Question

2. Historically, a significant controversy in the field of biopsychology was the question of how our behavior is a result of nature (biology, genetics, inheritance) or a result of nurture (the environment we grow up in). Today, this is an obsolete position and it is believed by most that there is an interaction among genetics/biology and environment (or experience). The more accurate position is that behavior is due to an interaction between genetics/biology and experience. Discuss this statement, citing relevant experimental evidence, in the context of at least one psychological behavior or disorder.

Answer 1

The classic nature-nurture debate now contends that any behavior, whether adaptive or maladaptive, is the result of an interaction between genetic predispositions and environmental influences. More specifically, one's heredity determines the vulnerability of developing an illness and whether or not an illness is acquired is dependent upon the stressors present in one's environment. Research by McGuffin (2004) has shown that schizophrenia results from multiple genes of small effect and their interplay with the environment. However, genes account for about 80 % of the variance in schizophrenia and the remaining can be attributed to environmental factors.

References:

McGuffin, P. 2004. Nature and nurture interplay: schizophrenia. Psychiatry Practice, 31(2), S189-93. DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-834565