Nature and Nurture

Question 1

Sherif

Answer 1

social identity theory - about how groups you are in effect behaviour (nurture) as seen in the boys’ behaviour
RCT - scarce resources and zero sum game displayed in exp showing effects of nurture
- superordinate goals reduce prejudice showing effect of environment
OTOH - competition might come from evolution due to fighting over resources
- results may have been different in another culture

Question 2

Social

Answer 2

NATURE - according to social psych we have evolved to be parts of groups (ingroup and outgroup)
Personality factors like OCEAN can play a role in levels of prejudice or obedience
NURTURE - Milgram’s variations show differences in obedience as a result of proximity, status which can reduce obedience (part of the environment)

Question 3

Baddeley

Answer 3

HM case study supports existence of nature affecting memory as unable to remember new factual info after surgery e.g the 2 stores baddeley then looked at therefore could be nature
- if the encoding is the same for everyone it would indicate effects of nature as universal things are

Question 4

Cognitive

Answer 4

Nature - schmolck - semantic memory held in anterolateral temporal lobe
Nurture - schemas come from life experience (environment)
Peterson and Peterson - influence of rehearsal on STM which is a nurture factor that can be applied to improve student learning.

Question 5

Raine

Answer 5

Nature - Brain structure and activities effect behaviour e.g high glucose metabolism in the right amygdala leads to higher aggression so nature
Raine identified that we don’t have cause and effect in his study (environment could cause the differences)
Raine matched them on sz (biologically based illness) taking biology into account
Handedness wasnt taken into account 0 bio factor might influence brain activity

Question 6

Biological

Answer 6

Nature- evolution shows that many traits come from genetics
Nature - hormonal influence
Euphoria experienced when taking recreational drugs could be argues it’s due to biological changes in the brain
- Kety showed sz is genetic
Brendgen - Physical aggression due to nature ( mz had higher concordance rate than dz)

Question 7

Watson and Rayner

Answer 7

Pavlov shows animals learn through cc - nature
UCS - UCR relationship is natural reaction e.g albert responding with fear and shock to pipe banging so due to nature
Evolutionary phobias naturally occur to aid survival e.g heights (you fall you die)
Nurture - flooding and systematic desensitisation work with environmental stimuli

Question 8

Learning

Answer 8

Flooding works because the sympathetic nervous system can’t remain in the alarmed state showing the impact of nature
- nurture - SLT - the effects of role models and observations (environment)