Q: In your own words, detail the ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments with regard to innate and learned behaviour.
Q: In your own words, detail the ‘for’ and ‘against’ arguments with regard to innate and learned behaviour. Feel free to include your own opinion, but be sure to justify it. Try to include an equal amount of information for both sides. Use at least 500 words for your answer.
A: Innate and Learned behaviour
There are two types of behaviour; innate and learned.
Nativists believe that certain behaviours are innate, that is we are born with them and they cannot be changed. They mainly involve reflexes and instinct e.g. when a bird hatches from its egg it does so instinctively or when a puppy drinks milk from its mother they are not taught to do this. Another example is when a person makes a loud noise in front of a new-born infant they are likely to startle them this is considered a reflex and it comes naturally without any control. Other reflexes include coughing and swallowing and without these a baby would not survive for e.g. a baby would not be able to live if they could not swallow food or if food got stuck in there windpipe they would choke if they were not able to cough it up. Cohen’s research in (1967) found that when babies were hungry and crying for a feed they became quicker at recognising their mother’s nipple, therefore, some believe that this behaviour can be learned. When speaking to one mother I found that with her first two children they took to the breast instantly but with her third child it took a lot longer for them to latch on.
Empiricists believe that certain behaviours can be taught or learned through their environment or by the people who look after them. Therefore they believe that these certain behaviours can be changed or adapted. An example of this would be bad behaviour or tantrums as a child will only display this if they have seen someone else behave in this way. We as adults can teach a child that displaying bad behaviour is inappropriate therefore it is a learned behaviour. Children and infants also mimic the behaviour of
A: Innate and Learned behaviour
There are two types of behaviour; innate and learned.
Nativists believe that certain behaviours are innate, that is we are born with them and they cannot be changed. They mainly involve reflexes and instinct e.g. when a bird hatches from its egg it does so instinctively or when a puppy drinks milk from its mother they are not taught to do this. Another example is when a person makes a loud noise in front of a new-born infant they are likely to startle them this is considered a reflex and it comes naturally without any control. Other reflexes include coughing and swallowing and without these a baby would not survive for e.g. a baby would not be able to live if they could not swallow food or if food got stuck in there windpipe they would choke if they were not able to cough it up. Cohen’s research in (1967) found that when babies were hungry and crying for a feed they became quicker at recognising their mother’s nipple, therefore, some believe that this behaviour can be learned. When speaking to one mother I found that with her first two children they took to the breast instantly but with her third child it took a lot longer for them to latch on.
Empiricists believe that certain behaviours can be taught or learned through their environment or by the people who look after them. Therefore they believe that these certain behaviours can be changed or adapted. An example of this would be bad behaviour or tantrums as a child will only display this if they have seen someone else behave in this way. We as adults can teach a child that displaying bad behaviour is inappropriate therefore it is a learned behaviour. Children and infants also mimic the behaviour of