PSYB4: Debates

The nature-nurture debate

1. Give one reason why it is too simplistic to ask if hereditary or environmental factors influence behaviour? (3 marks)

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2. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a disorder caused by a defective gene resulting in severe learning difficulties for individuals who inherit the condition – it can however be controlled with a special diet. With reference to PKU, explain the nature-nurture debate (4 marks)

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PSYB4: Debates

3. What is meant by an ‘unshared environment’? Explain why this is an important concept in the nature-nurture debate (4 marks)

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4. Briefly compare two approaches in the context of the nature-nurture debate …………………………………………………………………………………………………

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PSYB4: Debates

The nature-nurture debate

1. Give one reason why it is too simplistic to ask if hereditary or environmental factors influence behaviour? (3 marks)

Both nature and nurture are essential for any behaviour and it cannot be said that a particular behaviour is genetic and another is environmental (1 mark). It is impossible to separate the two influences as well as illogical as nature and nurture do not operate in a separate way but interact in a complex manner (1 mark). It makes more sense to say that the difference between two people’s behaviour is mostly due to hereditary factors or mostly due to environmental factors (1 mark).

2. Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a disorder caused by a defective gene resulting in severe learning difficulties for individuals who inherit the condition – it can however be controlled with a special diet. With reference to PKU, explain the nature-nurture debate (4 marks)

At the heart of the nature-nurture debate lies the question of the relative contributions of heredity factors and environmental factors as an explanation of behaviour (1 mark).

PKU, for example is an inherited disorder which can cause severe learning difficulties – if not diagnosed at birth, the build up of phenylalanaline in the bloodstream causes brain damage and intellectual impairment (1 mark). It is the child’s genetic make up that determines if they have the condition; this is supporting the nature side of the debate (1 mark).

However, if the baby is put on a special diet, free of phenylalanalin it will grow and develop normally, with no adverse effect on its intellectual development. If undetected and untreated at birth, the individual will fail to accomplish important developmental milestones. Therefore how the child is treated will determine these developmental outcomes; this supports the nurture side of the debate (1 mark).

3. What is meant by an ‘unshared environment’? Explain why this is an important concept in the nature-nurture debate (4 marks)

An unshared environment means those environmental experiences unique to each sibling in the family (1 mark) that explain the differences between genetically related individuals (1 mark).

The findings that even MZ twins raised together do not yield perfect concordance rates (1 mark) suggest that perhaps this could be the result of the unique experiences gained from each twin’s non-shared environment (1 mark).

4. Briefly compare two approaches in the context of the nature-nurture debate (4 mark)

The biological approach takes the most extreme nature view whereas the behaviourist approach takes the most extreme nurture viewpoint in the debate (1 mark).

The biological approach focuses on genetics and physical structures such as the brain and hormone systems and would claim that these have the greatest influence on behaviour (1mark). Behaviourists disregard this viewpoint proposing that individuals are born as blank slates (1 mark), and that behaviour is directly controlled and shaped though associative learning and the consequences of behaviour regardless of heredity factors (1 mark).