L4 - Nature/Nurture Debate Flashcards
What does nature assume and what does nurture assume?
Nature: heredity is more important
Nurture: environment and experiences are more important
Describe nature and an experiment to support it
Knowledge and abilities are innate and is due to hereditary factors
Describe evolutionary explanations for nature
Having a trait which promotes survival will increase chances of reproduction and it being inherited by future generations
What theory is linked to evolutionary relationships?
Attachment theory
Attachment helps survival as it increases protection and helps form relationships
Define nurture
Thinking/behaviour is determined by environmental influences acquired through interaction with the environment
What do behaviourists assume?
That all behaviour can be explained in terms of experience by itself
E.g. learning theory and classical conditioning
- related to taxi drivers
Study found thatLondon taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus compared to control participants
Hippocampus responded to increased use
Nurture therefore affects nature
- related to diathesis stress model
Emphasises role of both nature and nurture in mental illness
This means that there is a genetic component which makes a person vulnerable
An environmental stimulus triggers the vulnerability so that it shows
- related to the interactionist approach
Nature and nurture are closely related so they can’t be separated
General heritability figure in IQ tests is around 0.5 so both genetics and the environment are important to determine intelligence
Nurture believes what about the mind
It is a blank slate and developed by experiences from interactions with the environment
What is the nature nurture debate
Relative contribution of these influences to an individual’s behaviour
