Experience and conditioning

Identify topics or theories which illustrate the effect of nature. (4-5)

* Genetic explanations of schizophrenia, offending and OCD

* Bowlby: babies born with innate tendency to form attachments

* Preparedness: evolutionary explanation of phobias

* Atavistic form explanation of offending

* Evolutionary explanations of relationships

Identify topics or theories which illustrate the effect of nurture.(4-5)

* Behaviourist explanations of phobias

* Learning theory / internal working model of attachment

* Double bind theory of schizophrenia

* Differential association theory of offending

* Legitimate authority theory of obedience

Explain the relevance of genotype and phenotype to the nature- nurture debate (4)

* Genotype = nature

* Environment = nurture

* Phenotype = characteristics / behaviour

* Phenotype results from the interaction between the genotype and the environment

Explain how twin studies are used to test the effect of nature / genes (5)

* Calculate concordance rates / correlations, i.e., similarity, between pairs of twins

* Identical / monozygotic (MZ) twins share 100% of genes and environment

* Non- identical / dizygotic (DZ) twins share 50% of genes and environment

* MZs share more genes

* If MZs are more similar than DZs, shows genes have an influence on individual differences