nature nurture debate issues and debates Flashcards
what is the nature nurture debate
seeks to answer the question of whether our behaviour more influenced by nature or nurture
bowlby claimed that babys attachment type determined by the warmth and continuity of parental love
kagain proposed babys innnate personality affects the attachment relationship
nature creates nurture so environment and heredity interact
likely to ask what the relative contribution of each influence is
what is the diathesis stress model
behaviour is caused by biological or environmental vulnerability which is only epxressed when coupled with biological or environmental trigger
ocd-inherits genetic vulnerability for ocd may not develop the disorder but combined with psychological trigger may result in the disorder appearing
what is epigenetics
refers to change in genetic activity without changing genes themselves
process happens throughout life and caused by inteeraction with environment
aspects of lifestyles or events leave marks on DNA which switch genes on or off
may go on and influence genetic codes of children
introduces third element into nature nurture debate- the life experience of previous generations
what is nature
refers to inherited influences or hereditry
descartes argued all human characteristics are innate
psychological characteristics like intelligence or personality are determined by biological factors
what is nurture
refers to influence of experience and the environment
empiricists argued the mind is blank slate at birth which is then shaped by the environment
lerner- identified different levels of environment, includes parental factors such as how physical influences affect a foetus, more generally development is influenced postnatally of the social conditions a child grows up in
what is the measuring nature and nurture
degree to which two people particular trait can be represented by correlation coefficient and called concordance
provides estimate about the extent to which trait is inherited- heritability- proportion of differences between individuals in a population with regards to a particular trait due to genetic variation
figure for .01 means genes contribute almost nothing to individual differences and 1.0 means genes are the only reason for individual differenes
general figure for heritability in iq about .5 multiple studies varying populations- means about half a persons intelligence is determined by egenetic factors and the other half must be environmental
what is the adoption studies
strength use of adoption studies
separate the competing influences of nature and nurture
if adopted children found to be more similar to thier adoptive parents this suggests the environment is the bigger influence
if adopted children more similar to biological parents then genetic factors are presumed to dominate
meta analysis of adoption studies by rhee and waldman found genetic influences accounted for 41% of the variance in aggression
shows how research can separate influences of nature and nurture
research suggests that this approach may be misguided
nature and nurture not two entitles that can be pulled apart
plomin-people create own nurture by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature
naturally aggressive child likely to feel more comfortable with children who show similar behaviours and will choose their environment, chosen companions further influence the development- niche picking
suggests it does not make sense to look at evidence of either nature or nurture
what is epigenetics ao3
support for epigenetics
how environmental effects can span generations through epigenetic effects comes from events of ww2
nazis blocked the food distribution to dutch people, 22000 people died of starvation, susser and lin report that women who become pregnant during the famine wen ton to have low birth weight babies and more likely to develop schizophrenia when they grow up compared to more typical population rates
supports the view that life experiences of previous generations can leave epigenetics markers that influence the health of their offspring
what is real word application
has real world application
ocd highly heritable mental disorder, nestadt put heritability rate at .76, understanding can inform genetic counselling because it is important to understand that high heritability does not mean it is inevitable that the individual will go on to develop the disorder
people who have high genetic risk of ocd because of their family background can received avidce about the likelihood of developing the disorder and how they might prevent this
shows that the debate is not just a theoretical one but that it is important to understand the interaction between nature and nurture
