Hi STEMinists! Today we have a very exciting guest submission by Lindsay on the "Nature versus Nuture" debate and how it affects our lives. This is one of our first guest submissions and we are really excited to get this section of Cellfie up and running. If anyone wants to contribute, make sure to either email cellfiemagazine@gmail.com or reach out to us on our Instagram or Twitter (@cellfiemagazine) or use the contact form on our website! Thank you Lindsay for your wonderful article!
One of the core debates of all three core disciplines of social science—anthropology,
sociology, and psychology—is that of nature versus nature. The supporters of nature over nurture believe that biological factors are more important than sociocultural factors in determining behaviour, supporters of nurture over nature believe the inverse. There is evidence of both perspectives in social science, but the vast majority of evidence points towards the latter: nurture over nature. Below is a compilation of core concepts from each discipline that support this belief.
Firstly, according to principles of cultural anthropology, customs and traditions govern
the way people behave—directly supporting nurture over nature. If nature controlled behaviour, that would mean that everyone on earth would behave differently from one another; culture would not exist because culture implies groups of people behaving similarly because of where they are from. If behaviour was all about nature, immigration or otherwise changing cultures would not affect behaviour thus assimilation and acculturation would not exist. Additionally, one of the main schools of thought in cultural anthropology is cultural relativism, which teaches that different cultures are all very different from each other so one must not judge another culture through the lens of their own, implying that culture is a major factor in behaviour.
Freud and Erikson’s theories of development, evidence of childhood trauma affecting
victims in adulthood, and Pavlov and Skinner’s methods of conditioning all prove that nurture
trumps nature in determining behaviour. All of these psychological phenomena and theories use various factors of nurture to explain or manipulate behaviour. Additionally, psychodynamic and behaviourist theory would not exist if nature was the dominant factor influencing behaviour. This is because psychodynamic theory centers around influences of childhood events on adulthood and behaviourists believe that changing behaviour changes thought which would both be null points if behaviour was all about nature, or biological influences. Finally, if nature controlled behaviour no one would care about developmental psychology because if behaviour were shaped by nature, development would not matter, but in reality developmental psychology is a thriving field thus sociocultural factors are important in behaviour.
All four of the core theories of sociology center on the idea of nurture, thus any
sociologist will say that nurture trumps nature in behaviour. To begin, structural functionalism
revolves around the concept of roles and norms, both of which are created by culture which was explained to be a product of nurture over nature above. Conflict theory is all about the split and tension between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, why would there be two groups in the first place if it was all about nature? Feminist theory is all about discrimination against women and the LGBTQ+ community and since there is nothing in our genes that makes either of those groups inferior, the discrimination must be based in nurture. The final core theory, symbolic interaction, is based on nurture over nature because it is all about our minds attaching meaning to things, which causes us to behave in a certain way. All in all, sociology is about norms, values, and roles, which are all created by culture which is created by nurture, not nature. Finally, agents of socialization are a manifestation of nurture.
Overall, anthropology, psychology, and sociology all support the idea of nurture as the
most important factor determining behaviour. Each of these disciplines rely on theories and
include concepts that either imply or directly require that nurture be the most influential
component of behaviour. Biological factors—nature—are not nearly as influential as
sociocultural factors—nurture—in creating patterns of behavior.
Guest Submission by Lindsay M