Psychology Discussion
PSYC 100 Discussion
There is debate in psychology about how much of children’s (and adult’s) development is genetically determined (due to nature) vs. environmentally determined (due to nurture). This is an incredibly difficult topic to research, but it has been done in innovative ways. Read the following brief summary of research approaches to understanding the relative influences of nature (genetics) and nurture (environment) on pp.2-4 below:
http://psychologyhacked.com/
After reading this article,
How twin studies and adoption studies can be used separately and together to try to understand the different influences of genetics and the environment.
You might write about what researchers can learn by comparing (a) monozygotic (identical) twins vs. dizygotic (fraternal) twins, (b) biological children/parents vs. adopted children/parents, (c) monozygotic twins raised together vs. monozygotic twins separated at birth and raised separately (by adoptive parents).
In your post, consider what other factors might need to be considered, and what limits there are to these types of studies.
Answer preview
The identical twins share 100 percent of their DNA, and the fraternal twins share 50 percent of their Genes. Twin studies have been widely used to reveal the environmental and genetic influence in disorders, phenotype, and traits. Although the monozygotic twins nearly share 100 percent of their DNA, the differences between the twins such as height, fat, intelligence, susceptibility to boredom and depression are influenced by the environment (“Nature vs. Nurture,” n.d.). Naturally, we expect the monozygotic twins to be identical to each other even in terms of sex, hair…
(300 words)