Nature vs. Nurture

Nature Vs Nurture

• nature - refers to all genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are (physical to characteristics)
• nurture - refers to environmental factors that impact who we are (social relationships, culture, how we are raised)

Theorists

• nativists - take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the results of inheritance
• empiricists - take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics result from learning

Psychology

• biophyscology - conduct studies exploring how neurotransmitters influence behavior, emphasizes nature side of debate
• social psychology - study how peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, stressing nurture

Influences

• genetic factors - interactions
• environmental factors - interact such as social experiences and culture (parenting styles)
• hereditary and enviromental influences intermingle

Plato and Descartes

• certain things are inborn
• occur naturally regardless of environmental influences

John Locke

• belived in tabula rasa
• mind starts at a blank state
• knowledge is determined by our experience

John B. Watson

• belived people could be trained to become anything
• empiricists - all or most behaviors and characteristics result from learning
• behaviorists - all actions result from conditioning

Chomsky

• language acquisition device(LAD)
• all children born with instinctive mental capacity, allows them to learn and produce language

Albert Bandura

• social learning theory
• people learn by observing
• Bobo doll experiment - demonstrated children could learn aggressive behaviors

Francis Galton

• combines terms nature vs. nurture and eugenics - intelligence was result of genetics
• intelligent individuals should be encouraged to have many children
• less intelligent should be discouraged from reproducing