Which side of the nature-nurture debate do psychologists favor?

Within Psychology there are a variety of different approaches, i.e, the Biological approach, Behaviorism approach etc. As a result of this different Psychologists from each branch will favor the side that most fits their theory. For example, Biological psychologists would argue that human behavior is determined by our physiology (hormones, nervous system) and our inheritance (genes). Based on this proposition they without a doubt support the nature side of the debate. However, a common mistake is to completely rule out the influence of the opposite side of the debate, despite the influence being weaker we must consider both sides. Twin studies have been used to investigate the influence of inheritance. Concordance (similarity) rates tells us whether a trait is present within both twins or not. We would expect identical twins to have high concordance rates since they have the same genetic makeup. However, this is not always the case in all studies. Therefore, although Nature may play a major role in explaining a Biological finding, it is not the only contributing factor and we must take all factors into consideration.

Answered by Jaspreet K. Psychology tutor

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