What is debated in the nature nurture issue

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It might be thought that offenders themselves would embrace a genetic explanation of their behaviour if this was interpreted, as the respondents feared, as meaning they were not responsible for their crimes.

However, a small study of juvenile offenders in the Netherlands found that they gave social explanations of their crimes and most rejected the idea that biology might be a factor. As one young offender said in interview;. In the end the person makes the choice himself… The choices I have made also had a share in my past. But in the end I am the one who has made these choices ibid. Respondents were at ease with the language of nature and nurture which was only used in the introduction to the questionnaire or interview.

They readily equated genes with nature and nurture with all sorts of environmental influences. There was an acknowledgement that our understanding of environmental factors is greater than our understanding of genetics but that that would change.

Older respondents were more likely to be concerned about such a change. They're going to be doing a lot more with genetics. Influences policy profoundly and people have to be very careful. It worries me that seen to be [more determining]. Like the studies quoted at the beginning of the article respondents often acknowledged the complexities as nature and nurture interact but separated them when explaining the causes of specific behaviours. Students were less likely to be fearful of genetic explanations of behaviour despite their academic interest in social science.

However, the hypothesis that young people might be more likely to be interested in genetic explanations for behaviour was not shown in this small study. The senior learners were more likely to refer to reading on genes and display knowledge of genetics. It is very tricky as we cannot see genes and I am not sure that I totally trust the idea of blaming genes for violent behaviour- maybe the person has a gene for passive behaviour as well.

While controversial the research suggests the possibility of further complications for the nature-nurture relationship as nurture may be said to shape nature Buchen, Powledge, Behaviour was measured on 4 outcomes; diagnoses of conduct disorder, psychological tests of aggression and anti-social personality disorder and convictions for violent crime.

Caspi et al. As discussed respondents were able to express their views more fully and with more complexity in the subsequent open questions. NBER working paper No. Accessed 3 Sep Book Google Scholar. Bearman P: Exploring genetics and social structure. American Journal of Sociology , Suppl;S1 :v-x.

Article Google Scholar. Pediatrics , 5 — Nature , — Campbell E, Ross LF: Attitudes of healthcare professionals and parents regarding genetic testing for violent traits in childhood. Journal of Medical Ethics , — Caspi A, et al. Science , 2 — Psychology and Health , 25 2 — Condit CM: When do people deploy genetic determinism?

A review pointing to te need for multi-Factorial theories of public utilization of scientific discourses. Sociology Compass , 5 7 — Google Scholar. Craddock N: Horses for courses: the need for pragmatism and realism as well as balance and caution. A commentary on Angel. Social Science and Medicine , — Journal of Adolescent Research , 25 1 — Denno DW: Behavioral genetics evidence in criminal cases: — In The impact of behavioral sciences on criminal law.

Edited by: Farahany NA. Oxford: Oxford University Press; — Chapter Google Scholar. Dixon M: Brave new choices: behavioural genetics and public policy. London: IPPR; Law and Contemporary Problems , — Fotaki M: Agency versus structure or nature versus nurture: when the new twist on an old debate is not that new after all: a commentary on Angel. Giddens A: Sociology. For example, a child might learn through observation and reinforcement to say 'please' and 'thank you. One example of an empiricist theory within psychology is Albert Bandura's social learning theory.

According to the theory, people learn by observing the behavior of others. In his famous Bobo doll experiment , Bandura demonstrated that children could learn aggressive behaviors simply by observing another person acting aggressively. Even today, research in psychology often tends to emphasize one influence over the other. In biopsychology , for example, researchers conduct studies exploring how neurotransmitters influence behavior, which emphasizes the nature side of the debate.

In social psychology , researchers might conduct studies looking at how things such as peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, stressing the importance of nurture. What researchers do know is that the interaction between heredity and environment is often the most important factor of all.

Perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any reference. Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and believe that it might be tied to a single gene. However, they've also discovered that possessing the gene alone is not enough to develop this ability. Instead, musical training during early childhood is necessary to allow this inherited ability to manifest itself.

Height is another example of a trait that is influenced by nature and nurture interaction. A child might come from a family where everyone is tall, and he may have inherited these genes for height. However, if he grows up in a deprived environment where he does not receive proper nourishment, he might never attain the height he might have had he grown up in a healthier environment.

Throughout the history of psychology , however, this debate has continued to stir up controversy. Eugenics, for example, was a movement heavily influenced by the nativist approach. Psychologist Francis Galton, a cousin of the naturalist Charles Darwin, coined both the terms nature versus nurture and eugenics and believed that intelligence was the result of genetics. Galton believed that intelligent individuals should be encouraged to marry and have many children, while less intelligent individuals should be discouraged from reproducing.

Today, the majority of experts believe that both nature and nurture influence behavior and development. However, the issue still rages on in many areas such as in the debate on the origins of homosexuality and influences on intelligence. While few people take the extreme nativist or radical empiricist approach, researchers and experts still debate the degree to which biology and environment influence behavior.

Increasingly, people are beginning to realize that asking how much heredity or environment influence a particular trait is not the right approach. The reality is that there is not a simple way to disentangle the multitude of forces that exist. These influences include genetic factors that interact with one another, environmental factors that interact such as social experiences and overall culture, as well as how both hereditary and environmental influences intermingle.

Instead, many researchers today are interested in seeing how genes modulate environmental influences and vice versa. Ever wonder what your personality type means?

Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. Given how genes and environments interact, each kind of factor is always just as important as the other in influencing the final form of a trait. Research on epigenetics has really driven this point home. So, I think as we learn more about epigenetics, there will need to be some change in theoretical perspective among some scientists. EN: Is there anything else you would like to add? DM: I have seen a number of books coming out about epigenetics that contain a lot of unsubstantiated claims.

Popular on Behavioral Scientist. By Anupriya Kukreja. By Eric Johnson. By Evan Nesterak. By Steven Pinker. View Most Popular. Moore, D. New York, NY: Macmillan. Borghol, N. Szyf, M. Associations with early-life socio-economic position in adult DNA methylation. International Journal of Epidemiology, 41 , 62— The signature of maternal rearing in the methylome in rhesus macaque prefrontal cortex and T cells.

Journal of Neuroscience, 32 , — Weaver, I. Meaney, M. Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior.