Nature Vs Nurture debate
I wrote this essay for my access to university course, I thought I’d share it, because its always been an interesting topic of debate in psychology…
Nature Vs Nurture debate:
The Nature vs nurture debate dates back as early as the ancient Greek era, whereby people wondered what the cause of personality was. However, the name was first brought up in 1874 by scientist Francis Galton (Psychology Today, 2022).
Nativism (Nature)
Certain physical characteristics are biologically determined by genetic inheritance, such as eye colour, pigmentation of skin, whether we have straight or curly hair and certain diseases and conditions, for example. Those who believe in nature also think that our behaviourism and personality traits, including our mental abilities, are within us innately through our Genetics. These qualities emerge through our lives as we mature (McLeod, 2018).
Empiricism (Nurture)
People who believe that we are born as blank slates and we are programmed by our environment, our learning of the world, and how we are brought up (McLeod, 2018).
· Bandura's (1977) Classic experiment with the ‘Bobo Doll’ demonstrates this social learning theory (McLeod, 2018).
· Studies constantly find that adopted people resemble their biological parents rather than their caregivers (Plomin & DeFries, 1983-1985; McLeod, 2018).
· Twin studies also show that there are similarities, both identical and non-identical. The TEDS study discovered an association between the twins’ behaviour and personality (Haworth, Davis, Plomin, 2013; Oliver & Plomin, 2007; Trouton, Spinath, & Plomin, 2002; McLeod, 2018).
· Other theorists, such as Jenson (1969), established that Black Americans' IQ scores were lower than Caucasian people, and he believed that it was due to genetics and that intelligence is 80% inherited. However, some argue that those people of lower intelligence are due to the lack of advantages, not the IQ (McLeod, 2018).
· Plomin (1991) believes that although it may seem like the environment is what has shaped us, it is innately genetically influenced. Furthermore, critiqued Freud of who we are and that our personality is driven not by how we were brought up, but down to our DNA and our genes, which he explains in his book. Although Genetic heritability only takes up 50% of the psychological differences between individuals. That being said, Plomin contends that environmental factors are unpredictable and can be moderated, as we are an expression of genetics (A. Antony, 2018).
Theorists:
- Behaviourist John, B, Watson and B.F. Skinner theorises that human behaviour is the result of classical conditioning, such as associative or operant conditioning.
- Watson believed that he could train anyone irrespective of the individual's genetics (K. Cherry, 2019).
Controversial – Are people born with paedophilia or raised as such?
James Cantor has used magnetic resonance imaging to scan paedophile brains and believes the issue is actually a sexual orientation that we are born with. This does not change as his studies demonstrate that the paedophile's brain is, in fact, wired differently, and they are triggered sexually instinctually when they see a child, instead of the nurturing instinct that most of us have. This is confirmed by a man in the USA who began to have sexual urges over his preteen stepdaughter, which included headaches and loss of balance, after he was thrown out of the family home and sought medical assistance. A tumour was found and was pressing on the orbitofrontal cortex. When the tumour was removed, so were his sexual urges against children. However, some believe that it is environmental, as a child who is abused will become an abuser themselves. There are also confessed paedophiles who state that they can control their urges (J. Parrington, 2021).
Born bad children?
John Venables and Robert Thomson horrific crime of murdering 3-year-old Jamie Bulger in 1993, were later released in 2001 at the age of 18 and were reported to have been rehabilitated. John Venables was arrested aged 27 after being involved in a paedophile network. Dr Alison White believes that it’s nurture and how people are raised that heavily influence how they turn out, and those personality dysfunctions are difficult to treat (J. Lawrence, 2010).
Gene Case: Same sex – Born gay?
- “The largest-ever study of the genetics of sexual orientation has revealed four genetic variants strongly associated with what the researchers call non-heterosexual behaviour.”
- “The researchers performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in which they looked for specific variations in DNA that were more common in people who reported at least one same-sex sexual experience.”
- “They identified four such variants on chromosomes seven, 11, 12, and 15, respectively.” The four newly identified genetic variants were also correlated with some mood and mental health disorders. “
- “Both men and women with the variants were more likely to have experienced major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, and women were more likely to have bipolar disorder.” (M. Price, 2018).
It’s not Vs it’s AND.
Bibliography and Reference list:
· Andrew Antony, 29/09/2018, So it’s nature and not nurture after all. The Guardian, Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/29/so-is-it-nature-not-nurture-after-all-genetics-robert-plomin-polygenic-testing [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· McLeod, S. A. (2018, December 20). Nature vs nurture in psychology. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/naturevsnurture.html [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· Nature Vs Nature, Psychology Today, available from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/nature-vs-nurture [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· John Parrington, 18.06.2021, Are paedophiles born or made? Psychology today, available from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-shift/202106/are-pedophiles-born-or-made [Accessed on 26.01.22]
· Kendra Cherry, 5.03/2019, Nature vs nurture: Genes or environment, explore psychology, available from: https://www.explorepsychology.com/nature-vs-nurture/ [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr., Matt McGue, 2003, Genetic and Environmental Influences on Human Psychological Differences, Wiley interScience Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/neu.10160 [Accessed on 26.01.22]
· Robbin Mckie, 11, 11, 2018, What makes us? Nature or nurture? The DNA debate comes back to life, The Guardian, available from: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/11/nature-or-nurture-debate-three-identical-strangers-film [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· Evan Nesterak, 10/07/2015, The end of Nature vs Nurture, Behavioural scientist, 2017, available from: https://behavioralscientist.org/the-end-of-nature-versus-nurture/ [Accessed on 26/01/22]
· Powell, Kimberly. "Nature vs. Nurture: How Are Personalities Formed?" ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/nature-vs-nurture-1420577.
· Jeremy Lawrence, 24/07/2010, Born bad or made bad? The debate is reignited. The independent, available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/born-bad-or-made-bad-the-debate-is-reignited-2034312.html [Accessed on 26.01.22]
· Michael Price, 20/10/18, Giant study links DNA variants to same sex behaviour, science, available from: https://www.science.org/content/article/giant-study-links-dna-variants-same-sex-behavior [Accessed 26.01.22].
Images on the blog from UpSpalsh. Heder image from Google.
