Genetic and Environmental influences
- Created by: gracepxx
- Created on: 18-05-16 17:32
P1 - Intro
Long standing debate whether you are the product of your genes or of your environment
Nature refers to your abilities present at birth and any ability determined by genes, including those that appear through maturation
Nurture - learning behaviours through interactions with the environment, including physical and social world
Genetic influence = nature, envinronmental = nurture, interactionalists = combination
P2 - Intelligence
Genetic influences have strong influence on intelligence - twin and adaoption studies suggest large component of IQ is genes
Chorney et al (1998) - used gene mapping studies to identify individual genes that are associated with having high IQ
However, equally strong evidence has been found for effects of nurture on intelligence
The flynn effect shows how all IQs have increased by up to 20 points in 30 years due to environmental enrichment
Studies also show varience could be due to socioeconomic status of the children - for children from impoverished families, genes accounted for hardly any of the variance
P3 - Mental illness
Also looked at in terms of twin and adoption studies - show closer individuals are genetially, the higher chance of them developing same mental disorder
Concordance rate for schizophrenia is 40% in MZ and just 7% in DZ according to Joseph (2004)
Despite this, research shows there is clear environmental effect on development of mental disorder
The diathesis-stress model shows this by representing both nature and nurture - individual may have genes to illness (diathesis) but only develop it under certain conditions (stress)
Adopted children who had schizophrenic biological parents were more likely to become ill themselves only if the adaptive family were also disturbed - illness only manifested itself in the appropriate environmental conditions despite being genetic, showing support for nurture side of debate
P4 - Evolutionary explanations
Leads to argument genetics have stronger influence on behaviour
Any explanation of this follows trhat behaviour which promotes survival and reproduction will be naturally selected because it is adaptive and so genes will be passed on to future generations
Buss (1989) demonstrated evolutionary process, showing that certain elements of mate choice are universal and sought after by all, such as the tendency for women to value ambition and industriousness more than males
However, such genetic behaviours modified by culture or environment
There were exceptions to general tendencies which is described by cultural relativism
P5 - Epigenetics
Another argument that takes on the interactionalist appraoch is that environmental effects are, infact, inherited
Research has uncovered a new understanding of genes called epigenetics
This refers to material in each cell of the body that turn genes on or off
Life experiences, nutrition and stress control how these genes are turned on/off
The epigenetic material they inherited is derived from environmental effects controlling their behaviour
P6 - Aggression
Bandura's idea that agessive behaviour is learned through obervatiob abd vicarious reinforcement are views upheld by those who maintain the environment influences our behaviour
Bandura et al (1961) study using Bobo illustrated important aspect of theory using SLT - however, doesn't mean biological factors are ignored but that a person's biological makeup creates a potential for aggression and it is the expression of the agression that is learned
Coccaro et al (1997) supports importance of biological factors - found 50% of varience in aggressive behaviour in twin pairs could be attributed to genetic factors
P7 - Neural plasticity
Research into neural plasticity and impacts on behaviour
Blakemore and Cooper's research with kittens shows how experience of environment impacts innate systems
This is an example of neural plasticity and how the brain may be changed by the environment and experience
A study on London taxi drivers shows that the region of their brain associated with spatial memory was bigger than those in non-taxi drivers
This was because their hippocampi had responsed to increased use, not because they were born that way - Magurie et al 2000
P8 - Influence of genes on environment
Interactionalists such as Plomin et al (1977) suggests there are indirect effects of genes
Reactive influences are where genetic factors create an infant's microenvironment - a child who is genetically more agressive provokes agression in others and their response becomes part of their environment and so their genes have impacted their environment
Passive influences describe how parent's genes determine aspects of behaviour indirectly - a parent with a genetically determined mental illness creates an unsettled environment,developing a mental disorder in the child due to indirect, passive effects of genetics on environment
Active influence, or niche picking (1983) believes that as children grow older they seek out experiences and environments that suit their genes, explaining why the influence of genes increases and the influence of shared environment gradually decreases with age
It is your genes that influence kind of things you prefer and your environmental selections
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