Nature vs Nurture (Psychology Debate Explained) #Alevel

- [Narrator] What is the nature
and nurture in psychology?

Nature describes
behaviors that are innate,

that are born to us or
genetically determined

by our genes and DNA.

Nurture describes
behaviors that are acquired

as a result of experience

or because of environmental influences.

This debate centers on
whether particular behaviors

are mainly or entirely innate, born

or genetically determined,

or whether they're acquired for experience

or the influence of the environment.

Traditionally, both of the nature

and nurture viewpoints of
human behavior were considered

to be determinist and didn't
give any scope for free will.

However, increasingly,
people acknowledge that a lot

of behavior comes about through a mixture

of inborn predispositions and
environmental experiences,

i.e., a mixture of nature and nurture,

and interaction between the two.

The debate is also closely
linked with reductionism

because extreme nature

or extreme nurture arguments
are by definition reductionist.

By saying that some aspect
of behavior is solely caused

by genes or solely caused by experience.

It could be seen as a
reductionist argument.

There are many nature-nurture debates

in psychological theory,
however, these often tend

to be historical rather than current.

Nowadays, most psychologists
see the development

of behavior differently.

They see biological predisposition

as guiding development
in certain directions,

but experience as influencing

how that development manifests itself.

The two sources are
seen as interconnected,

not as opposing alternatives,

and it is the way that they interact,

which is the focus of interest.

One strength of the nature
versus nurture debate

is that the distinction can
help us identify behaviors

that are inherited or learned,

or allow us to consider
the relative contributions

of inheritance and learning.

It can also be valuable to discover

that some behavior is due to nature

and not to "inappropriate
upbringings by parents."

One of the weaknesses of the
nature versus nurture debate

is that it is simplistic to
divide explanation into nature

and nurture when the two may
truly combine in complex ways

to influence behavior.

Another possible weakness

is that discovering a
particular behavior or capacity,

for example, intelligence, is inherited,

may lead to some assuming many
more behaviors are inherited

and fail to consider the
effects of the environment.

As mentioned earlier, the
debate is also deterministic

because it offers no scope for free will.

It assumes that behavior is
learned from the environment

and that the environment
will change our behavior.

(lively music)