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Nature vs. Nurture in Psychology: Understanding Genetics and Environmental Influences

Explore the complex interplay between genetics and environmental factors in shaping human behavior, including twin studies, adoption studies, and the impact of culture, providing insights into individual differences.

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Nature vs. Nurture in Psychology: Understanding Genetics and Environmental Influences

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  1. NATURE VS. NATURE

  2. Social Context Domain

  3. Nature, Nurture, Culture and Gender

  4. Nature and Nurture in Psychology

  5. Overview • Genetics in Brief • Nature and Individual Differences • Environmental Matters

  6. Genetics in Brief

  7. Behavior Genetics • The school of thought that focuses on how much our genes and our environmental influences our individual differences.

  8. Genes • The biochemical units of heredity that make up chromosomes. • Many genes together make up chromosomes

  9. Environment • Every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to the people and things around us. • Any influence, other than genetic, on an individual’s behavior • Include: • The culture someone is raised in • One’s family • Socioeconomic group

  10. Nature and Nurture Issue • Nature side entails the genetic code passed from parent to child. • Nurture side involves all environmental influences from prenatal development on.

  11. Nature and Nurture Issue • Which parts of human behavior can we attribute to nature and which can be attributed to nurture?

  12. Chromosomes • Threadlike structures made up of DNA that contain genes. • 46 chromosomes in each cell • 23 received from each parent

  13. Chromosomes

  14. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) • A complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up chromosomes.

  15. Nucleotides • The four letter code to distinguish genes • Letters A,T,C, or G are used

  16. Mutation • Random errors in gene replication that lead to a change in the individual’s genetic code and are • the source of all genetic diversity. • Can be desirable or undesirable changes

  17. Predisposition • The possibility of something happening through the genetic code • Genetics creates the potential for something • The environment may or may not trigger the predisposition

  18. Nature and Individual Differences

  19. Nature and Individual Differences:Twin Studies

  20. Identical Twins • Twins who developed from a single fertilized egg that splits in two, creating two genetically identical organisms. • Called monozygotic twins • Must be of the same sex

  21. Fraternal Twins • Twins who developed from two different fertilized eggs; they are genetically no more similar than any other two siblings, but they share a fetal environment. • Called dizygotic twins. • Can be different sexes

  22. Heritability • The degree to which traits are inherited. • The proportion of an individual’s characteristics that can be attributed to genetics (heredity)

  23. Twin Studies • Used to determine the heritability of a given trait • Data is collected from both identical and fraternal twins on the trait • Compare the data between the two groups • Important not to conclude that a specific behavior is inherited

  24. Nature and Individual Differences:Adoption Studies

  25. Adoption Studies • Compare adopted children’s traits with those of their biological parents and their adopted parents • Trait similarities with biological parents: attribute the trait to heredity • Trait similarities with the adopted parents: attribute the trait to the environment

  26. Environmental Matters

  27. Environmental Matters:Early Learning and Brain Development

  28. Early Brain Development • Early experience is critical in brain development. • In later life continued use is necessary to maintain neural connections in the brain.

  29. Environmental Matters:Peer and Parent Influence

  30. Peer Influences • Peer influence in adolescence is very powerful. • Many studies suggest a peer group is correlated with school performance, smoking, and other behaviors.

  31. Parent Influences • Parental influence is important in areas of: • Education • Discipline • Responsibility • Orderliness • Charitableness • Ways of interacting with authority figures.

  32. Environmental Matters:Cultural Influences

  33. Culture • The shared attitudes, beliefs, norms and behaviors of a group communicated from one generation to the next.

  34. Norms • Understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. • Consist of the “proper behavior” within a group

  35. The End

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