Paper 1 Section A - Topic 5 = Nature v Nurture Debate

The biological view - NATURE

People are born with natural desires and uncontrollable instincts, many features of being human are ascribed biologically.

• When woman cuddle babies, it is a result of maternal instincts

• When men rape women, its a result of their uncontrollable sexual desires

• When people go to war, it’s a consequence of our naturally aggressive behaviour

The sociological view = NURTURE

Peoples behaviour is socially learned. Desires, attitudes and patterns of behaviour vary tremendously from one society to another. Vast majority of human behaviour is learnt through socialisation

• Language is socially created - if babies are not spoken to they wont speak a language

• Sexual violence & rape is a consequence of the way men learn that women are sexual objects to be taken and used at will

• Personality traits? - intelligence, aggression, kindness etc.

• Gender differences? males are more aggressive and competitive, and females are more emotional?

Twin studies = BOUCHARD

BOUCHARD - researched two identical sets of twins who had been separated at birth

Oskar and Jack - Identical twin boys, that were raised apart one by his grandmother in Germany as a catholic, and the other by his father in the Caribbean as Jewish. When they met they were wearing the same suit and their mannerisms, temperament and favourite foods were strikingly similar. However, they did have very varying political views.

Jim and Jim - Identical twins raised apart. When reunited they found both suffered from the same tension headaches, prone to nail biting, smoked same brand cigarettes, drove the same car and vacationed on the same beach in Florida.

Supports that behaviour is shaped by nature as they had two completely different upbringings but shared so many similarities due to their biological nature.

Feral children = GENIE and ISABEL

Feral children refers to those who have gone without human contact from a very young age - they have little to no experience of human care

GENIE - Child who had almost no human contact until 13. She was strapped to a potty chair and given virtually no human interaction or stimulation at all for 10+ years. Her father claimed she was ‘mentally retarded’ so he was protecting her. Her lack of socialisation left irreparable biological damage. She never learnt to speak fluently, and struggles forming human attachments. No amount of learning can undo the damage from lack of socialisation - she now spends her life in institutional care.

ISABEL = THE CHICKEN GIRL - She was found at 10, since birth had been left in a chicken coup with the hens by her mother, who worked in the fields. She could not speak, was not toilet trained and expressed emotion by beating her arms and drumming her feet - most likely imitating the hens behaviour. She was physically malformed due to malnutrition.

These studies support the nurture side of the debate as they suffer due to lack of socialisation. They also act in a way that is coherent with the environment they were brough up in. Shows how we learn behaviours through our upbringing and nurturing.

Experiments = REIMER

Bruce and Brian Reimer = twin boys. At 7 months old Bruce penis was destroyed in a circumcision operation. Dr Money argued nurture was more important that nature, so suggested Bruce be raised as a girl - he used this situation to test his belief that gender identity is a product of nurture not nature. At 13 ‘Brenda’ attempted suicide due to her being so unhappy. She was told the truth and decided to revert back to being a male named David - for a while he prospered until he eventually took his own life leaving behind his wife.

Shows that nature is more important than nurture even though he was socialised as a girl, he never felt happy and struggled immensely.

Cross-cultural Studies = HAMAR and IK and MEAD

HAMAR TRIBE = preform a ceremony where they leap on backs of cattle and women are whipped to show devotion to men.

THE IK - Family is not important - those who cant care for themselves are regarded as a burden and hazard to the survival of others. Children and old people are often abandoned with those as young as 3 being thrown out the camp to fend for themselves.

shows the difference between these societies and how they live different lives due to the nurturing they receive

MEAD = SEX AND TEMPERAMENT IN 3 PRIMITIVE SOCITIES - She studied female and male behaviour in different tribes vs gender role expectations in the US.

ARAPESH TRIBE = both males and females were gentle and cooperative.

CHAMBRI TRIBE = Opposite to US and UK with gender roles Women were dominate and aggressive, had little to do with child-rearing whilst Males were timid, emotionally dependant and spent time decorating themselves.

Even though the study found that masculinity and femininity varied she found whatever was defined as masculine was seen as superior