Is Behavior Inherited or Is it
Learned?
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature versus Nurture Debate The common description of the controversy over the relative importance of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) in the causation of human behavior.
What is nature?
represents the idea that behavior is inherited
What is nurture?
the sum of the environmental factors influencing the behavior and traits expressed by an organism
Principles of Inheritance
Genetics
the science that deals with the study of inherited traits
Gregor Mendel
an Austrian monk and scientist who studied modern genetics began in 1860’s
Chromosomesis an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in cells.
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms
Gene a unit of heredity in a living organism
Two Forms of Trait
Dominant Gene expressed trait
Recessive Gene
not expressed trait
Genotype
Individual’s genetic composition
PhenotypeObservable expression of gene action
Refers to the external appearance
“Nurture" has historically been referred to as the care given to children by the parents
Factors Affecting Behavior experiencespeople that surrounds you
the environment the kind of family
The view that humans acquire all or almost all their behavioral traits from "nurture" is known as empiricism
*Tabula rasa – blank slate- term coined by John Locke (empiricist) - a person is born without knowledge and thus gain knowledge from the environment he is living
Behaviorism A theoretical outlook that focus
only on the relation between observable behavior, on one hand, and the environmental events, on the other.
Focuses entirely on the association between the environment and an observable behavior
Classical ConditioningIvan PavlovA Nobel-prize winner in physiology, who
studied involuntary learning behavior.Experiment: dogs salivated in response
to the sight of the lab technician who fed them
Operant ConditioningB.F. Skinner, a radical behavioristBelieved that virtually all forms
of human behavior, not just learning, could be explained by behavior emitted in reaction to the environment