Transcript "which, nature or nurture, contributes more to personality?"

"Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its
length or its width?"
Argument for Nature
 Not only are things like hair and eye colour inherited, but
also things like attitude, personality, intelligence
 Sexual orientation is determined naturally
 Potential for a behaviour gene that determines these more
abstract traits
 Support
 Identical and fraternal twins show similarities even
when raised apart
 Other studies
Argument for Nurture
 Genetics do exist, but don’t matter
 Environment has everything to do with who we are
 John Watson’s experiments
 acquisition of phobia
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Boy associates furry animals with fear
 BF. Skinner’s experiments on pigeons
 human behaviour can be conditioned like animals
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Pigeon experiment
Creates superstitions
 Humour is a learned trait – Study
 Counterclaim to twins argument
 twins should be the same in every aspect if nature theory is true,
this is not the case
Why Study Nature?
 As much as we agree that there is a considerable
amount of evidence in favour of the nurture theory, we
must also accept that nature needs to play some role in
who we are
 It is safe to say that who we are can be influenced by
our heredity
Why Study Nurture?
 Most sociologists disagree that biology can be used to
explain all areas of behaviour
 Study is based around how some behaviour can be
explained when it would seem as though all evidence
would suggest that it should be different
How Do We Study Nature vs Nurture?
 One Example
 Twins offer sociologists a unique opportunity to study
the importance of genetics in shaping an individual
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Identical Twins
 Genetically identical
Fraternal Twins
 Genetically different
What are the Problems Associated
with these Experiments?
 Summarize in your own words what this article is
talking about
 What are some of the major issues discussed?
 Do you believe that these type of experiments can
be justified in today's society?
 Why/why not?
Possible Problems:
 Ethics
 Right or wrong
 Funding
 Finding Participants
 Motivation
 Variables
 Information
You’re the Scientist (s)
 In a small group (4-5)
 Come up with a way of experimenting with twins (or
other groups of human beings) which would allow you
to gain insight into which traits are nature determined,
and which are determined by nurture
 Keep in mind the potential problems and be prepared
to explain how your experiment won’t be problematic
 Remember, you must find a way to address each of the
problems raised on the previous slide.