Nature Vs Nurture Flashcards
Lecture 2 notes (32 cards)
3 key ideas of the nature side of the debate?
- Transmission of genetic information from parents to offspring.
- Behaviour has genetic basis
- We are biologically/ managed
our behaviour is instinct - innate and unlearned
What is the ‘nurture’ side of the debate?
We are shaped by our environment and lived experiences. The environment controls the expression of our genes.
What psychological perspectives are very much empiricist? (nurture)
Cultural relativism (e.g Mead, 1935)
Learning theory (e.g Watson and Skinner)
Social learning theory (Bandura)
Cultural Psychology
What psychological perspectives are closer to the middle of the debate?
Feminist psychology
Cognitive development theory
Psychoanalytic theory
Biosocial theory
What psychological perspectives are very much nativist? (nature)
Evolutionary approaches: Ethology
Maturation
Evolutionary Psychology
Name some key figures in the development of the idea of instinct.
Darwin, Lorenz and Tinbergen were all important
Explain ‘Fixed Action Patterns’
The insistinct to enact a specific behaviour when viewing a particular stimulus cue. (instinctive behaviour)
e.g dogs chasing a cat or gulls feeding chicks
Provide an example of an instinct which is shaped by learning. (nature and nurture)
Imprinting is ‘innate’ but the object of imprinting is not
This provides a clear example of an interaction between heredity and learning
What is a ‘sensitive period’?
Period during which experience/ environment has string influence or behaviour is most likely to be acquired.
Give examples of Seligman’s Biological Preparedness?
Wild rhesus macaques have fear of snakes whereas lab-raised animals do not
Viewing an adult reacting in fear to snake = young lab-raised macaques learn fear response immediately
Viewing an adult reacting in fear to a flower does mot cause infant to learn fear of flowers
How does nature and nurture interact with each other?
Our instincts can be augmented by out learning/ environment AND our biology ca shape what we learn (e.g biological preparedness)
Provide an example of how nature and nurture interact with each other (forensic psychology)
MAOA gene and anti-social behaviour. Low activity variant of this gene correlates with expression of anti-social behaviour. But this relationships is mediated by environment: criminality is more likely in people with low activity gene variant AND Who were mistreated/ abused as children.
What does Behaviour genetics aim to do?
Aims to identify/ disentangle the role of genetics from environmental inputs to behaviour in order to understand the form of those interactions. There are no ‘genes for’ a behaviour.
What is the key idea of behaviour genetics?
Almost all psychological traits have some genetic -inherited component but environment is also important in expression of all.
What does heritability show us?
Tells us how much variation in an observed trait is due to genetic variation, on average, within that population.
Genetic input is not ________
Deterministic. Genes provide a framework, environment fills in the details.
What can’t you use population H to predict?
Cannot be used to predict individual outcomes. H of 40% in population simply means that 40% of variation in a trait ACROSS the population is down to genetics.
Describe Plomin’s conclusions about Behaviour genetics.
All psychological traits measured show significant and substantial genetic influence.
No traits are shown to be 100% heritable
Heritability depends on many genes having small effects
Known correlations between behaviour often underlined by genetics (debatable)
Most measures of ‘environment’ may also include a genetic component (debatable)
Being in same family - shared environment - doesn’t make children more similar? This is very debatable
Provide an example of heritability (GCSE scores) (Krapohl et al, 2014)
13,306 UK twins were studied and their scores were compared. GCSE results were found to be 64% heritable and 75% of that heritability was accounted for by genetic factors in nine domains.
What are some environmental inputs/ influences?
Home life, school and education, peers, culture , socio-economic tstauys
Our lived experiences
Learned behaviour
Epigenetics
Why is the nature - nurture debate so important?
It could be extremely helpful in identifying peoples’ strengths and weaknesses and predicting what areas of areas of their life they may require more encouragement in. It could also be really helpful in the early diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, possibly even preventing them from developing in the first place.
Highlight a criticism of the nature - nurture debate?( humanistic)
If we were able to produce psychological profiles based on people’s genetic and environmental histories then a human’s fundamental right to free will will be violated. This is because if people were able to obtain information about what environments they are likely to thrive and fail in then they lose their right to choose their own path and lifestyle.
Whose work was particularly pivotal in introducing the debate in the 19th century ?
Charles Darwin’s work on natural selection
What did James propose about some aspects of human behaviours?
Some aspects are present from birth due to genetic predispositions . Instinctual behaviours such as love, parenting skills, sympathy, sociability. and the tendency to fight or defend oneself from threat and the fear of specific objects .
