Nature vs. Nurture

Describe and Evaluate the Evolutionary perspective of Psychology Jemma de Jonge IB Evolutionary psychology is an attempt to explain parts of human behaviour- such as perception, personality and language. It is an attempt to draw a valid conclusion by with logical connections from human behaviour to science. It is a basic attempt to explain why and how humans got to the way that they are today. A very famous English naturalist Charles Darwin put forth the idea of natural selection and adaptation and this is a very valid point in evolutionary psychology. There are a variety of arguments relating to evolutionary psychology such a nature versus nurture debate which is in the process of deciding whether human behaviour is determined by genes or is it more decided by the environment humans are in. Charles Darwin attempted to explain the vast diversity of living organisms, so put forth the idea that we evolved from the very basic of human beings and since then we have had to adapt to survive. And we have become what we are now because of adaptation and survival of the fittest. What was good about the way Darwin came up with this theory he did not go against ethics, or religion. He observed and described the happenings in a plausible scientific way. He said that “organisms well adapted to their environment, whatever it happens to be, will produce more offspring than those less well adapted”. Relating to the Nature versus Nurture debate; a very early psychologist, Sir Francis Galton “argued that intelligence had a genetic basis and that genius was something that could be traced across generations” [Psychology textbook; Paul Whetham, Andrew Day, Libby Whetham, Di Codrington & Elaine shone]. It appears that with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and schizophrenia there is a strong genetic factor and it mainly has to do with genetics and not so much “nurture”. Personality is an excellent example of a heritable characteristic that is

Bibliography: * http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=1f8e2344-65b2-499a-9264-979f3b0dfe37 * http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/96feb/darwin.html * http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm * http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/09/14/dr-marc-siegel-superbug-mrsa-bacteria-india-drug-resistance-antibiotics/ * Class Notes