Nature describes behaviours that are innate (that are born to us or genetically determined by our genes and DNA).

Nurture describes behaviours that are acquired as a result of experience or because of environmental influences.

This debate centres on whether particular behaviours are mainly, or entirely innate (inborn or genetically determined) or whether they are acquired through experience or the influence of the environment. Traditionally, both of the nature and nurture viewpoints of human behaviour were considered to be determinist, and didn’t give any scope for free will, however increasingly, people acknowledge that a lot of behaviour comes about through a mixture of inborn predispositions and environmental experience (i.e. a mix of nature and nurture) – an interaction between the two.

The debate is also closely linked with reductionism because extreme nature or nurture arguments are by definition reductionist. By saying that some aspect of behaviour is caused solely by genes, or solely 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 behaviour differently. They see biological predispositions 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.