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Nature Vs Nurture in Psychology

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Front Psychol

The Human–Nature Experience: A Phenomenological-Psychoanalytic Perspective

Robert d. schweitzer.

1 School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Harriet Glab

Eric brymer.

2 Institute for Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom

Drawing upon phenomenology and psychoanalytic concepts, we explore and explicate participants’ lived experience of the natural world. The authors draw upon Husserl’s description of consciousness as intentionality and his later work on the life-world, in exploring experiences which provide a basis for a psychochoanalytic understanding of the human–nature experience. Unstructured interviews were undertaken with nine participants, each of whom regarded nature as being significant for their sense of wellbeing. The lived experiences were explicated drawing upon the two processes: Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological psychological methodology and psychoanalytic researcher reflexivity. Data analysis and explication involved the following steps: (1) a thorough reading of each interview transcript, (2) breaking data into parts by demarcating meaning units, (3) organizing data by translating meaning units into units of psychological experience through coding, and (4) arriving at a summary of the data which involved organizing and reviewing units of psychological experience. The process of reflection led to the formulation of an essential psychological structure of participants’ lived experience of the natural world. We argue that the human–nature relationship can be conceived in terms of psychoanalytic concepts, and in particular, constructs based upon an understanding of the primacy of attachment relationships. The natural world is elucidated as (a) nature being experienced as a primary attachment, (b) nature experienced as a secure base, (c) nature experienced as twinship, (d) nature experienced as containing, and (e) nature experienced as embodied. This paper extends previous empirical descriptions of the human–nature relationship by incorporating psychoanalytic processes and theory into a theoretically informed qualitative methodological stance. Beyond the traditional notion of nature as something ‘out there’ that we can interact with for cognitive or emotional restoration, participants in this study described the experience of nature as being integral to their sense of self. This study suggests that experiences that facilitate immersion in nature provide opportunities for the development of an integrated sense of self that has a profound impact on a participant’s sense of wellbeing. The findings further demonstrate the convergence between phenomenology and psychoanalytic constructs which offers a richness to our understanding the subjectivity of participants and their relationship with nature, a perspective not often attainable through more traditional quantitative research methodologies.

Introduction

Our understanding of the relationship between human beings and the natural world has been of increasing interest to researchers over the past five decades. This is particularly evident in the proliferation of research exploring the effects of nature contact and feelings of connection to nature on human health and wellbeing, and environmental attitudes and behaviors. Greater proximity to, and feelings of connection with the natural world are seen to promote physical health, and psychological wellbeing including mood state, and community cohesion ( Maas et al., 2009 ; Shanahan et al., 2016 ).

As we become increasingly engaged with a digital world, there is an argument that we have become more disconnected from the natural world. This disconnect from the physicality and enrichment associated with the natural world has impacts on both psychological and physical wellbeing where recreational sitting has been found to be related to raised mortality and cardiovascular disease risk ( Stamatakis et al., 2011 ). Poignantly, the psychological and physical illnesses which characterize distress in many “advanced economies” are identified by some researchers as treatable in part by nature contact, for example, depression ( Bratman et al., 2012 ; Shanahan et al., 2016 ), cardiovascular disease ( Maas et al., 2009 ; Kardan et al., 2015 ), and symptoms of stress including high blood pressure ( Brown et al., 2013 ). This paper aims to add to current perspectives on the human–nature relationship by exploring the lived experience of nature with individuals who regard their relationship with the natural world as important for their psychological health and wellbeing.Phenomenological interview data is further explicated through a lens of psychoanalytic theory.

Wellbeing and the Nature-Human Relationship

For a number of decades, studies examining the nature-human relationship have found a positive relationship between experiences of nature and psychological health and wellbeing (e.g., Ulrich et al., 1991 ; Kaplan, 1995 ; Korpela et al., 2001 , 2014 ). The major theoretical frameworks drawn upon to explain the observed link include Biophilia ( Wilson, 1984 ), Attention restoration theory (ART) ( Kaplan, 1993 ), Stress reduction theory (SRT) ( Ulrich et al., 1991 ), and Place attachment theory ( Giuliani and Feldman, 1993 ; Giuliani, 2003 ). Biophilia proposes that human beings have an innate affiliation with the natural world which is in turn fundamental to psychological and other domains of wellbeing ( Kellert, 1997 ). From a SRT perspective interactions in natural environments reduce stress built up as a result of time spent in urban and everyday environments. Specifically, SRT claims that human beings have an evolutionary connection with nature and that specific characteristics of nature (complexity, depth, absence of threat) provide solice and the observed restorative benefits. While the SRT and Biophilic frameworks have made a considerable contribution to our understanding of the relationship between human beings and nature, critics point out that for a number of reasons these evolutionary notions do not stand up to scrutiny ( Joye and van den Berg, 2011 ; Brymer et al., 2014 ). Attention restoration theory suggests that some environments are more conducive to restoring mental fatigue resulting from everyday urban lifestyles. Specifically, the attentional demands of everyday environments require deliberate focus which ultimately results in fatigue. The natural world on the other hand restores cognitive resources and the subsequent ability to focus because attention is held with reduced requirement of effort. A critical review of ART found only partial evidence for the efficacy of ART as an explanatory model ( Ohly et al., 2016 ). While popular, ART might not be able to fully explain the genesis of wellbeing benefits arising out of the human–nature relationship ( Hartig and Jahncke, 2017 ). Alternatively, an evolutionary perspective may be conceptualized in terms of cognitive processes, referred to a motivation and valuation ( Mercado-Doménech et al., 2017 ). Motivation is thus a complex process involving both cognitive and implicit processes which play a part in the potential survival value of the human–nature process.

Place attachment theory is a multifaceted framework that proposes human beings develop emotional bonds with a real or imagined place. While not directly developed to explore the human–nature relationship from a wellbeing perspective the framework suggests that wellbeing can be enhanced through the effective interactions of individual characteristics and characteristics of particular places. Place attachment theory suggests that when compared to urban environments the natural world is rich in characteristics that facilitate positive emotional bonds and therefore wellbeing. Often these bonds are developed in childhood and brought forward into adulthood as central to individual experiences of wellbeing ( Scannell and Gifford, 2010 ). However, strong bonds with place can also have negative impacts such as when competing needs for the same place result in conflict ( Giuliani, 2003 ). Further, while place attachment theory has been linked to aspects of psychological wellbeing ( Scannell and Gifford, 2016 ) the notion of ‘place’ in place attachment does not specifically refer to nature and might for example include home, even if home is heavily urbanized. The precise characteristics of nature that support positive emotional attachment with respect to psychological wellbeing are difficult to define.

There are a number of limitations to the above notions. For example, critics have pointed out that for the most part the above frameworks stem from positivist and cognitive notions and suggest that nature is a thing separate from human beings that impact on people and provide benefits to human beings ( Seamon, 1982 , 2000 ). From a phenomenological perspective the above notions adhere to Cartesian notions of ‘subject’ and object’ which fails to acknowledge the co-constitution of the experience of being-with or part-of nature ( Schroeder, 2007 ). While the value of the theoretical frameworks should be recognized they might also be limited in their capacity to provide a complete explanation of the experience of wellbeing derived from engagement with the natural world ( Seamon, 1982 ). For example, a phenomenological perspective appreciated the multi-sensory nature of reaching out in relation to the natural world ( Schafer, 1977 ). The notion that soundscapes within urban environments have different qualities to soundscapes in natural environments has implications for wellbeing. Specifically, Schafer (1977) noted that human beings experience sounds in urban contexts as cluttered where individual sounds merge into a non-discernable noise. Sounds in natural environments on the other hand are individually clear and easily heard. From this perspective human auditory perception is attuned to information in natural soundscapes rather than urban soundscapes ( Seamon, 1982 ). Phenomenology has long provided insights into the human–nature relationship that have implications for explicating the experience of wellbeing, most often through the investigations of human beings as embedded in place (e.g., Tuan, 1974 ; Relph, 1976 ). For example, Tuan’s notion of topophilia suggests that individual psychological wellbeing is linked to preferences for, and experiences of, specific types of place ( Heimer, 2005 ). A study undertaken by Ogunseitan (2005) found strong links between those who scored high in a topophilia rating with psychological wellbeing with the presence of ecodiversity being most important. Despite the research undertaken from a phenomenological perspective that has explored the human–nature relationship and the implications for wellbeing from these findings little research has specifically set out to explore the phenomenology of the human–nature relationship from a psychological wellbeing perspective. The following section briefly discusses some of the conceptual and attitudinal overlap between phenomenology and psychoanalytic processes.

Phenomenology and Psychoanalytic Theory

Dilthey (1991) argued that if we are to extend our understanding of being, human science must seek to examine phenomena from a place of humble inspection and invite original fullness and richness of experience. According to Dilthey, understanding or verstehen necessitates the employment of all our capacities, and in this way a verstehen science is distinguished from pure intellectual understanding or verstand . Phenomenology counters the deterministic heart of conventional empiricism, and seeks to “reflect on the visceral texture of experience, the sensuous perceiving of life, as it is ‘given’ to the experiencer, pregnant with layers of implicit meaning” ( Finlay, 2011 , p. 4).

The idea that phenomenology seeks to illuminate the layers of lived experience bears striking resemblance to psychoanalysis, which also seeks to explicate and understand the lived experience of the analysand through appropriation of his or her reality. For example, early in his writings, Freud (1915) identified the importance of neutrality, abstinence, and anonymity on behalf of the analyst. Embodiment of abstinence, anonymity, and neutrality in psychoanalysis protects against the imposition of the analyst’s own subjective view of reality and importantly, contains the analyst’s countertransference. In particular, neutrality on the part of the analyst ensures openness to new understandings of the analysand’s lived experience ( Schafer, 1992 ). Similarly, Bion (1967) advocated beginning every analytic session “without memory or desire” to safeguard against the intrusion of the analyst’s own assumptions, preconceptions, and projections. In this regard, the analyst represents a convergence between the methodologies of phenomenology and psychoanalysis.

While not universally accepted, there is an argument that phenomenology and psychoanalytic theory are complementary, in that psychoanalytic theory and practice represents a science of human subjectivity. Wertz provides both an in-depth account of phenomenology as a science of consciousness addressing questions of meaning, values, and purpose and also the methodological overlap between phenomenology and psychoanalysis ( Wertz, 1986 , 2016 ). He suggests that to reject the analytic process and relegate psychoanalysis to the periphery of scientific methodology is to impede our understanding of human experience. In supporting a radical recognition of the limits of psychology as a quantitative discipline, mimicking the methods which have proven successful in the natural sciences, he laments that psychology “will remain lost in explanatory theory and affiliations with other sciences without methods capable of delivering him to … … the encounter with living persons” ( Wertz, 1986 , p. 599). The intersection of phenomenology and psychoanalysis thus provides a common pathway to explore human subjectivity. The current paper proposes an integrative process seeking a fuller understanding of human relatedness in the context of nature.

Psychoanalytic theory is an overarching term encompassing a range of perspectives, with contemporary theory being influenced by object relations and relational theorists, who adopt a two-person analytic perspective, and recognize the significance of intersubjectivity. That is, the caricature of the traditional analyst abiding by neutrality, has been replaced by an empathic approach sensitive to the “here-and-now” relationship between self and other. Furthermore, the approach is phenomenological, in the sense of privileging the immediate experience of the participants-in-relationship. This perspective has been incorporated into both self psychology, and the development of relational psychoanalysis. Self psychology prioritizes the integrity of the self, and draws upon constructs such as self integration, twinship, and mirroring, to explain the ways in which the individual achieves self integration. Relational psychoanalysis provides greater salience to the self-other relationship. The internalized templates deriving from these relationships, and the significance of these interpersonal experiences on psychic functioning are considered fundamental in constituting human experience ( Mitchell and Aron, 1999 ). In contrast to the focus of classical psychoanalysis which privileged subjectivity and inner forces of the isolated mind, contemporary psychoanalysis privileges lived intersubjectivity. Key features of the approach, which guide our understanding of human phenomena include an appreciation of human development, with reference to the notions of embodiment, containment, and attachment, and ideas around the development of self, which is seen as potentially fragile, but achieves a sense of integration and coherence through our relationships. The relational perspective proposes that human experience can be understood in terms of projective identification, which in turn values counter transference as a key component of understanding “the other.” This notion is consistent with Husserl’s original emphasis upon the Lebenswelt , or lifeworld in which the direct experience of all players in human experience is valued.

Increasingly, psychoanalytic theory and processes are being incorporated into qualitative research (see Frosh et al., 2003 ; Midgley, 2006 ; Holmes, 2012 ). A number of studies have demonstrated the use of countertransference-inspired researcher reflexivity to illuminate aspects of human experience that may not emerge in traditional research interviews (see Clarke, 2002 ; Lucey et al., 2003 ), such as psychological defenses. For example, research by Walsh and Shulman (2007) suggested that splitting represents a useful construct to understand the ways in which migrants defend against the psychic pain associated with the loss of home, acculturative stress, and the task of restoring a sense of self.

Psychoanalytic interpretations of interview data, drawing upon contemporary perspectives, offers a novel perspective on the human relationship with the natural world and further, demonstrates the applicability of psychoanalytic theory to qualitative research. The aim of the current paper is to offer an enriched perspective on the lived human experience of the natural world, by drawing upon phenomenology and psychoanalytic constructs.

The current research draws upon countertransference-inspired researcher reflexivity to elucidate the nuances of the human–nature relationship. This involves drawing upon our own emotional response to interview data to appropriate participant’s lived experience of the natural world and make meaning of this experience. The position taken is perhaps best captured by child psychotherapist Alvarez (1985) , in her writings on the notion of neutrality in the context of psychotherapy: “The achievement of sufficient distance from the patient to think, yet not so much distance that empathic sensitivity and counter-transference receptivity get lost” ( Alvarez, 1985 , p. 88). Countertransference, founded upon the concept of projective identification, provides a grounding for highlighting the experience of the researcher in accessing their own responses in arriving at an understanding of the other.

The integrative methodological approach used is inspired by the work of Wertz (1986 , 2005 ), Finlay (2011) , and Holmes (2012) , all of whom advocate for thoughtful integration of research methodologies that are traditionally regarded as standalone, in the pursuit of understanding human experience. Whilst the application of psychoanalytic theory to psychological research is not entirely novel, this paper occupies unique ground in applying psychoanalytic theory to the lived human experience of the natural world.

Materials and Methods

Participants.

Nine participants were interviewed as part of a larger study investigating the lived experience of nature (Glab, 2017, unpublished). Participants were recruited using a snowballing process, and all participants were over the age of 18 with the majority of participants aged between late 20 s and mid 30 s. Inclusion criteria required that participants needed to have lived experience of the natural world and to regard the natural world as being fundamental to their sense of health and wellbeing. Participation was voluntary.

Data Collection Procedure

The study was approved by the QUT Human Ethics Committee. All participants gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki prior to interviews being conducted. Interviews were conducted in person ( n = 7) or via video conference calls due to the physical location of participants at the time ( n = 2). Interviews ranged from 40 to 110 min in length and were recorded on a digital audio recorder. Notes were made immediately following each interview, with regard to the researcher’s felt sense of interviewees, affective shifts, and other non-verbal cues observed during interviews. Interviews were then transcribed and explicated.

Interview Process

Interviews were guided by openness, curiosity, and presence to what was being expressed by participants. Drawing upon Gallagher’s description of phenomenology as returning to “the thing themselves” and the primacy of experience of the lifeworld (Lebenswelt) ( Gallagher, 2012 ), the interviewer sought to engage with the interviewee and structure the familiar as unfamiliar, and open for exploration. Specifically, interviewees were initially invited to describe their lived experience of the natural world (i.e., please tell me about your lived experience of the natural world ). Open-ended, non-leading questions and prompts were used judiciously to clarify meaning or to encourage elaboration. Minimal encouragers, such as “please tell me more,” or “please elaborate” were used to convey the interviewer’s presence to participants. The interviewer prioritized the interviewee’s sense of safety in the interview and created, as far as was possible, a space within which they were encouraged to reflect on their experience of nature. A typical prompt may have been “we are interested in the immediacy of your experience, please tell us more.”

Data Analysis

A two-stage process, drawing upon phenomenology and psychoanalytic theory, was used to explicate and make meaning of the transcribed data. The appropriateness of drawing upon both these traditions is well articulated by Wertz (1993) in which he argues for a convergence of these two traditions, pointing to the common commitment to the irreducible nature of mental life, the bracketing of theories and preconceptions, the necessity for self-reflection and empathy, and privileging a relational theory of meaning. The first stage, informed by Giorgi’s (2009 , p. 2) descriptive phenomenological psychological method, which in turn draws upon Husserl’s development of phenomenology, involved a five stage process. These stages were: (1) collection of verbal data, (2) a thorough reading of each interview transcript, (3) breaking data into parts by demarcating meaning units, (4) organizing data by translating meaning units into units of psychological experience through coding, and (5) arriving at a summary of the data which involved organizing and reviewing units of psychological experience. This process of reflection led to the formulation of an essential psychological structure of the lived experience of the natural world.

The second stage of analysis involved an iterative process during which key themes identified through the initial phenomenological explication were reconsidered and reconceptualised from a psychodynamic stance. This process involved four stages: (a) reading through the data a second time, from a stance informed by relational psychodynamic theory and constructs, (b) noting both participant and researcher responses to the content of the data and the codes used to demarcate the data, (c) organizing overarching relational themes to reflect themes which emerge from the data drawing upon relational psychoanalytic theory (for example, nature experienced as a primary attachment) , and (d) explicating the data in relation to the overarching themes identified above. From this process, parallels between psychic and emotional experience of interpersonal relationships, and psychic experience and emotional aspects of the natural world were identified and explicated. Parallels that emerged as prominent are discussed below.

Methodological integrity was based upon the processes recommended by Levitt et al. (2017) , involving: (a) fidelity to the subject matter, and (b) utility in achieving research goals. Fidelity to the subject matter required that the researchers were consistent during each of the two phases of the research, and maintaining allegiance to the phenomenon, in this instance, to the lived-experience of the participants. Similarly, understandings of psychoanalytic concepts were shared within the research team, to ensure fidelity to the constructs as developed within the theory which informed the second stage of the explication. Utility on achieving research goals involved the systematic application of the research methodology for each of the stages in the process of explication. This involved initially following the process articulated by Giorgi (2009) , in his description of phenomenological research in psychology. The second stage involved the explicit adoption of the psychoanalytic stance in the explication of the findings. The validity of the reflexive process and subsequent theme development was ensured through a process of ongoing reflection and discussion between members of the research team during the data analytic process. The process continued until there was significant agreement on the emergent findings which formed the basis of the results of the study. During each of these stages, the researchers maintained a focus upon the specific research question which underpinned the study. Giorgi emphasizes the basic assumptions of phenomenology, with his focus on the notions of “bracketing”, intentionality, and rigor. He has thus been critical of alternative approaches which he regards as less rigorous, such as Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which he critiques on the basis of the philosophical foundations underpinning the approach and the lack of rigor associated with the analytic process ( Giorgi, 2011 ). More specifically, Giorgi takes the view that the term “phenomenological” has been adopted by IPA theorists with little regard to the nature of “bracketing of the natural attitude” which is seen as fundamental to Husserl’s rendition of phenomenology nor the process of the phenomenological psychological reduction. He further criticizes IPA as being inductive as opposed to Husserl’s notion of phenomenology being intuitive and descriptive. In terms of the methodological process followed, Giorgi is critical of IPA’s “hesitation to proclaim fixed methods” which are seen as detracting from the scientific criteria of objectivity or intersubjectivity ( Giorgi, 2011 , p. 195).

The aim of this paper was to make meaning of the lived experience of wellbeing from experiences with the natural world through both a phenomenological descriptive stance and a psychoanalytic lens. Participants engaged in unstructured interviews guided by both phenomenological and psychoanalytic principles of curiosity, neutrality, and empathy. Researcher reflexivity played a key role making meaning of the lived experience as articulated by participants. This process led to a rich understanding which may not have emerged otherwise. Excerpts from interviews have been used to illustrate results. This process led to the identification of the following key themes (a) nature experienced as primary attachment; (b) natural world as secure base; (c) natural world as twinship; (d) natural world as containing environment; (e) natural world as sensory-emotional milieu.

Researcher Observations of Interviewees

Making use of the interviewer’s own experience of participants during the interview process is privileged in both phenomenological and psychoanalytic approaches. Given that the current paper draws upon phenomenology and psychoanalytic theory, inclusion of the interviewer’s emotional experience of participants during interview is seen as adding value by more deeply illuminating participant feeling expressed within interviews. In his writings about the unconscious, Freud reflected on the manifestation of experience in psychoanalysis suggesting that significance of experience is often reflected in paradoxically small gesture or behaviors. He wrote: “Are there not very important things which can only reveal themselves, under certain conditions and certain times, by quite feeble indications?” ( Freud, 1924 , p. 27).

Participants were observed speaking about the natural world with profound feeling. Even before participants had given voice to lived experience of the natural world, their faces and bodies gave expression to their experience of the natural world. Participants were observed to close their eyes and smile as they reflected on their experience of the natural world. Some participants held their hands to their chests, while others were observed as subtly hugging themselves when remembering particular experiences with the natural world. Interviews were characterized by a reliable warmth that emanated from participants as they spoke about their respective experience of the natural world. Several participants were observed to hum as memories of the natural world were brought to consciousness. Two participants became tearful, and gesturing to their tears, articulated feeling overwhelmed by their affection for the natural world. When participants described experiencing a sense of vitality in the natural world, a parallel process was observed such that both participant and interviewer became animated and expressive, both in voice and physical movement.

Across interviews, participants described experiences of feeling held in the context of the natural world. The notion of a holding environment, originally conceived by Winnicott (1960) , refers to the maternal provision of an environment meeting the needs of the entirely dependent infant. Holding refers not only to the physical holding or cradling of the infant, but also to sufficient meeting of needs that fosters continuity of being-in-the-world that abets integration and the development of a coherent self. Winnicott (1960 , p. 47) wrote that the primary function of the holding environment is “the reduction to a minimum of impingements to which the infant must react with resultant annihilation of personal being.” Holding thus bears similarities to Heidegger’s (1962) notion of das man or they-self, such that the ‘I’ is experienced as indivisible from the world. Similarly, holding connotes an experience of oneness between mother and baby, in which the infant experiences himself as an extension of his mother, rather than separate to his mother.

The term containment is thus used interchangeably with held and holding as participants used both terms to describe their experience within nature. However, in contemporary psychoanalytic literature containment and holding refer to different developmental processes, though are commonly conflated ( Wright, 2005 ). Bion (1962) in his description of containment conceives the infant as having awareness of his mother as being separate or outside of her or him -self. In the context of this paper, holding and containment are used interchangeably to describe the participant’s experience of self as integrated and coherent in the context of the natural world.

The following section describes the findings that emerged from the two-stage methodology previously described. Illustrative excerpts are taken from interview transcripts and provide the reader exemplars, which are then interrogated from a psychoanalytic perspective.

Natural World Experienced as Primary Attachment

The experience of the natural world emerged as being experienced as a primary attachment. The term primary attachment, derived from object relations theory, refers to a primary “attachment figure” which in this case, is metaphorical ( Wolf, 2002 ). This overarching theme emerged from the following natural meaning units: experience of nature as part of childhood; nature as nourishing; essential for individual wellbeing; longing for nature, and sense of loss at destruction of nature.

The notion of primary attachment is seen in the following excerpt:

Well, you know they call it Mother Nature. That’s an appropriate term. It [natural world] is where I come from, so I’m connecting back to myself by connecting with nature because I came from it (Jen, 30 years old).

The experience of the natural world emerged for participants as serving a similar function to an attachment figure or self object. In particular, the notion of a self object, which is core to human identity, captures the dynamic relationship as described by the participant. The natural world is experienced as a psychic artifact allowing the individual to recalibrate and gain a renewed sense of self. In the above excerpt, the participant articulates an experience of connecting back to herself when spending time with the natural world. Her description suggests that time spent away from the natural world may be experienced as time spent away from the self, and that a return to the natural world marks a return to the self. A number of participants suggested that the natural world may function as a good self object most often associated with childhood and adolescence, and remains part of their self structure into adulthood.

For some participants it is the significance of the natural world in meeting self object needs that makes the destruction of the natural environment particularly distressing, as illustrated in the following excerpt.

When I was five, we moved to the outer suburbs of Brisbane, which then would have qualified as semi-rural. That area feels completely different now, and it feels painful to drive out there now. There are stands trees that are missing, houses where there were previously rolling hills speckled with horses, unmarked roads. I hate to see the space that has been left behind by trees removed, and replaced by bitumen or houses or fences. It reminds of me Avatar, the film, when they tear down the Home Tree, and the people are screaming. It’s like their hearts are on fire at the loss of this beautiful thing (Hannah, 28 years old).

Hannah describes experiencing psychic pain in response to the urbanization and destruction of the area she grew up in. She finds it painful to expose herself to the visible signs of development and to the loss of the landscape of her childhood. Her experience of loss in response to destruction of the natural environment, which was described by several participants, reflects the traumatic loss of environmental self object support. For the individuals who participated in the current research, the natural world forms part of their endopsychic structure similarly to the way in which human self objects are part of emotional infrastructure. The natural world represents one of a suite of internalized objects, thus the loss of the natural world may evoke a similar kind of distress that one may experience at the loss of a human self object or attachment figure.

Natural World Experienced as Secure Base

Attachment is founded upon the concept of a secure base, providing a grounding for human experience. The very notion of human experience being founded in the process of reflection draws upon the human capacity to make sense of lived experience, often occurring within the context of a sense of security in the relationship with the “other.” In the most primitive terms, this occurs at birth as the young baby attaches to the “other” for nurturance and safety, and continues throughout life. In the context of the current study, experience of the natural world as secure base is founded upon the following codes: experience of freedom in nature; return to nature; affording of play and exploration; nature as home, and sense of belonging in nature.

The overarching theme of the natural world being experienced as a secure base is expressed in the following:

I think people talk about the natural world as something completely separate to us, but we are nature as well and I think we just forget that… Nature is like, ‘You’re welcome.’ It always feels like home. It really is a return to (Daisy, 27 years old).

The above excerpt illuminates the natural world as indivisible from the embodied architecture of the individual. Similar to the previous excerpt, Daisy eschews the common perception of the natural world independent of self and references “collective forgetfulness.” In keeping with contemporary psychoanalytic conceptions of relationality, her language undermines notions of subject and object, as she speaks about the natural world as relationship, when she refers to the natural world as ‘home.’ The experience of both oneness and separateness with the natural world is reminiscent of early infantile experiences of attachment figures, in that the attachment figure functions as an extension of the infant self.

It’s definitely that I need to relate to it [natural world] from when I wake up. If I haven’t got a window open because it’s too cold to get up or whatever, then it’s unnerving. I need to be able to see outside. I really relate to it from a feeling sense. I need to feel the sun beating down on me and hear the birds… It’s comforting to be able to hear it in the morning, to be able to hear the birds and see the leaves outside the window. I guess it’s like a homecoming, and it you’re removed from it for too long, then it becomes disconcerting (Elle, 27 years old).

In this quote Elle expresses her need to relate to the natural world experientially as she becomes conscious of being awake. She describes her need to relate to the natural world as multi-sensory, and experiences separation from the natural world as unnerving. Her sensory attunement to the natural world as being experience-near alleviates anxiety. Needing to be in proximity to the natural world bears likeness to the concept of proximity seeking in attachment theory. Thus the participant seeks closeness to the natural world (i.e., the attachment figure), which provides a necessary and needed sense of comfort. Further, she has learned through experience that proximity to the natural world offers a sense of safety, best understood in terms of primal attachment needs. Repeated episodes of attachment figure availability, which in this case may be opening her bedroom window to hear the birds and look out into the tree canopy, leads to the development of self characterized by internal working models about self and others. Elle’s lived experience informs a direct perception of nature as reliable, comforting and secure.

Natural World Experienced as Twinship

Twinship refers to a self psychology construct used to explain human development, and more commonly refers to a non-dualistic and primary desire of a young person, to feel alikeness with other human beings ( Wolf, 2002 ). Over time, the individual is believed to tolerate greater differences between the self and “the other.” Similarly, interviewees reflected a parallel dynamic where participants expressed a desire to identify with nature experientially. This theme emerged from the following codes: experience of kinship with nature; love in relationship with nature; oneness with nature; self as part of nature, and nature as inspiring. These codes could be seen as cohering around a mutual finding process between person and nature. It is suggested that the experience of twinship between participant and the natural world can be understood as functioning similarly to twinship relatedness in an analytic dyad in meeting the participant’s need for essential alikeness, but without there being a mutual finding process.

I am not separate from the intelligence of nature… the biology of my body holds the intelligence that I am revering in nature. The intelligence that knows how to maintain cells in my legs – I share that intelligence with nature (Rebecca, 31 years old).

In the above excerpt, the participant gives voice to the shared, intelligence of the natural world and her own body. She regards the natural world and its inherent intelligence with reverence. She observes that the intelligence she admires in the natural world is of the same order as that of her own bodily intelligence. She finds herself in the intelligence of nature, because she is the intelligence of nature. The experience of finding oneself in another is one of the hallmarks of twinship. To find oneself in another, in the same way that a child may find herself in the face of her mother or in the gestures of his father, offers an experience of essential alikeness. Thus, the participant may be afforded an experience of admiration for her own biological intelligence – the same intelligence that she reveres in the natural world.

I guess there’s a sense of being stripped back, brought back, returned to the world. I think that it’s kind of like, the intelligence that exists within nature – that is nature – is that which makes me possible. I experience a feeling of being kindred with nature (Hannah, 28 years old).

Similar to the previous excerpt, the participant references an essential likeness between herself and the natural world. She articulates an experience of feeling kindred with the natural world, which in other words, may be expressed as feeling that she is nature among nature. Hannah’s experience of being nature among nature is not dissimilar to the self psychology concept of twinship, which Kohut (1984 , p. 200) described as “confirmation of the feeling that one is a human being among other human beings.” However, in this case, rather than being human amongst humans, the twinship experience pertains to the feeling that one is nature among nature.

Natural World Experienced as Containing

The notion of containment lies at the core of contemporary psychodynamic theory and practice, which refers in part, to the containment of the individual, that is, the process of providing a sense of safety as the person experiences emotional containment of their affective experiences, and also in the course of human development, where the parent, often the mother, provides a soothing environment for the child, and over time, the child is said to internalize this experience of containment ( Wolf, 2002 ). In the current study, the notion of the natural world being experienced as containing was identified through the following codes: experience of nature as containing; nature as grounding; nature as perspective-giving; presence with nature, and vulnerability or sense of fear in nature. The overarching theme is evident in the following:

I think the feeling range… the spectrum of feelings that you get in nature, and nature acts as a container for experiencing all those things. Almost like a therapeutic experience, it holds that space for you. And it’s only you to experience that, it’s not like you’re experiencing that with another human and having to navigate their feelings as well. It’s you with your feelings in that space (Jen, 30 years old).

The above excerpt illuminates the natural world as a containing space in which the participant feels that she can experience a range of feelings without fear of a disproportionate, inappropriate or invalidating human response. She describes the natural world as offering a therapeutic experience, and gives voice to the idea that her space in the natural world is hers alone. There is no requirement for management of her own emotional experience, or the emotional experience of another human being, which is the aim of good psychotherapy. In the context of an analytic dyad, the patients’ experience is privileged with the analyst only offering his or her experience as a means by which to better understand the patients’ experience. It is the role of the analyst to provide a containing space for the patient to express his or her experience, without fear of criticism or consequence. Though in the context of the natural world there may be consequences for carelessness, the natural world represents an emotionally safe space akin to the therapeutic environment.

In her writings about the intersection of human experience and the natural world, Kiewa (1994) suggested that one of the benefits of spending time in the natural world is the concrete and immediate feedback from nature. She describes “the consequences of actions are even-handed in fundamentally different ways from those human interactions in other settings” (p. 187). In the current research, participants described experiencing a sense of safety when walking through forests or swimming in the ocean, despite possessing awareness of the dangers that exist in these natural environments. The following excerpt is illustrative:

I guess there is this feeling of safety and reliability I guess. Like I know exactly how I would feel if I were among those woods… it’s as though nature is reliable in always being there… I mean, nature is inherently unpredictable in terms of weather and other natural phenomena, but it’s sort of predictably unpredictable. And there’s consistency in that (Hannah, 28 years old).

Similarly, another participant described a feeling of safety in the natural world despite knowing that her safety is not guaranteed: “It’s safe. It’s an emotionally safe space, maybe it’s not physically safe all the time but it’s emotionally safe” (Lou, 28 years old).

These excerpts illuminate experiences of psychic safety (or containment) in the context of an otherwise unpredictable physical environment. Participants describe the natural world as a place of constant and reliable containment within which they experience themselves as held. Although the natural world may not offer the kind of conscious attainment that a mother may offer her child, there appears to be something about the reliability of the natural world that promotes a sense of containment.

Natural World Experienced as Embodied

The natural world was experienced by participants as being primarily sensory and emotional, which we refer to as embodied. This mode of being-in-the-world was identified through the following codes: experience of cellular connection; urban claustrophobia; sensory experience in nature, and nature as felt. The overarching theme is well articulated in the following:

I love when I just go from seeing trees and grass, to really seeing the grass and trees. Once I just decided to smell the ground and [laughs] it smelled amazing. I don’t know, I can only think that my relationship [with nature] is that I experience joy from interacting with nature, whether it be just laying on the grass and feeling the sun on my skin, and just like, soaking it in, in that moment (Jen, 30 years old).

Another participant gave meaning to her experience of nature thus:

It’s a complete sense of belonging. Like, ‘Ah, this is me. I remember now. I am from this, this is my home. It is like taking a beautiful, gentle breath and exhaling modern trappings. Sort of like cellular return. It kind of feels like my cells are returned to themselves, reminded of their beautiful simplicity within the context of the complexity of the whole (Hannah, 28 years old).

The above excerpts are two of several, in which participants described sensory-emotional experiences with the natural world. Several participants gave voice to sensory experiences that were associated with feelings of familiarity, belonging, and of being known by the natural world. Kohut (1984) wrote:

The mere presence of people in a child’s surroundings – their voices and body odors, the emotions they express, the noises they produce as they engage in human activities, the specific aroma of the food they prepare and eat – creates a security in the child, a sense of belonging and participating, that cannot be explained in terms of a mirroring response or a merger with ideals (p. 200).

The rich sensory milieu of the natural world affords similar experiences of familiarity and comfort, particularly for individuals whose relationship with the natural world was forged during infancy and/or early childhood. Contemporary philosopher and author de Botton (2015) writes about the significance of sensory experience during childhood. He writes of one of the characters:

The fundamentals of Esther’s childhood will be stored not so much in the events as in sensory memories: of being held close to someone’s chest, certain slants of light at particular times of day, of smells, types of biscuits, textures of carpet, the distant, incomprehensible, soothing sound of her parents’ voices in the car during long night-time drives, and an underlying feeling that she has a right to exist and reasons to go on to hope (p. 110).

His description captures the visceral nature of early sensory experience, particularly in terms of those that evoke a sense of comfort and familiarity. It is suggested that similar experiences of comfort and belonging occur in the natural world, particularly for individuals whose relationship with the natural world has significant psychic import.

The aim of this paper was to explicate the lived human experience of the natural world using a novel two-stage analytic process. Data gathered as part of a larger phenomenological analysis was subjected to interrogation from a contemporary psychoanalytic perspective, with interview excerpts used to illustrate psychoanalytic interpretations of the human–nature relationship. The findings suggest that relationship with the natural world can be understood drawing upon common relational psychoanalytic concepts to make sense of participants’ lived experience of nature. The application of psychoanalytic theory to further interrogate phenomenological descriptions illuminated aspects of the natural world as being of significance in the development and maintenance of a healthy and coherent sense of self, particularly for individuals who identify as having a meaningful and ongoing relationship with the natural world.

The study draws upon phenomenological methodological principles with a view to explicating the lived-experience of nature. Both phenomenology and psychoanalysis are based upon an epistemology which seeks to gain an understanding of human experience. Drawing upon psychodynamic understandings provided an additional perspective, which we viewed as enriching our understanding of the experience of nature. That is, the natural world may be understood in terms of a primary attachment relationship, involving what object-relationship analysts call a good self object, or significant other, both in terms of felt experience and psychic importance. Participants consistently identified the natural world as a source of tranquility and comfort. The natural world was illuminated as a space in which a sense of belonging, cohesion, and containment was experienced. Collectively, participants described experiences of returning to self, homecoming, and familiarity with the natural world that restored psychic equilibrium. Drawing upon both a phenomenological and psychoanalytic perspective provides both insights into the life-world of the participants, not accessible through either framework on its own, and also demonstrates the feasibility of an emerging methodology characterized by the emergence of psychoanalytic and phenomenological theory, which in turn, share a common approach to the exploration of the life-world of the participant, and privileges and idiographic approach as an initial step in scholarly understanding of human experience ( Wertz, 1986 ).

Participants identified that being with the natural world healed feelings of unease and rehabilitated an eroded sense of self, much like the embrace of a significant other. As Kohut (1984 , p. 77) wrote of psychotherapy, “The essence of the psychoanalytic cure resides in a patient’s newly acquired ability to identify and seek out appropriate self objects as they present themselves in his realistic surroundings and to be sustained by them.” Participants articulated being able to recognize their need for immersion in the natural world after experiencing deterioration of self-continuity and self-cohesion.

Conscious engagement with the natural world may be understood by drawing upon psychotherapy constructs drawn from both contemporary object relations theory, and self psychology. In other words, the natural world offers a similarly validating experience, as discussed in the psychotherapy literature, in that the natural world neither interferes with, nor gratifies, nor casts aspersions about lived experience. For example:

[Regarding connecting with the natural world] I guess it’s similar to when you really genuinely hug a person… and you take the time and we don’t do that with humans very often. I guess because we have so much other crap going on in our brains with other humans, but you don’t get that with nature. …. A tree is not going to talk to you or judge you (Jen, 30 years old).

Whereas the fallibility of a human self object may lead to self object failure, the natural world simply is. To the extent that the natural world simply is, it cannot offer interpretations or actively participate in the promotion of psychic insight. We argue that the self is consolidated through a stable self-object bond with the natural world, particularly when the individual’s lived experience of the natural world is imbued with memory and positive associations facilitated by significant emotional involvement in the original event ( Curci et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, there can be no interpretation or misinterpretation of the natural world as intending harm - it simply is. Arguably, a person may experience narcissistic injury in the form of failing to summit a peak, climb a tree, or navigate terrain. For example, if a person regards herself as physically capable or competent at navigating hostile terrain, and she is not able to demonstrate these skills to herself, she may experience psychic discomfort. However, in not having to account for the mind of the other as in interpersonal experiences, the task of making sense of this discomfort is simpler in the natural world.

The natural world may be experienced as restoring psychic equilibrium. It does not aggravate narcissistic injury nor does it threaten sense of self. It is experienced as predictably changeable, egalitarian, and uninterested in criticism or judgement. Nature is associated with nostalgia as the relationship is imbued with childhood memories, learning, and shared experiences with loved ones. It is a touchstone that we seek out to anchor ourselves and to restore our sense of self.

We propose that the notions presented in this study, drawing upon both phenomenology and contemporary psychoanalysis are particularly significant in the context of an increasingly distressed and often alienated population. In synthesizing the themes explicated in the study, we may see an analogy in Mahler’s notion of early symbiosis and the process of separation and individuation ( Mahler et al., 1973 ). Of course, individuation is an important part of human development, where separation refers to the individual’s sense of identity. At the same time, through attachment, the infant internalizes the loving and approving “other” which in turn, contributes to successful social and emotional development and to healthy proximity seeking over the course of the person’s life. While the language of self psychology which has informed sections of the paper is sometimes clumsy, the paper has explored the ways in which relationship with nature may be experienced in terms of: primary attachment; as secure base; as twinship; as a containing environment; and as a sensory-emotional milieu. In each of these ways of relating, nature provides a basis for a “safe base” enabling the individual to explore and develop a sense of self in the confines of a safe relationship where ruptures may be attended to, managed and repaired as needed.

In essence, we have argued for the possibility that the natural world may function similarly to a secure attachment relationship, particularly in terms of the ways in which the individual experiences his or her self in the natural world, which in turn raises the importance of nature contact from an early age. Participants describe notions, such as feeling tranquil, relaxed and emotional restoration captured by Biophilia, ART, SRT, topophilia and place theories. However, the notions of topophilia and place as concepts are described in terms of nature out there and separate from humanity, places that we move to or through, places that facilitate emotional experiences. Equally, the notion of nature as something separate from humanity providing space to restore or realize emotional bonds has been effectively explored through Biophilia, ART and SRT. However, participants in this study indicate that, when focused on wellbeing, experiences of nature are beyond something out there and more than an emotional affiliation or a place to experience positive emotional or cognitive restoration. Instead, nature as expressed by those who experience wellbeing through nature, is experienced as family or part of self and in some way inseparable from self. Experiences of nature are described as contributing to an integrated sense of self. Participants sense of nature is multi-sensory and seems to reflect a comfortable attunement to information within the human–nature relationship which is often contrasted to human-human relationship. If an ongoing relationship with the natural world affords such a profound sense of belonging, comfort, and containment, there is even greater argument for immersive engagement with the natural world, particularly in the context of an increasingly nature-alienated global population.

Limitations

Several limitations are noted. Application of psychoanalytic constructs to phenomenological data is novel. Traditionally, phenomenology rejects the application of theory to phenomena. Thus the task of harnessing both phenomenology and psychoanalytic theory toward explicating the lived experience of the natural world has required a two stage analytical process, during which lived experience has been identified, and the constructs, drawn from psychoanalytical constructs, have been utilized to make sense of the data.

The intersection of phenomenology and psychology is complex. Firstly, the convergence between phenomenology in psychological research and practice, and psychoanalytic concepts affords rich understanding of human experience. We are in agreement with scholars who have argued that this approach makes the nuances of experience accessible in ways not possible, either by methodologies based upon other disciplines, or a single approach such as phenomenology alone ( Wertz, 1986 ). Secondly, this endeavor is inherently messy, intuitive rather than systematic, and thus replication can be difficult to achieve. However, our aim is to get close to human experience and to make sense of those experiences by drawing upon appropriate theoretical constructs. We have argued that contemporary psychoanalytical constructs are suitable for this purpose.

Future Directions

The current findings suggest that the relationship between human beings and the natural world is significant, particularly in terms of psychic experience. The exploration of the human–nature relationship is particularly salient in the shadow of an increasingly disconnected global population. We argue for the need to continue to seek to understand the human experience of the natural world, and with this understanding, find ways to cultivate relationships between human beings and the rest of the natural world. It is not sufficient to know that nature contact is good for us - we already know this and yet the disconnect between contemporary sense of selfhood in urban environments and the natural world grows. Future research may benefit by focusing upon understanding the human–nature relationship, and use this insight to return to a fuller experience of our relationship with the natural world.

There is a need for integrative methodological approaches to further our understanding of human experience. While empirical methodologies may afford explanation of phenomena through postulation of abstract models and theories, phenomenology conceived as a human science lends itself to integrative models of enquiry. We have aimed to demonstrate that with alternative analytic procedures drawing upon phenomenological and psychoanalytic research, the vicissitudes of human experience may begin to be understood.

This paper achieves two important objectives. First it demonstrates the utility of a novel methodology which draws upon both phenomenology as a rigorous descriptive science, and contemporary psychoanalytic theory and process to offer a rich and alternative perspective on a critically important relationship: our relationship with the natural world. Secondly, the findings extend our understanding of human experience as going beyond the traditional domains of early human-human attachment, and additional interpersonal relationships, which is at the center of much psychoanalytic reasoning, but as incorporating the relationship between human-beings and nature as being a profound component of human existence The use of researcher reflexivity to make meaning of the human–nature relationship illuminated parallels between relational psychoanalytic concepts and experience with the natural world. We argue further that the salience of the human–nature relationship, as articulated in this study may be of particular significance in the context of increasing mental health concerns and the rising incidence of chronic and stress-related disease. Encouraging deep and immediate relationships with the natural world may well represent one way of reinstating the centrality of nature in the lives of all human endeavor as we reclaim the term “mother nature.”

Author Contributions

RS, HG, and EB were responsible for conceptualizing the study, were involved in the write up, and take responsibility for the final manuscript. RS provided training in the methodology and assisted with interviews. EB provided guidance to the field of environmental psychology. HG conducted the majority of the interviews, transcribed all interviews, and undertook the first analysis of all transcripts. EB and RS checked coding and analysis.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer SM and handling Editor declared their shared affiliation.

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The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Genetic and Environmental Influences and How They Interact

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Verywell / Joshua Seong

Definitions
Interaction
Contemporary Views

Nature refers to how genetics influence an individual's personality, whereas nurture refers to how their environment (including relationships and experiences) impacts their development. Whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in personality and development is one of the oldest philosophical debates within the field of psychology .

Learn how each is defined, along with why the issue of nature vs. nurture continues to arise. We also share a few examples of when arguments on this topic typically occur, how the two factors interact with each other, and contemporary views that exist in the debate of nature vs. nurture as it stands today.

Nature and Nurture Defined

To better understand the nature vs. nurture argument, it helps to know what each of these terms means.

Nature refers largely to our genetics . It includes the genes we are born with and other hereditary factors that can impact how our personality is formed and influence the way that we develop from childhood through adulthood.
Nurture encompasses the environmental factors that impact who we are. This includes our early childhood experiences, the way we were raised , our social relationships, and the surrounding culture.

A few biologically determined characteristics include genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color. Other characteristics are tied to environmental influences, such as how a person behaves, which can be influenced by parenting styles and learned experiences.

For example, one child might learn through observation and reinforcement to say please and thank you. Another child might learn to behave aggressively by observing older children engage in violent behavior on the playground.

The Debate of Nature vs. Nurture

The nature vs. nurture debate centers on the contributions of genetics and environmental factors to human development. Some philosophers, such as Plato and Descartes, suggested that certain factors are inborn or occur naturally regardless of environmental influences.

Advocates of this point of view believe that all of our characteristics and behaviors are the result of evolution. They contend that genetic traits are handed down from parents to their children and influence the individual differences that make each person unique.

Other well-known thinkers, such as John Locke, believed in what is known as tabula rasa which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate . According to this notion, everything that we are is determined by our experiences.

Behaviorism is a good example of a theory rooted in this belief as behaviorists feel that all actions and behaviors are the results of conditioning. Theorists such as John B. Watson believed that people could be trained to do and become anything, regardless of their genetic background.

People with extreme views are called nativists and empiricists. Nativists take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the result of inheritance. Empiricists take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics result from learning.

Examples of Nature vs. Nurture

One example of when the argument of nature vs. nurture arises is when a person achieves a high level of academic success . Did they do so because they are genetically predisposed to elevated levels of intelligence, or is their success a result of an enriched environment?

The argument of nature vs. nurture can also be made when it comes to why a person behaves in a certain way. If a man abuses his wife and kids, for instance, is it because he was born with violent tendencies, or is violence something he learned by observing others in his life when growing up?

Nature vs. Nurture in Psychology

Throughout the history of psychology , the debate of nature vs. nurture has continued to stir up controversy. Eugenics, for example, was a movement heavily influenced by the nativist approach.

Psychologist Francis Galton coined the terms 'nature versus nurture' and 'eugenics' and believed that intelligence resulted from genetics. Galton also felt that intelligent individuals should be encouraged to marry and have many children, while less intelligent individuals should be discouraged from reproducing.

The value placed on nature vs. nurture can even vary between the different branches of psychology , with some branches taking a more one-sided approach. In biopsychology , for example, researchers conduct studies exploring how neurotransmitters influence behavior, emphasizing the role of nature.

In social psychology , on the other hand, researchers might conduct studies looking at how external factors such as peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, stressing the importance of nurture. Behaviorism is another branch that focuses on the impact of the environment on behavior.

Nature vs. Nurture in Child Development

Some psychological theories of child development place more emphasis on nature and others focus more on nurture. An example of a nativist theory involving child development is Chomsky's concept of a language acquisition device (LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce language.

An example of an empiricist child development theory is Albert Bandura's social learning theory . This theory says that people learn by observing the behavior of others. In his famous Bobo doll experiment , Bandura demonstrated that children could learn aggressive behaviors simply by observing another person acting aggressively.

Nature vs. Nurture in Personality Development

There is also some argument as to whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in the development of one's personality. The answer to this question varies depending on which personality development theory you use.

According to behavioral theories, our personality is a result of the interactions we have with our environment, while biological theories suggest that personality is largely inherited. Then there are psychodynamic theories of personality that emphasize the impact of both.

Nature vs. Nurture in Mental Illness Development

One could argue that either nature or nurture contributes to mental health development. Some causes of mental illness fall on the nature side of the debate, including changes to or imbalances with chemicals in the brain. Genetics can also contribute to mental illness development, increasing one's risk of a certain disorder or disease.

Mental disorders with some type of genetic component include autism , attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder , major depression , and schizophrenia .

Other explanations for mental illness are environmental. This includes being exposed to environmental toxins, such as drugs or alcohol, while still in utero. Certain life experiences can also influence mental illness development, such as witnessing a traumatic event, leading to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Nature vs. Nurture in Mental Health Therapy

Different types of mental health treatment can also rely more heavily on either nature or nurture in their treatment approach. One of the goals of many types of therapy is to uncover any life experiences that may have contributed to mental illness development (nurture).

However, genetics (nature) can play a role in treatment as well. For instance, research indicates that a person's genetic makeup can impact how their body responds to antidepressants. Taking this into consideration is important for getting that person the help they need.

Interaction Between Nature and Nurture

Which is stronger: nature or nurture? Many researchers consider the interaction between heredity and environment—nature with nurture as opposed to nature versus nurture—to be the most important influencing factor of all.

For example, perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any reference. Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and might be tied to a single gene. However, they've also discovered that possessing the gene is not enough as musical training during early childhood is needed for this inherited ability to manifest itself.

Height is another example of a trait influenced by an interaction between nature and nurture. A child might inherit the genes for height. However, if they grow up in a deprived environment where proper nourishment isn't received, they might never attain the height they could have had if they'd grown up in a healthier environment.

A newer field of study that aims to learn more about the interaction between genes and environment is epigenetics . Epigenetics seeks to explain how environment can impact the way in which genes are expressed.

Some characteristics are biologically determined, such as eye color, hair color, and skin color. Other things, like life expectancy and height, have a strong biological component but are also influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle.

Contemporary Views of Nature vs. Nurture

Most experts recognize that neither nature nor nurture is stronger than the other. Instead, both factors play a critical role in who we are and who we become. Not only that but nature and nurture interact with each other in important ways all throughout our lifespan.

As a result, many in this field are interested in seeing how genes modulate environmental influences and vice versa. At the same time, this debate of nature vs. nurture still rages on in some areas, such as in the origins of homosexuality and influences on intelligence .

While a few people take the extreme nativist or radical empiricist approach, the reality is that there is not a simple way to disentangle the multitude of forces that exist in personality and human development. Instead, these influences include genetic factors, environmental factors, and how each intermingles with the other.

Schoneberger T. Three myths from the language acquisition literature . Anal Verbal Behav . 2010;26(1):107-31. doi:10.1007/bf03393086

National Institutes of Health. Common genetic factors found in 5 mental disorders .

Pain O, Hodgson K, Trubetskoy V, et al. Identifying the common genetic basis of antidepressant response . Biol Psychiatry Global Open Sci . 2022;2(2):115-126. doi:10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.07.008

Moulton C. Perfect pitch reconsidered . Clin Med J . 2014;14(5):517-9 doi:10.7861/clinmedicine.14-5-517

Levitt M. Perceptions of nature, nurture and behaviour . Life Sci Soc Policy . 2013;9:13. doi:10.1186/2195-7819-9-13

Bandura A, Ross D, Ross, SA. Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models . J Abnorm Soc Psychol. 1961;63(3):575-582. doi:10.1037/h0045925

Chomsky N. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax .

Galton F. Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development .

Watson JB. Behaviorism .

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Nature versus Nurture Debate in Psychology

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Nature versus Nurture Debate in Psychology by Hunter Honeycutt LAST MODIFIED: 12 January 2023 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0305

The nature-nurture dichotomy is a long-standing and pervasive framework for thinking about the causal influences believed to be operating during individual development. In this dichotomy, nature refers to factors (e.g., genes, genetic programs, and/or biological blueprints) or forces (e.g., heredity and/or maturation) inherent to the individual that predetermine the development of form and function. Nurture generally refers to all the remaining, typically “external,” causal factors (e.g., physical and social conditions) and processes (e.g., learning and experience) that influence development. The nature versus nurture debate in psychology deals with disagreements about the extent to which the development of traits in humans and animals reflects the relative influence of nature and nurture. It is commonly stated that psychologists have moved on from asking whether traits (or variation in traits) develop from nature or nurture, to recognize instead that both nature and nurture work together or “interact” to produce outcomes, although exactly how to view the interaction is a matter of much debate. While acknowledging the interaction of nature and nurture, one’s theoretical models and research focus might emphasize the prominence of one over the other. Thus, nativists focus more on the importance of innate factors or forces operating on development, whereas empiricists focus more on experiential or environmental factors. However, not everyone finds value in thinking about development in terms of nature and nurture. By the middle of the twentieth century, some psychologists, biologists, and philosophers began to view nature-nurture as a conceptually deficient and biologically implausible dichotomy that oversimplifies the dynamics of behavior and development. Such people espouse some variant of “developmental systems theory” and seek to eliminate or otherwise fuse the nature-nurture division.

The works in this section are mostly trade books that provide general introductions to the nature-nurture debate across a variety of topical areas in psychology, all of which would be suitable for use in classes with undergraduate students at all levels. Goldhaber 2012 contrasts four popular perspectives on the nature-nurture issue and would be a good place to start for anyone unfamiliar with the nature-nurture debate in psychology. Nativist perspectives are represented by Pinker 2002 , Plomin 2018 , and Vallortigara 2021 . An empiricist-leaning position on behavior development is put forth in Schneider 2012 . Developmental systems theory is promoted in Blumberg 2005 and Moore 2002 . Two edited books are included and both are better suited for advanced undergraduate- or graduate-level students. The first edited book, Coll, et al. 2013 , focuses on the nature-nurture issue across a range of topics and perspectives in psychology. The other, Mayes and Lewis 2012 , presents empiricist (or environmentalist) perspectives on child development.

Bateson, P. 2017. Behaviour, development and evolution . Cambridge, UK: OpenBook Publishers.

DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0097

Written by a distinguished ethologist who draws extensively from his work on animal behavior, this book argues that the nature-nurture division is neither valid nor helpful in capturing the complex system of factors that influence behavioral development. Topics include imprinting and attachment, parent-offspring relations, the influence of early-life experiences on later-life outcomes, problems with genetic determinism, and the role of behavior in evolutionary change.

Blumberg, M. S. 2005. Basic instinct: The genesis of novel behavior . New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press.

Consistent with developmental systems theory, Blumberg presents an overview of the conceptual and empirical limitations of nativism in explanations of behavioral and neural development in animals and cognitive development in humans.

Coll, C. G., E. L. Bearer, and R. M. Lerner, eds. 2013. Nature-nurture: The complex interplay of genetic and environmental influences on human behavior and development . New York: Psychology Press.

The contents of this edited volume are almost entirely original works with commentary that span multiple disciplines (psychology, biology, economics, philosophy) and multiple perspectives (behavioral genetics and developmental systems theory) on the nature-nurture issue.

Goldhaber, D. 2012. The nature-nurture debates: Bridging the gap . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139022583

Goldhaber reviews four major perspectives (behavior genetics, environmentalism, evolutionary psychology, and developmental systems theory) on the nature-nurture issue. He argues we should reject reductionist views based on either genetic determinism or environmental determinism in favor of more holistic, interactionist approaches.

Mayes, L. C., and M. Lewis, eds. 2012. The Cambridge handbook of environment in human development . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

This handbook explores a wide variety of ways in which the environment influences child development. Chapters cover conceptual frameworks and methodological issues in thinking about and studying environmental influences as well reviewing ways in which environmental contexts and systems influence specific aspects of child development.

Moore, D. S. 2002. The dependent gene: The fallacy of nature vs. nurture . New York: Henry Holt.

This book provides an introduction to the developmental systems theory take on the nature-nurture issue particularly as it relates to genetic determinism, heritability and heredity.

Pinker, S. 2002. The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature . New York: Viking.

In this best-selling book, Pinker draws on evidence from behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive psychology to argue for a nativist position concerning human nature.

Plomin, R. 2018. Blueprint: How DNA makes us who we are . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Plomin reviews traditional and more modern evidence from behavioral genetics to argue that genes are the primary factor in bringing about psychological differences between people. Moreover, he argues that many “environmental” factors operating on development are themselves strongly influenced by genetic differences.

Schneider, S. M. 2012. The science of consequences: How they affect genes, change the brain, and impact our world . Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.

Schneider presents a view grounded in behavior analysis to argue for the critical role that the consequences of genetic activity, neural activity, and behavioral activity play in individual development. While emphasizing environmental (or experiential) factors influencing development, this book also highlights the systemic and interactive nature of developmental systems across multiple levels of analysis.

Vallortigara, G. 2021. Born knowing: Imprinting and the origins of knowledge . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/14091.001.0001

Drawing upon research in comparative cognition and comparative neuroscience, much of it his own, Vallortigara argues that animals, including humans, enter the world with a set of unlearned, innate or instinctive behaviors and neural circuits that bias or predispose subsequent learning and development.

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1.2 The Evolution of Psychology: History, Approaches, and Questions

Learning objectives.

Explain how psychology changed from a philosophical to a scientific discipline.
List some of the most important questions that concern psychologists.
Outline the basic schools of psychology and how each school has contributed to psychology.

In this section we will review the history of psychology with a focus on the important questions that psychologists ask and the major approaches (or schools) of psychological inquiry. The schools of psychology that we will review are summarized in Table 1.2 “The Most Important Approaches (Schools) of Psychology” , and Figure 1.5 “Timeline Showing Some of the Most Important Psychologists” presents a timeline of some of the most important psychologists, beginning with the early Greek philosophers and extending to the present day. Table 1.2 “The Most Important Approaches (Schools) of Psychology” and Figure 1.5 “Timeline Showing Some of the Most Important Psychologists” both represent a selection of the most important schools and people; to mention all the approaches and all the psychologists who have contributed to the field is not possible in one chapter.

The approaches that psychologists have used to assess the issues that interest them have changed dramatically over the history of psychology. Perhaps most importantly, the field has moved steadily from speculation about behavior toward a more objective and scientific approach as the technology available to study human behavior has improved (Benjamin & Baker, 2004). There has also been an increasing influx of women into the field. Although most early psychologists were men, now most psychologists, including the presidents of the most important psychological organizations, are women.

Figure 1.4 Female Psychologists

Left: Mahzarin Banaji, Right: Linda Bartoshuk.

Although most of the earliest psychologists were men, women are increasingly contributing to psychology. The first female president of the American Psychological Association was Mary Whiton Calkins (1861–1930). Calkins made significant contributions to the study of memory and the self-concept. Mahzarin Banaji (left), Marilynn Brewer (not pictured), and Linda Bartoshuk (right) are all recent presidents of the American Psychological Society.

Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung – Keynote: Mahzarin R. Banaji – CC BY-SA 2.0; NIDCD Inside Newsletter – no copyright.

Although it cannot capture every important psychologist, this timeline shows some of the most important contributors to the history of psychology.

Although psychology has changed dramatically over its history, the most important questions that psychologists address have remained constant. Some of these questions follow, and we will discuss them both in this chapter and in the chapters to come:

Nature versus nurture. Are genes or environment most influential in determining the behavior of individuals and in accounting for differences among people? Most scientists now agree that both genes and environment play crucial roles in most human behaviors, and yet we still have much to learn about how nature (our biological makeup) and nurture (the experiences that we have during our lives) work together (Harris, 1998; Pinker, 2002). The proportion of the observed differences on characteristics among people (e.g., in terms of their height, intelligence, or optimism) that is due to genetics is known as the heritability of the characteristic, and we will make much use of this term in the chapters to come. We will see, for example, that the heritability of intelligence is very high (about .85 out of 1.0) and that the heritability of extraversion is about .50. But we will also see that nature and nurture interact in complex ways, making the question of “Is it nature or is it nurture?” very difficult to answer.
Free will versus determinism. This question concerns the extent to which people have control over their own actions. Are we the products of our environment, guided by forces out of our control, or are we able to choose the behaviors we engage in? Most of us like to believe in free will, that we are able to do what we want—for instance, that we could get up right now and go fishing. And our legal system is premised on the concept of free will; we punish criminals because we believe that they have choice over their behaviors and freely choose to disobey the law. But as we will discuss later in the research focus in this section, recent research has suggested that we may have less control over our own behavior than we think we do (Wegner, 2002).
Accuracy versus inaccuracy. To what extent are humans good information processors? Although it appears that people are “good enough” to make sense of the world around them and to make decent decisions (Fiske, 2003), they are far from perfect. Human judgment is sometimes compromised by inaccuracies in our thinking styles and by our motivations and emotions. For instance, our judgment may be affected by our desires to gain material wealth and to see ourselves positively and by emotional responses to the events that happen to us.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden (left photo) meet with BP executives to discuss the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (right photo). Psychologists study the causes of poor judgments such as those made by these executives.

The White House – United States Government Work; International Bird Rescue Research Center – CC BY 2.0

Conscious versus unconscious processing. To what extent are we conscious of our own actions and the causes of them, and to what extent are our behaviors caused by influences that we are not aware of? Many of the major theories of psychology, ranging from the Freudian psychodynamic theories to contemporary work in cognitive psychology, argue that much of our behavior is determined by variables that we are not aware of.
Differences versus similarities. To what extent are we all similar, and to what extent are we different? For instance, are there basic psychological and personality differences between men and women, or are men and women by and large similar? And what about people from different ethnicities and cultures? Are people around the world generally the same, or are they influenced by their backgrounds and environments in different ways? Personality, social, and cross-cultural psychologists attempt to answer these classic questions.

Early Psychologists

The earliest psychologists that we know about are the Greek philosophers Plato (428–347 BC) and Aristotle (384–322 BC). These philosophers asked many of the same questions that today’s psychologists ask; for instance, they questioned the distinction between nature and nurture and the existence of free will. In terms of the former, Plato argued on the nature side, believing that certain kinds of knowledge are innate or inborn, whereas Aristotle was more on the nurture side, believing that each child is born as an “empty slate” (in Latin a tabula rasa ) and that knowledge is primarily acquired through learning and experience.

The earliest psychologists were the Greek philosophers Plato (left) and Aristotle. Plato believed that much knowledge was innate, whereas Aristotle thought that each child was born as an “empty slate” and that knowledge was primarily acquired through learning and experience.

Image Editor – Plato and Aristotle – CC BY 2.0

European philosophers continued to ask these fundamental questions during the Renaissance. For instance, the French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650) also considered the issue of free will, arguing in its favor and believing that the mind controls the body through the pineal gland in the brain (an idea that made some sense at the time but was later proved incorrect). Descartes also believed in the existence of innate natural abilities. A scientist as well as a philosopher, Descartes dissected animals and was among the first to understand that the nerves controlled the muscles. He also addressed the relationship between mind (the mental aspects of life) and body (the physical aspects of life). Descartes believed in the principle of dualism : that the mind is fundamentally different from the mechanical body. Other European philosophers, including Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), John Locke (1632–1704), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), also weighed in on these issues.

The fundamental problem that these philosophers faced was that they had few methods for settling their claims. Most philosophers didn’t conduct any research on these questions, in part because they didn’t yet know how to do it, and in part because they weren’t sure it was even possible to objectively study human experience. But dramatic changes came during the 1800s with the help of the first two research psychologists: the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), who developed a psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, and the American psychologist William James (1842–1910), who founded a psychology laboratory at Harvard University.

Structuralism: Introspection and the Awareness of Subjective Experience

Wundt’s research in his laboratory in Liepzig focused on the nature of consciousness itself. Wundt and his students believed that it was possible to analyze the basic elements of the mind and to classify our conscious experiences scientifically. Wundt began the field known as structuralism , a school of psychology whose goal was to identify the basic elements or “structures” of psychological experience . Its goal was to create a “periodic table” of the “elements of sensations,” similar to the periodic table of elements that had recently been created in chemistry.

Structuralists used the method of introspection to attempt to create a map of the elements of consciousness. Introspection involves asking research participants to describe exactly what they experience as they work on mental tasks , such as viewing colors, reading a page in a book, or performing a math problem. A participant who is reading a book might report, for instance, that he saw some black and colored straight and curved marks on a white background. In other studies the structuralists used newly invented reaction time instruments to systematically assess not only what the participants were thinking but how long it took them to do so. Wundt discovered that it took people longer to report what sound they had just heard than to simply respond that they had heard the sound. These studies marked the first time researchers realized that there is a difference between the sensation of a stimulus and the perception of that stimulus, and the idea of using reaction times to study mental events has now become a mainstay of cognitive psychology.

Wilhelm Wundt (seated at left) and Edward Titchener (right) helped create the structuralist school of psychology. Their goal was to classify the elements of sensation through introspection.

Wikimedia Commons – Wundt research group – no copyright; David Webb – Edward Bradford Titchener – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Perhaps the best known of the structuralists was Edward Bradford Titchener (1867–1927). Titchener was a student of Wundt who came to the United States in the late 1800s and founded a laboratory at Cornell University. In his research using introspection, Titchener and his students claimed to have identified more than 40,000 sensations, including those relating to vision, hearing, and taste.

An important aspect of the structuralist approach was that it was rigorous and scientific. The research marked the beginning of psychology as a science, because it demonstrated that mental events could be quantified. But the structuralists also discovered the limitations of introspection. Even highly trained research participants were often unable to report on their subjective experiences. When the participants were asked to do simple math problems, they could easily do them, but they could not easily answer how they did them. Thus the structuralists were the first to realize the importance of unconscious processes—that many important aspects of human psychology occur outside our conscious awareness, and that psychologists cannot expect research participants to be able to accurately report on all of their experiences.

Functionalism and Evolutionary Psychology

In contrast to Wundt, who attempted to understand the nature of consciousness, the goal of William James and the other members of the school of functionalism was to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess (Hunt, 1993). For James, one’s thinking was relevant only to one’s behavior. As he put it in his psychology textbook, “My thinking is first and last and always for the sake of my doing” (James, 1890).

James and the other members of the functionalist school were influenced by Charles Darwin’s (1809–1882) theory of natural selection , which proposed that the physical characteristics of animals and humans evolved because they were useful, or functional. The functionalists believed that Darwin’s theory applied to psychological characteristics too. Just as some animals have developed strong muscles to allow them to run fast, the human brain, so functionalists thought, must have adapted to serve a particular function in human experience.

The functionalist school of psychology, founded by the American psychologist William James (left), was influenced by the work of Charles Darwin.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain. Darwin portrait courtesy of George Richmond, Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Although functionalism no longer exists as a school of psychology, its basic principles have been absorbed into psychology and continue to influence it in many ways. The work of the functionalists has developed into the field of evolutionary psychology , a branch of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior (Dennett, 1995; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992). Evolutionary psychology accepts the functionalists’ basic assumption, namely that many human psychological systems, including memory, emotion, and personality, serve key adaptive functions. As we will see in the chapters to come, evolutionary psychologists use evolutionary theory to understand many different behaviors including romantic attraction, stereotypes and prejudice, and even the causes of many psychological disorders.

A key component of the ideas of evolutionary psychology is fitness . Fitness refers to the extent to which having a given characteristic helps the individual organism survive and reproduce at a higher rate than do other members of the species who do not have the characteristic . Fitter organisms pass on their genes more successfully to later generations, making the characteristics that produce fitness more likely to become part of the organism’s nature than characteristics that do not produce fitness. For example, it has been argued that the emotion of jealousy has survived over time in men because men who experience jealousy are more fit than men who do not. According to this idea, the experience of jealously leads men to be more likely to protect their mates and guard against rivals, which increases their reproductive success (Buss, 2000).

Despite its importance in psychological theorizing, evolutionary psychology also has some limitations. One problem is that many of its predictions are extremely difficult to test. Unlike the fossils that are used to learn about the physical evolution of species, we cannot know which psychological characteristics our ancestors possessed or did not possess; we can only make guesses about this. Because it is difficult to directly test evolutionary theories, it is always possible that the explanations we apply are made up after the fact to account for observed data (Gould & Lewontin, 1979). Nevertheless, the evolutionary approach is important to psychology because it provides logical explanations for why we have many psychological characteristics.

Psychodynamic Psychology

Perhaps the school of psychology that is most familiar to the general public is the psychodynamic approach to understanding behavior, which was championed by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his followers. Psychodynamic psychology is an approach to understanding human behavior that focuses on the role of unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories . Freud developed his theories about behavior through extensive analysis of the patients that he treated in his private clinical practice. Freud believed that many of the problems that his patients experienced, including anxiety, depression, and sexual dysfunction, were the result of the effects of painful childhood experiences that the person could no longer remember.

Figure 1.10

Sigmund Freud and the other psychodynamic psychologists believed that many of our thoughts and emotions are unconscious. Psychotherapy was designed to help patients recover and confront their “lost” memories.

Max Halberstadt – Wikimedia Commons -public domain.

Freud’s ideas were extended by other psychologists whom he influenced, including Carl Jung (1875–1961), Alfred Adler (1870–1937), Karen Horney (1855–1952), and Erik Erikson (1902–1994). These and others who follow the psychodynamic approach believe that it is possible to help the patient if the unconscious drives can be remembered, particularly through a deep and thorough exploration of the person’s early sexual experiences and current sexual desires. These explorations are revealed through talk therapy and dream analysis, in a process called psychoanalysis .

The founders of the school of psychodynamics were primarily practitioners who worked with individuals to help them understand and confront their psychological symptoms. Although they did not conduct much research on their ideas, and although later, more sophisticated tests of their theories have not always supported their proposals, psychodynamics has nevertheless had substantial impact on the field of psychology, and indeed on thinking about human behavior more generally (Moore & Fine, 1995). The importance of the unconscious in human behavior, the idea that early childhood experiences are critical, and the concept of therapy as a way of improving human lives are all ideas that are derived from the psychodynamic approach and that remain central to psychology.

Behaviorism and the Question of Free Will

Although they differed in approach, both structuralism and functionalism were essentially studies of the mind. The psychologists associated with the school of behaviorism , on the other hand, were reacting in part to the difficulties psychologists encountered when they tried to use introspection to understand behavior. Behaviorism is a school of psychology that is based on the premise that it is not possible to objectively study the mind, and therefore that psychologists should limit their attention to the study of behavior itself . Behaviorists believe that the human mind is a “black box” into which stimuli are sent and from which responses are received. They argue that there is no point in trying to determine what happens in the box because we can successfully predict behavior without knowing what happens inside the mind. Furthermore, behaviorists believe that it is possible to develop laws of learning that can explain all behaviors.

The first behaviorist was the American psychologist John B. Watson (1878–1958). Watson was influenced in large part by the work of the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), who had discovered that dogs would salivate at the sound of a tone that had previously been associated with the presentation of food. Watson and the other behaviorists began to use these ideas to explain how events that people and other organisms experienced in their environment ( stimuli ) could produce specific behaviors ( responses ). For instance, in Pavlov’s research the stimulus (either the food or, after learning, the tone) would produce the response of salivation in the dogs.

In his research Watson found that systematically exposing a child to fearful stimuli in the presence of objects that did not themselves elicit fear could lead the child to respond with a fearful behavior to the presence of the stimulus (Watson & Rayner, 1920; Beck, Levinson, & Irons, 2009). In the best known of his studies, an 8-month-old boy named Little Albert was used as the subject. Here is a summary of the findings:

In line with the behaviorist approach, the boy had learned to associate the white rat with the loud noise, resulting in crying.

Figure 1.11

B. F. Skinner was a member of the behaviorist school of psychology. He argued that free will is an illusion and that all behavior is determined by environmental factors.

Wikimedia Commons – CC BY 3.0.

The most famous behaviorist was Burrhus Frederick (B. F.) Skinner (1904–1990), who expanded the principles of behaviorism and also brought them to the attention of the public at large. Skinner used the ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements , to train pigeons and other animals. And he used the general principles of behaviorism to develop theories about how best to teach children and how to create societies that were peaceful and productive. Skinner even developed a method for studying thoughts and feelings using the behaviorist approach (Skinner, 1957, 1968, 1972).

Research Focus: Do We Have Free Will?

The behaviorist research program had important implications for the fundamental questions about nature and nurture and about free will. In terms of the nature-nurture debate, the behaviorists agreed with the nurture approach, believing that we are shaped exclusively by our environments. They also argued that there is no free will, but rather that our behaviors are determined by the events that we have experienced in our past. In short, this approach argues that organisms, including humans, are a lot like puppets in a show who don’t realize that other people are controlling them. Furthermore, although we do not cause our own actions, we nevertheless believe that we do because we don’t realize all the influences acting on our behavior.

Recent research in psychology has suggested that Skinner and the behaviorists might well have been right, at least in the sense that we overestimate our own free will in responding to the events around us (Libet, 1985; Matsuhashi & Hallett, 2008; Wegner, 2002). In one demonstration of the misperception of our own free will, neuroscientists Soon, Brass, Heinze, and Haynes (2008) placed their research participants in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanner while they presented them with a series of letters on a computer screen. The letter on the screen changed every one-half second. The participants were asked, whenever they decided to, to press either of two buttons. Then they were asked to indicate which letter was showing on the screen when they decided to press the button. The researchers analyzed the brain images to see if they could predict which of the two buttons the participant was going to press, even before the letter at which he or she had indicated the decision to press a button. Suggesting that the intention to act occurred in the brain before the research participants became aware of it, the researchers found that the prefrontal cortex region of the brain showed activation that could be used to predict the button press as long as 10 seconds before the participants said that they decided which button to press.

Research has found that we are more likely to think that we control our behavior when the desire to act occurs immediately prior to the outcome, when the thought is consistent with the outcome, and when there are no other apparent causes for the behavior. Aarts, Custers, and Wegner (2005) asked their research participants to control a rapidly moving square along with a computer that was also controlling the square independently. The participants pressed a button to stop the movement. When participants were exposed to words related to the location of the square just before they stopped its movement, they became more likely to think that they controlled the motion, even when it was actually the computer that stopped it. And Dijksterhuis, Preston, Wegner, and Aarts (2008) found that participants who had just been exposed to first-person singular pronouns, such as “I” and “me,” were more likely to believe that they controlled their actions than were people who had seen the words “computer” or “God.”

The idea that we are more likely to take ownership for our actions in some cases than in others is also seen in our attributions for success and failure. Because we normally expect that our behaviors will be met with success, when we are successful we easily believe that the success is the result of our own free will. When an action is met with failure, on the other hand, we are less likely to perceive this outcome as the result of our free will, and we are more likely to blame the outcome on luck or our teacher (Wegner, 2003).

The behaviorists made substantial contributions to psychology by identifying the principles of learning . Although the behaviorists were incorrect in their beliefs that it was not possible to measure thoughts and feelings, their ideas provided new ideas that helped further our understanding regarding the nature-nurture debate as well as the question of free will. The ideas of behaviorism are fundamental to psychology and have been developed to help us better understand the role of prior experiences in a variety of areas of psychology.

The Cognitive Approach and Cognitive Neuroscience

Science is always influenced by the technology that surrounds it, and psychology is no exception. Thus it is no surprise that beginning in the 1960s, growing numbers of psychologists began to think about the brain and about human behavior in terms of the computer, which was being developed and becoming publicly available at that time. The analogy between the brain and the computer, although by no means perfect, provided part of the impetus for a new school of psychology called cognitive psychology . Cognitive psychology is a field of psychology that studies mental processes, including perception, thinking, memory, and judgment . These actions correspond well to the processes that computers perform.

Although cognitive psychology began in earnest in the 1960s, earlier psychologists had also taken a cognitive orientation. Some of the important contributors to cognitive psychology include the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909), who studied the ability of people to remember lists of words under different conditions, and the English psychologist Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886–1969), who studied the cognitive and social processes of remembering. Bartlett created short stories that were in some ways logical but also contained some very unusual and unexpected events. Bartlett discovered that people found it very difficult to recall the stories exactly, even after being allowed to study them repeatedly, and he hypothesized that the stories were difficult to remember because they did not fit the participants’ expectations about how stories should go. The idea that our memory is influenced by what we already know was also a major idea behind the cognitive-developmental stage model of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Other important cognitive psychologists include Donald E. Broadbent (1926–1993), Daniel Kahneman (1934–), George Miller (1920–), Eleanor Rosch (1938–), and Amos Tversky (1937–1996).

The War of the Ghosts

The War of the Ghosts was a story used by Sir Frederic Bartlett to test the influence of prior expectations on memory. Bartlett found that even when his British research participants were allowed to read the story many times they still could not remember it well, and he believed this was because it did not fit with their prior knowledge.

In its argument that our thinking has a powerful influence on behavior, the cognitive approach provided a distinct alternative to behaviorism. According to cognitive psychologists, ignoring the mind itself will never be sufficient because people interpret the stimuli that they experience. For instance, when a boy turns to a girl on a date and says, “You are so beautiful,” a behaviorist would probably see that as a reinforcing (positive) stimulus. And yet the girl might not be so easily fooled. She might try to understand why the boy is making this particular statement at this particular time and wonder if he might be attempting to influence her through the comment. Cognitive psychologists maintain that when we take into consideration how stimuli are evaluated and interpreted, we understand behavior more deeply.

Cognitive psychology remains enormously influential today, and it has guided research in such varied fields as language, problem solving, memory, intelligence, education, human development, social psychology, and psychotherapy. The cognitive revolution has been given even more life over the past decade as the result of recent advances in our ability to see the brain in action using neuroimaging techniques. Neuroimaging is the use of various techniques to provide pictures of the structure and function of the living brain (Ilardi & Feldman, 2001). These images are used to diagnose brain disease and injury, but they also allow researchers to view information processing as it occurs in the brain, because the processing causes the involved area of the brain to increase metabolism and show up on the scan. We have already discussed the use of one neuroimaging technique, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in the research focus earlier in this section, and we will discuss the use of neuroimaging techniques in many areas of psychology in the chapters to follow.

Social-Cultural Psychology

A final school, which takes a higher level of analysis and which has had substantial impact on psychology, can be broadly referred to as the social-cultural approach . The field of social-cultural psychology is the study of how the social situations and the cultures in which people find themselves influence thinking and behavior . Social-cultural psychologists are particularly concerned with how people perceive themselves and others, and how people influence each other’s behavior. For instance, social psychologists have found that we are attracted to others who are similar to us in terms of attitudes and interests (Byrne, 1969), that we develop our own beliefs and attitudes by comparing our opinions to those of others (Festinger, 1954), and that we frequently change our beliefs and behaviors to be similar to those of the people we care about—a process known as conformity .

An important aspect of social-cultural psychology are social norms — the ways of thinking, feeling, or behaving that are shared by group members and perceived by them as appropriate (Asch, 1952; Cialdini, 1993). Norms include customs, traditions, standards, and rules, as well as the general values of the group. Many of the most important social norms are determined by the culture in which we live, and these cultures are studied by cross-cultural psychologists . A culture represents the common set of social norms, including religious and family values and other moral beliefs, shared by the people who live in a geographical region (Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998; Markus, Kitayama, & Heiman, 1996; Matsumoto, 2001). Cultures influence every aspect of our lives, and it is not inappropriate to say that our culture defines our lives just as much as does our evolutionary experience (Mesoudi, 2009).

Psychologists have found that there is a fundamental difference in social norms between Western cultures (including those in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) and East Asian cultures (including those in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia). Norms in Western cultures are primarily oriented toward individualism , which is about valuing the self and one’s independence from others. Children in Western cultures are taught to develop and to value a sense of their personal self, and to see themselves in large part as separate from the other people around them. Children in Western cultures feel special about themselves; they enjoy getting gold stars on their projects and the best grade in the class. Adults in Western cultures are oriented toward promoting their own individual success, frequently in comparison to (or even at the expense of) others.

Norms in the East Asian culture, on the other hand, are oriented toward interdependence or collectivism . In these cultures children are taught to focus on developing harmonious social relationships with others. The predominant norms relate to group togetherness and connectedness, and duty and responsibility to one’s family and other groups. When asked to describe themselves, the members of East Asian cultures are more likely than those from Western cultures to indicate that they are particularly concerned about the interests of others, including their close friends and their colleagues.

Left: woman standing alone at a tree (individualism), Right: Eastern family get together (collectivisim).

In Western cultures social norms promote a focus on the self ( individualism ), whereas in Eastern cultures the focus is more on families and social groups ( collectivism ).

Another important cultural difference is the extent to which people in different cultures are bound by social norms and customs, rather than being free to express their own individuality without considering social norms (Chan, Gelfand, Triandis, & Tzeng, 1996). Cultures also differ in terms of personal space, such as how closely individuals stand to each other when talking, as well as the communication styles they employ.

It is important to be aware of cultures and cultural differences because people with different cultural backgrounds increasingly come into contact with each other as a result of increased travel and immigration and the development of the Internet and other forms of communication. In the United States, for instance, there are many different ethnic groups, and the proportion of the population that comes from minority (non-White) groups is increasing from year to year. The social-cultural approach to understanding behavior reminds us again of the difficulty of making broad generalizations about human nature. Different people experience things differently, and they experience them differently in different cultures.

The Many Disciplines of Psychology

Psychology is not one discipline but rather a collection of many subdisciplines that all share at least some common approaches and that work together and exchange knowledge to form a coherent discipline (Yang & Chiu, 2009). Because the field of psychology is so broad, students may wonder which areas are most suitable for their interests and which types of careers might be available to them. Table 1.3 “Some Career Paths in Psychology” will help you consider the answers to these questions. You can learn more about these different fields of psychology and the careers associated with them at http://www.apa.org/careers/psyccareers/ .

Table 1.3 Some Career Paths in Psychology

Psychology in Everyday Life: How to Effectively Learn and Remember

One way that the findings of psychological research may be particularly helpful to you is in terms of improving your learning and study skills. Psychological research has provided a substantial amount of knowledge about the principles of learning and memory. This information can help you do better in this and other courses, and can also help you better learn new concepts and techniques in other areas of your life.

The most important thing you can learn in college is how to better study, learn, and remember. These skills will help you throughout your life, as you learn new jobs and take on other responsibilities. There are substantial individual differences in learning and memory, such that some people learn faster than others. But even if it takes you longer to learn than you think it should, the extra time you put into studying is well worth the effort. And you can learn to learn—learning to effectively study and to remember information is just like learning any other skill, such as playing a sport or a video game.

To learn well, you need to be ready to learn. You cannot learn well when you are tired, when you are under stress, or if you are abusing alcohol or drugs. Try to keep a consistent routine of sleeping and eating. Eat moderately and nutritiously, and avoid drugs that can impair memory, particularly alcohol. There is no evidence that stimulants such as caffeine, amphetamines, or any of the many “memory enhancing drugs” on the market will help you learn (Gold, Cahill, & Wenk, 2002; McDaniel, Maier, & Einstein, 2002). Memory supplements are usually no more effective than drinking a can of sugared soda, which also releases glucose and thus improves memory slightly.

Psychologists have studied the ways that best allow people to acquire new information, to retain it over time, and to retrieve information that has been stored in our memories. One important finding is that learning is an active process. To acquire information most effectively, we must actively manipulate it. One active approach is rehearsal—repeating the information that is to be learned over and over again. Although simple repetition does help us learn, psychological research has found that we acquire information most effectively when we actively think about or elaborate on its meaning and relate the material to something else.

When you study, try to elaborate by connecting the information to other things that you already know. If you want to remember the different schools of psychology, for instance, try to think about how each of the approaches is different from the others. As you make the comparisons among the approaches, determine what is most important about each one and then relate it to the features of the other approaches. In an important study showing the effectiveness of elaborative encoding, Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker (1977) found that students learned information best when they related it to aspects of themselves (a phenomenon known as the self-reference effect ). This research suggests that imagining how the material relates to your own interests and goals will help you learn it.

An approach known as the method of loci involves linking each of the pieces of information that you need to remember to places that you are familiar with. You might think about the house that you grew up in and the rooms in it. Then you could put the behaviorists in the bedroom, the structuralists in the living room, and the functionalists in the kitchen. Then when you need to remember the information, you retrieve the mental image of your house and should be able to “see” each of the people in each of the areas.

One of the most fundamental principles of learning is known as the spacing effect . Both humans and animals more easily remember or learn material when they study the material in several shorter study periods over a longer period of time, rather than studying it just once for a long period of time. Cramming for an exam is a particularly ineffective way to learn.

Psychologists have also found that performance is improved when people set difficult yet realistic goals for themselves (Locke & Latham, 2006). You can use this knowledge to help you learn. Set realistic goals for the time you are going to spend studying and what you are going to learn, and try to stick to those goals. Do a small amount every day, and by the end of the week you will have accomplished a lot.

Our ability to adequately assess our own knowledge is known as metacognition . Research suggests that our metacognition may make us overconfident, leading us to believe that we have learned material even when we have not. To counteract this problem, don’t just go over your notes again and again. Instead, make a list of questions and then see if you can answer them. Study the information again and then test yourself again after a few minutes. If you made any mistakes, study again. Then wait for a half hour and test yourself again. Then test again after 1 day and after 2 days. Testing yourself by attempting to retrieve information in an active manner is better than simply studying the material because it will help you determine if you really know it.

In summary, everyone can learn to learn better. Learning is an important skill, and following the previously mentioned guidelines will likely help you learn better.

Key Takeaways

The first psychologists were philosophers, but the field became more empirical and objective as more sophisticated scientific approaches were developed and employed.
Some basic questions asked by psychologists include those about nature versus nurture, free will versus determinism, accuracy versus inaccuracy, and conscious versus unconscious processing.
The structuralists attempted to analyze the nature of consciousness using introspection.
The functionalists based their ideas on the work of Darwin, and their approaches led to the field of evolutionary psychology.
The behaviorists explained behavior in terms of stimulus, response, and reinforcement, while denying the presence of free will.
Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, process, and remember information.
Psychodynamic psychology focuses on unconscious drives and the potential to improve lives through psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.
The social-cultural approach focuses on the social situation, including how cultures and social norms influence our behavior.

Exercises and Critical Thinking

What type of questions can psychologists answer that philosophers might not be able to answer as completely or as accurately? Explain why you think psychologists can answer these questions better than philosophers can.
Choose one of the major questions of psychology and provide some evidence from your own experience that supports one side or the other.
Choose two of the fields of psychology discussed in this section and explain how they differ in their approaches to understanding behavior and the level of explanation at which they are focused.

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Introduction to Psychology Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

How to Write a Psychology Essay

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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Before you write your essay, it’s important to analyse the task and understand exactly what the essay question is asking. Your lecturer may give you some advice – pay attention to this as it will help you plan your answer.

Next conduct preliminary reading based on your lecture notes. At this stage, it’s not crucial to have a robust understanding of key theories or studies, but you should at least have a general “gist” of the literature.

After reading, plan a response to the task. This plan could be in the form of a mind map, a summary table, or by writing a core statement (which encompasses the entire argument of your essay in just a few sentences).

After writing your plan, conduct supplementary reading, refine your plan, and make it more detailed.

It is tempting to skip these preliminary steps and write the first draft while reading at the same time. However, reading and planning will make the essay writing process easier, quicker, and ensure a higher quality essay is produced.

Components of a Good Essay

Now, let us look at what constitutes a good essay in psychology. There are a number of important features.

Global Structure – structure the material to allow for a logical sequence of ideas. Each paragraph / statement should follow sensibly from its predecessor. The essay should “flow”. The introduction, main body and conclusion should all be linked.
Each paragraph should comprise a main theme, which is illustrated and developed through a number of points (supported by evidence).
Knowledge and Understanding – recognize, recall, and show understanding of a range of scientific material that accurately reflects the main theoretical perspectives.
Critical Evaluation – arguments should be supported by appropriate evidence and/or theory from the literature. Evidence of independent thinking, insight, and evaluation of the evidence.
Quality of Written Communication – writing clearly and succinctly with appropriate use of paragraphs, spelling, and grammar. All sources are referenced accurately and in line with APA guidelines.

In the main body of the essay, every paragraph should demonstrate both knowledge and critical evaluation.

There should also be an appropriate balance between these two essay components. Try to aim for about a 60/40 split if possible.

Most students make the mistake of writing too much knowledge and not enough evaluation (which is the difficult bit).

It is best to structure your essay according to key themes. Themes are illustrated and developed through a number of points (supported by evidence).

Choose relevant points only, ones that most reveal the theme or help to make a convincing and interesting argument.

Knowledge and Understanding

Remember that an essay is simply a discussion / argument on paper. Don’t make the mistake of writing all the information you know regarding a particular topic.

You need to be concise, and clearly articulate your argument. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences.

Each paragraph should have a purpose / theme, and make a number of points – which need to be support by high quality evidence. Be clear why each point is is relevant to the argument. It would be useful at the beginning of each paragraph if you explicitly outlined the theme being discussed (.e.g. cognitive development, social development etc.).

Try not to overuse quotations in your essays. It is more appropriate to use original content to demonstrate your understanding.

Psychology is a science so you must support your ideas with evidence (not your own personal opinion). If you are discussing a theory or research study make sure you cite the source of the information.

Note this is not the author of a textbook you have read – but the original source / author(s) of the theory or research study.

For example:

Bowlby (1951) claimed that mothering is almost useless if delayed until after two and a half to three years and, for most children, if delayed till after 12 months, i.e. there is a critical period.

Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fullfil the next one, and so on.

As a general rule, make sure there is at least one citation (i.e. name of psychologist and date of publication) in each paragraph.

Remember to answer the essay question. Underline the keywords in the essay title. Don’t make the mistake of simply writing everything you know of a particular topic, be selective. Each paragraph in your essay should contribute to answering the essay question.

Critical Evaluation

In simple terms, this means outlining the strengths and limitations of a theory or research study.

There are many ways you can critically evaluate:

Methodological evaluation of research

Is the study valid / reliable ? Is the sample biased, or can we generalize the findings to other populations? What are the strengths and limitations of the method used and data obtained?

Be careful to ensure that any methodological criticisms are justified and not trite.

Rather than hunting for weaknesses in every study; only highlight limitations that make you doubt the conclusions that the authors have drawn – e.g., where an alternative explanation might be equally likely because something hasn’t been adequately controlled.

Compare or contrast different theories

Outline how the theories are similar and how they differ. This could be two (or more) theories of personality / memory / child development etc. Also try to communicate the value of the theory / study.

Debates or perspectives

Refer to debates such as nature or nurture, reductionism vs. holism, or the perspectives in psychology . For example, would they agree or disagree with a theory or the findings of the study?

What are the ethical issues of the research?

Does a study involve ethical issues such as deception, privacy, psychological or physical harm?

Gender bias

If research is biased towards men or women it does not provide a clear view of the behavior that has been studied. A dominantly male perspective is known as an androcentric bias.

Cultural bias

Is the theory / study ethnocentric? Psychology is predominantly a white, Euro-American enterprise. In some texts, over 90% of studies have US participants, who are predominantly white and middle class.

Does the theory or study being discussed judge other cultures by Western standards?

Animal Research

This raises the issue of whether it’s morally and/or scientifically right to use animals. The main criterion is that benefits must outweigh costs. But benefits are almost always to humans and costs to animals.

Animal research also raises the issue of extrapolation. Can we generalize from studies on animals to humans as their anatomy & physiology is different from humans?

The PEC System

It is very important to elaborate on your evaluation. Don’t just write a shopping list of brief (one or two sentence) evaluation points.

Instead, make sure you expand on your points, remember, quality of evaluation is most important than quantity.

When you are writing an evaluation paragraph, use the PEC system.

Make your P oint.
E xplain how and why the point is relevant.
Discuss the C onsequences / implications of the theory or study. Are they positive or negative?

For Example

Point: It is argued that psychoanalytic therapy is only of benefit to an articulate, intelligent, affluent minority.
Explain: Because psychoanalytic therapy involves talking and gaining insight, and is costly and time-consuming, it is argued that it is only of benefit to an articulate, intelligent, affluent minority. Evidence suggests psychoanalytic therapy works best if the client is motivated and has a positive attitude.
Consequences: A depressed client’s apathy, flat emotional state, and lack of motivation limit the appropriateness of psychoanalytic therapy for depression.

Furthermore, the levels of dependency of depressed clients mean that transference is more likely to develop.

Using Research Studies in your Essays

Research studies can either be knowledge or evaluation.

If you refer to the procedures and findings of a study, this shows knowledge and understanding.
If you comment on what the studies shows, and what it supports and challenges about the theory in question, this shows evaluation.

Writing an Introduction

It is often best to write your introduction when you have finished the main body of the essay, so that you have a good understanding of the topic area.

If there is a word count for your essay try to devote 10% of this to your introduction.

Ideally, the introduction should;

Identify the subject of the essay and define the key terms. Highlight the major issues which “lie behind” the question. Let the reader know how you will focus your essay by identifying the main themes to be discussed. “Signpost” the essay’s key argument, (and, if possible, how this argument is structured).

Introductions are very important as first impressions count and they can create a h alo effect in the mind of the lecturer grading your essay. If you start off well then you are more likely to be forgiven for the odd mistake later one.

Writing a Conclusion

So many students either forget to write a conclusion or fail to give it the attention it deserves.

If there is a word count for your essay try to devote 10% of this to your conclusion.

Ideally the conclusion should summarize the key themes / arguments of your essay. State the take home message – don’t sit on the fence, instead weigh up the evidence presented in the essay and make a decision which side of the argument has more support.

Also, you might like to suggest what future research may need to be conducted and why (read the discussion section of journal articles for this).

Don”t include new information / arguments (only information discussed in the main body of the essay).

If you are unsure of what to write read the essay question and answer it in one paragraph.

Points that unite or embrace several themes can be used to great effect as part of your conclusion.

The Importance of Flow

Obviously, what you write is important, but how you communicate your ideas / arguments has a significant influence on your overall grade. Most students may have similar information / content in their essays, but the better students communicate this information concisely and articulately.

When you have finished the first draft of your essay you must check if it “flows”. This is an important feature of quality of communication (along with spelling and grammar).

This means that the paragraphs follow a logical order (like the chapters in a novel). Have a global structure with themes arranged in a way that allows for a logical sequence of ideas. You might want to rearrange (cut and paste) paragraphs to a different position in your essay if they don”t appear to fit in with the essay structure.

To improve the flow of your essay make sure the last sentence of one paragraph links to first sentence of the next paragraph. This will help the essay flow and make it easier to read.

Finally, only repeat citations when it is unclear which study / theory you are discussing. Repeating citations unnecessarily disrupts the flow of an essay.

Referencing

The reference section is the list of all the sources cited in the essay (in alphabetical order). It is not a bibliography (a list of the books you used).

In simple terms every time you cite/refer to a name (and date) of a psychologist you need to reference the original source of the information.

If you have been using textbooks this is easy as the references are usually at the back of the book and you can just copy them down. If you have been using websites, then you may have a problem as they might not provide a reference section for you to copy.

References need to be set out APA style :

Author, A. A. (year). Title of work . Location: Publisher.

Journal Articles

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), page numbers

A simple way to write your reference section is use Google scholar . Just type the name and date of the psychologist in the search box and click on the “cite” link.

Next, copy and paste the APA reference into the reference section of your essay.

Once again, remember that references need to be in alphabetical order according to surname.

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What Are Nature vs. Nurture Examples?

How is nature defined, how is nurture defined, the nature vs. nurture debate, nature vs. nurture examples, what is empiricism (extreme nurture position), contemporary views of nature vs. nurture.

Nature vs. nurture is an age-old debate about whether genetics (nature) plays a bigger role in determining a person's characteristics than lived experience and environmental factors (nurture). The term "nature vs. nature" was coined by English naturalist Charles Darwin's younger half-cousin, anthropologist Francis Galton, around 1875.

In psychology, the extreme nature position (nativism) proposes that intelligence and personality traits are inherited and determined only by genetics.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the extreme nurture position (empiricism) asserts that the mind is a blank slate at birth; external factors like education and upbringing determine who someone becomes in adulthood and how their mind works. Both of these extreme positions have shortcomings and are antiquated.

This article explores the difference between nature and nurture. It gives nature vs. nurture examples and explains why outdated views of nativism and empiricism don't jibe with contemporary views.

Thanasis Zovoilis / Getty Images

In the context of nature vs. nurture, "nature" refers to genetics and heritable factors that are passed down to children from their biological parents.

Genes and hereditary factors determine many aspects of someone’s physical appearance and other individual characteristics, such as a genetically inherited predisposition for certain personality traits.

Scientists estimate that 20% to 60% percent of temperament is determined by genetics and that many (possibly thousands) of common gene variations combine to influence individual characteristics of temperament.

However, the impact of gene-environment (or nature-nurture) interactions on someone's traits is interwoven. Environmental factors also play a role in temperament by influencing gene activity. For example, in children raised in an adverse environment (such as child abuse or violence), genes that increase the risk of impulsive temperamental characteristics may be activated (turned on).

Trying to measure "nature vs. nurture" scientifically is challenging. It's impossible to know precisely where the influence of genes and environment begin or end.

How Are Inherited Traits Measured?

“Heritability” describes the influence that genes have on human characteristics and traits. It's measured on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0. Very strong heritable traits like someone's eye color are ranked a 1.0.

Traits that have nothing to do with genetics, like speaking with a regional accent ranks a zero. Most human characteristics score between a 0.30 and 0.60 on the heritability scale, which reflects a blend of genetics (nature) and environmental (nurture) factors.

Thousands of years ago, ancient Greek philosophers like Plato believed that "innate knowledge" is present in our minds at birth. Every parent knows that babies are born with innate characteristics. Anecdotally, it may seem like a kid's "Big 5" personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness) were predetermined before birth.

What is the "Big 5" personality traits

The Big 5 personality traits is a theory that describes the five basic dimensions of personality. It was developed in 1949 by D. W. Fiske and later expanded upon by other researchers and is used as a framework to study people's behavior.

From a "nature" perspective, the fact that every child has innate traits at birth supports Plato's philosophical ideas about innatism. However, personality isn't set in stone. Environmental "nurture" factors can change someone's predominant personality traits over time. For example, exposure to the chemical lead during childhood may alter personality.

In 2014, a meta-analysis of genetic and environmental influences on personality development across the human lifespan found that people change with age. Personality traits are relatively stable during early childhood but often change dramatically during adolescence and young adulthood.

It's impossible to know exactly how much "nurture" changes personality as people get older. In 2019, a study of how stable personality traits are from age 16 to 66 found that people's Big 5 traits are both stable and malleable (able to be molded). During the 50-year span from high school to retirement, some traits like agreeableness and conscientiousness tend to increase, while others appear to be set in stone.

Nurture refers to all of the external or environmental factors that affect human development such as how someone is raised, socioeconomic status, early childhood experiences, education, and daily habits.

Although the word "nurture" may conjure up images of babies and young children being cared for by loving parents, environmental factors and life experiences have an impact on our psychological and physical well-being across the human life span. In adulthood, "nurturing" oneself by making healthy lifestyle choices can offset certain genetic predispositions.

For example, a May 2022 study found that people with a high genetic risk of developing the brain disorder Alzheimer's disease can lower their odds of developing dementia (a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and social abilities enough to affect daily life) by adopting these seven healthy habits in midlife:

Staying active
Healthy eating
Losing weight
Not smoking
Reducing blood sugar
Controlling cholesterol
Maintaining healthy blood pressure

The nature vs. nurture debate centers around whether individual differences in behavioral traits and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Early philosophers believed the genetic traits passed from parents to their children influence individual differences and traits. Other well-known philosophers believed the mind begins as a blank slate and that everything we are is determined by our experiences.

While early theories favored one factor over the other, experts today recognize there is a complex interaction between genetics and the environment and that both nature and nurture play a critical role in shaping who we are.

Eye color and skin pigmentation are examples of "nature" because they are present at birth and determined by inherited genes. Developmental delays due to toxins (such as exposure to lead as a child or exposure to drugs in utero) are examples of "nurture" because the environment can negatively impact learning and intelligence.

In Child Development

The nature vs. nurture debate in child development is apparent when studying language development. Nature theorists believe genetics plays a significant role in language development and that children are born with an instinctive ability that allows them to both learn and produce language.

Nurture theorists would argue that language develops by listening and imitating adults and other children.

In addition, nurture theorists believe people learn by observing the behavior of others. For example, contemporary psychologist Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that aggression is learned through observation and imitation.

In Psychology

In psychology, the nature vs. nurture beliefs vary depending on the branch of psychology.

Biopsychology: Researchers analyze how the brain, neurotransmitters, and other aspects of our biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. emphasizing the role of nature.
Social psychology: Researchers study how external factors such as peer pressure and social media influence behaviors, emphasizing the importance of nurture.
Behaviorism: This theory of learning is based on the idea that our actions are shaped by our interactions with our environment.

In Personality Development

Whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in personality development depends on different personality development theories.

Behavioral theories: Our personality is a result of the interactions we have with our environment, such as parenting styles, cultural influences, and life experiences.
Biological theories: Personality is mostly inherited which is demonstrated by a study in the 1990s that concluded identical twins reared apart tend to have more similar personalities than fraternal twins.
Psychodynamic theories: Personality development involves both genetic predispositions and environmental factors and their interaction is complex.

In Mental Illness

Both nature and nurture can contribute to mental illness development.

For example, at least five mental health disorders are associated with some type of genetic component ( autism , attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) , bipolar disorder , major depression, and schizophrenia ).

Other explanations for mental illness are environmental, such as:

Being exposed to drugs or alcohol in utero
Witnessing a traumatic event, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Adverse life events and chronic stress during childhood

In Mental Health Therapy

Mental health treatment can involve both nature and nurture. For example, a therapist may explore life experiences that may have contributed to mental illness development (nurture) as well as family history of mental illness (nature).

At the same time, research indicates that a person's genetic makeup may impact how their body responds to antidepressants. Taking this into consideration is important for finding the right treatment for each individual.

What Is Nativism (Extreme Nature Position)?

Innatism emphasizes nature's role in shaping our minds and personality traits before birth. Nativism takes this one step further and proposes that all of people's mental and physical characteristics are inherited and predetermined at birth.

In its extreme form, concepts of nativism gave way to the early 20th century's racially-biased eugenics movement. Thankfully, "selective breeding," which is the idea that only certain people should reproduce in order to create chosen characteristics in offspring, and eugenics, arranged breeding, lost momentum during World War II. At that time, the Nazis' ethnic cleansing (killing people based on their ethnic or religious associations) atrocities were exposed.

Philosopher John Locke's tabula rasa theory from 1689 directly opposes the idea that we are born with innate knowledge. "Tabula rasa" means "blank slate" and implies that our minds do not have innate knowledge at birth.

Locke was an empiricist who believed that all the knowledge we gain in life comes from sensory experiences (using their senses to understand the world), education, and day-to-day encounters after being born.

Today, looking at nature vs. nature in black-and-white terms is considered a misguided dichotomy (two-part system). There are so many shades of gray where nature and nurture overlap. It's impossible to tease out how inherited traits and learned behaviors shape someone's unique characteristics or influence how their mind works.

The influences of nature and nurture in psychology are impossible to unravel. For example, imagine someone growing up in a household with an alcoholic parent who has frequent rage attacks. If that child goes on to develop a substance use disorder and has trouble with emotion regulation in adulthood, it's impossible to know precisely how much genetics (nature) or adverse childhood experiences (nurture) affected that individual's personality traits or issues with alcoholism.

Epigenetics Blurs the Line Between Nature and Nurture

"Epigenetics " means "on top of" genetics. It refers to external factors and experiences that turn genes "on" or "off." Epigenetic mechanisms alter DNA's physical structure in utero (in the womb) and across the human lifespan.

Epigenetics blurs the line between nature and nurture because it says that even after birth, our genetic material isn't set in stone; environmental factors can modify genes during one's lifetime. For example, cannabis exposure during critical windows of development can increase someone's risk of neuropsychiatric disease via epigenetic mechanisms.

Nature vs. nurture is a framework used to examine how genetics (nature) and environmental factors (nurture) influence human development and personality traits.

However, nature vs. nurture isn't a black-and-white issue; there are many shades of gray where the influence of nature and nurture overlap. It's impossible to disentangle how nature and nurture overlap; they are inextricably intertwined. In most cases, nature and nurture combine to make us who we are.

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By Christopher Bergland Christopher Bergland is a retired ultra-endurance athlete turned medical writer and science reporter.

Nature vs. Nurture

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

The expression “nature vs. nurture” describes the question of how much a person's characteristics are formed by either “nature” or “nurture.” “Nature” means innate biological factors (namely genetics ), while “nurture” can refer to upbringing or life experience more generally.

Traditionally, “nature vs. nurture” has been framed as a debate between those who argue for the dominance of one source of influence or the other, but contemporary experts acknowledge that both “nature” and “nurture” play a role in psychological development and interact in complex ways.

The Meaning of Nature vs. Nurture
The Nature-vs.-Nurture Debate
Identifying Genetic and Environmental Factors

The wording of the phrase “nature vs. nurture” makes it seem as though human individuality— personality traits, intelligence , preferences, and other characteristics—must be based on either the genes people are born with or the environment in which they grew up. The reality, as scientists have shown, is more complicated, and both these and other factors can help account for the many ways in which individuals differ from each other.

The words “nature” and “nurture” themselves can be misleading. Today, “ genetics ” and “environment” are frequently used in their place—with one’s environment including a broader range of experiences than just the nurturing received from parents or caregivers. Further, nature and nurture (or genetics and environment) do not simply compete to influence a person, but often interact with each other; “nature and nurture” work together. Finally, individual differences do not entirely come down to a person’s genetic code or developmental environment—to some extent, they emerge due to messiness in the process of development as well.

A person’s biological nature can affect a person’s experience of the environment. For example, a person with a genetic disposition toward a particular trait, such as aggressiveness, may be more likely to have particular life experiences (including, perhaps, receiving negative reactions from parents or others). Or, a person who grows up with an inclination toward warmth and sociability may seek out and elicit more positive social responses from peers. These life experiences could, in turn, reinforce an individual’s initial tendencies. Nurture or life experience more generally may also modify the effects of nature—for example, by expanding or limiting the extent to which a naturally bright child receives encouragement, access to quality education , and opportunities for achievement.

Epigenetics—the science of modifications in how genes are expressed— illustrates the complex interplay between “nature” and “nurture.” An individual’s environment, including factors such as early-life adversity, may result in changes in the way that parts of a person’s genetic code are “read.” While these epigenetic changes do not override the important influence of genes in general, they do constitute additional ways in which that influence is filtered through “nurture” or the environment.

Theorists and researchers have long battled over whether individual traits and abilities are inborn or are instead forged by experiences after birth. The debate has had broad implications: The real or perceived sources of a person’s strengths and vulnerabilities matter for fields such as education, philosophy , psychiatry , and clinical psychology. Today’s consensus—that individual differences result from a combination of inherited and non-genetic factors—strikes a more nuanced middle path between nature- or nurture-focused extremes.

The debate about nature and nurture has roots that stretch back at least thousands of years, to Ancient Greek theorizing about the causes of personality. During the modern era, theories emphasizing the role of either learning and experience or biological nature have risen and fallen in prominence—with genetics gaining increasing acknowledgment as an important (though not exclusive) influence on individual differences in the later 20th century and beyond.

“Nature versus nurture” was used by English scientist Francis Galton. In 1874, he published the book English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture , arguing that inherited factors were responsible for intelligence and other characteristics.

Genetic determinism emphasizes the importance of an individual’s nature in development. It is the view that genetics is largely or totally responsible for an individual’s psychological characteristics and behavior. The term “biological determinism” is often used synonymously.

The blank slate (or “tabula rasa”) view of the mind emphasizes the importance of nurture and the environment. Notably described by English philosopher John Locke in the 1600s, it proposed that individuals are born with a mind like an unmarked chalkboard and that its contents are based on experience and learning. In the 20th century, major branches of psychology proposed a primary role for nurture and experience , rather than nature, in development, including Freudian psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Modern scientific methods have allowed researchers to advance further in understanding the complex relationships between genetics, life experience, and psychological characteristics, including mental health conditions and personality traits. Overall, the findings of contemporary studies underscore that with some exceptions—such as rare diseases caused by mutations in a single gene—no one factor, genetic or environmental, solely determines how a characteristic develops.

Scientists use multiple approaches to estimate how important genetics are for any given trait, but one of the most influential is the twin study. While identical (or monozygotic) twins share the same genetic code, fraternal (or dizygotic) twins share about 50 percent of the same genes, like typical siblings. Scientists are able to estimate the degree to which the variation in a particular trait, like extraversion , is explained by genetics in part by analyzing how similar identical twins are on that trait, compared to fraternal twins. ( These studies do have limitations, and estimates based on one population may not closely reflect all other populations.)

It’s hard to call either “nature” or “nurture,” genes or the environment, more important to human psychology. The impact of one set of factors or the other depends on the characteristic, with some being more strongly related to one’s genes —for instance, autism appears to be more heritable than depression . But in general, psychological traits are shaped by a balance of interacting genetic and non-genetic influences.

Both genes and environmental factors can contribute to a person developing mental illness. Research finds that a major part of the variation in the risk for psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, anxiety disorders, depression, and schizophrenia can be attributed to genetic differences. But not all of that risk is genetic, and life experiences, such as early-life abuse or neglect, may also affect risk of mental illness (and some individuals, based on their genetics, are likely more susceptible to environmental effects than others).

Like other psychological characteristics, personality is partly heritable. Research suggests less than half of the difference between people on measures of personality traits can be attributed to genes (one recent overall estimate is 40 percent). Non-genetic factors appear to be responsible for an equal or greater portion of personality differences between individuals. Some theorize that the social roles people adopt and invest in as they mature are among the more important non-genetic factors in personality development.

How do we make sense of new experiences? Ultimately, it's about how we categorize them—which we often do by "lumping" or "splitting" them.

How are twin studies used to answer questions related to the nature-and-nurture debate?

All I ask of strangers in the store—don't judge me as being less competent because my hair is grey and my skin well-textured. I’m just out doing my best, as we all are.

The new Biophilia Reactivity Hypothesis argues our attraction to the natural world is not an instinct but a measurable temperament trait.

A Personal Perspective: How can Adam Grant's newest book help OCD sufferers? In more ways than you think.

Do selfish genes mean that humans are designed to be selfish?

Are classical musicians more "craft" and jazz musicians more "creative"? A question for debate.

Where all beliefs and behavior come from.

Many people will outlive their money because of not saving for the future. Sadly, many people are also going to run out of health before they run out of life. Here's how not to.

Our cultures shape us in profound ways. The latest research from cultural psychology offers fascinating insights into the nature-nurture interaction.

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What is Psychology? - Meaning, Definition, Nature, Scope & Importance

What is Psychology?

Introduction and Origin of Psychology

Meaning of psychology, definition of psychology, importance of psychology.

Nature and Characteristics of psychology

Scope of Psychology

Downloadable PPT and PDF Notes of Psychology

Psychology as the science of the soul

Psychology as a science of mind, psychology as the science of consciousness, psychology as a science of behavior.

psychology definition, psychology meaning, psychology meaning in english ,definition of psychology by famous psychologists, what do you mean by psychology, what is the definition of psychology, define psychology, psychology means

Psychology as a modern discipline aims at understanding the complexities of mental processes, experience, and behavior of individuals located in a socio-cultural matrix .
The central task of psychology is to describe, understand, predict, and control behaviors in diverse situations.
Psychology attempts to understand the complexities of human nature , identify the regularities and patterns in the way people behave and develop theories and laws about them.

According to Woodworth: “The Psychology deals with the activities of the individual in relation to his environment.”

Skinner: “Psychology is the science of behavior and experience.”

Munns: “Psychology today concerns with the scientific investigation of behavior.”

Crow & Crow: “Psychology is the study of human behavior and human relationships.”

From the above definitions of psychology, we have analyzed that:

Psychology studies the mental processes
Psychology deals with behavior
Psychologists are interested in the study of the experiences of the people
Almost all Psychologists use scientific methods in their studies

Psychology studies the mental processes:

Psychology deals with behavior: , psychologists are interested in the study of the experiences of the people: , almost all psychologists use scientific methods in their studies: .

Nature of Psychology

Possesses a body of facts and is able to support it through universal laws and principles.
Doesn’t believe in hearsay, stereotype, or superstitions.
Believe in cause and effect relationship.
Is capable to turn its theory into practice by having its applied aspect.
Adopts the method of objective investigation, systematic and controlled observation, and scientific approach.
Stands for generalization, verifiability, and modification of the observed results.
Helps in predicting future developments.
Psychology possesses a well-organized theory that is supported by relevant psychological laws & principles.
It has its applied aspects in the form of various branches of applied psychology like industrial, legal, clinical, and educational psychology.
It believes that behavior has its roots, factors of its cause, and influence.
It emphasizes the search for truth by advocating objectivity, reliability, and validity in the assessment of behavior.
The methods and techniques employed in the study of the behavior in psychology are quite scientific.

what is the scope of psychology, psychology scope, psychology significance

Developmental processes
Personality
Cross-cultural and cultural psychology
Comparative physiological psychology
Abnormal psychology
Clinical and counseling psychology
Education and learning process
Environmental psychology
Industrial and organizational psychology
Social psychology
Psychological assessment
Other fields

Developmental processes:

Cognition: , personality: , cross-cultural and cultural psychology: , comparative physiological psychology: , abnormal psychology: , clinical and counseling psychology: , education and learning process: , environmental psychology: , industrial and organizational psychology: , social psychology: , psychological assessment: , other fields: .

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The nature of psychology : a selection of papers, essays, and other writings

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Nature of psychology

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Psychology remains a relatively young discipline compared to the other natural sciences. The field arose because Philosophers decided they wanted to conduct experiments using the scientific method to test their theories of the human brain and human behavior. However, less than a hundred years ago, the forefathers of psychology still lacked a complete understanding of the principles of science.

Take Freud for example, the fundamental difference between how Freud studied psychology and how it is currently studied today is the scientific method. Freud’s theories evolved from case studies and creative thinking. Take the Electra complex for example: Freud explains “A female child does not understand her lack of a penis as being a sex character; she explains it by assuming that at some earlier date she had possessed an equally large organ and had then lost it by castration” (Freud, 1924). Freud drew conclusions from speculation; today, speculation must be supported with evidence.

Similarly, Carl Jung, one of Freud’s favorite students, lacked a complete understanding of the scientific method when devising psychological theories, and instead relied on mythology. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1961), Carl Jung describes a theory of archetypes – universally meaningful concepts that are shared in man’s collective unconscious. Accordingly, the archetypes help to organize experiences and are common in cross-cultural myths, themes, and folklore. The most famous examples are Anima (the female elements that a man possesses) and Animus (male elements that a female possesses).

While Psychology was founded on the principles of science, psychologists have not always relied on the scientific method to devise their theories about man. Today the scientific method underlies psychological thinking to a much greater degree.

Freud, Sigmund. (1924). The Dissolution of the Oedipus Complex

Jung, Carl. (1961). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: New York City, Vintage.

2. (a) How are Jung`s archetypes related to myths? (b) What is meant by Collective UNconscious?

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Anja kroencke Art knows no death, it is imperishable. As said by Longfellow that art is long and time is fleeting. The spices of nature are born only to die after a certain space of existence. Art continues indefinitely. Austin Dobson assessment of art is expressed in his saying that all passes. Art alone enduring stays

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The debate between nature and nurture continues to perplex society, particularly when trying to determine the appropriate course of action in certain situations. One of these instances is sex change, a significant decision that requires careful consideration of various factors. This decision is not straightforward when confronted with complications such as hermaphroditism or botched circumcisions.

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Nature Versus Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture The nature versus nurture debate is a heated debate concerning the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities vs. their personal experiences. Although both instances shape you as a human, personally I think nature is more captivating and significant. Although throughout your life you can have different experiences, and your behaviour may change,

The Diverse Nature of Psychology

The Diverse Nature of Psychology Nicole Celencevicius Capstone Course in Psychology/Psy490 September, 26, 2011 Dr. Susan Ellis-Slavich The Diverse Nature of Psychology Psychological is a very diverse field. The field of psychology is broken into four major theoretical perspectives; the psychodynamic perspective, the humanistic perspective, the cognitive-behavioral perspective, and the family systems perspective (Plante, 2011).

Social Psychology And Multicultural Psychology

According to psychologist Gordon Lopper, social psychology is a discipline that Uses scientific methods "to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other human beings" (1985). Social psychology looks at a wide range of social topics, including group behavior, social perception,

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A Personal Account of the Wish to Study Psychology and Have a Career in Criminology Psychology

In my opinion we are all psychologists; we observe people everywhere that we go based on our own perceptions and interpretations. I first became interested in psychology a few years ago, when my auntie - who works as an autistic support worker. invited me out with her and one of the autistic clients. This was

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80 Nature vs Nurture Essay Topics & Examples

Have some suggestions and questions about nature vs nurture? On this page, find research and essay topics to explore a particular aspect of the discussion.

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Nature vs Nurture Essay

🏆 best nature vs nurture essay topics & essay examples, 📌 most interesting nurture vs nature topics to write about, 👍 good nature vs nurture topics, ❓ questions about nature vs nurture.

What affects human development: nature or nurture? Are gender roles and differences come naturally, or does society impose them? What can be argued about the personalities of identical twins? Explore any of the issues with us! Our IvyPnada team has prepared nurture vs nature topics to write about. Check essay examples via the links as well.

At first glance, a nature vs nurture essay seems to be easy. However, a limited view of the subject matter may cost you marks, which is why it is crucial to offer a well-rounded account of the debate. Here are some of the aspects that you might want to include in your essay on nature vs nurture.

The importance of the topic. The debate on what influences one’s personality, intelligence, and character is among the most prominent ones in psychology and other social sciences. Your task is to reflect this and to attempt to justify why the debate is so important. What could be done if it were resolved one day? How does the dispute affect other subject fields and topics in psychology? How would the resolution help the study of psychology and human behavior to move forward? Would it help to prove certain theories or refute the others, and what would be the effect on professional practice?
The origins of the debate. While you explore the first aspect, you might stumble upon the history of the nature vs nurture debate. Covering this theme in your essay could also earn you some extra marks. Merely summarizing historical facts is not enough, though, because your tutor is probably aware of them already. Instead, you should focus on why the debate started. Were there any developments in psychology that prompted it?
Prominent views. It is hard to omit the opinions expressed by famous scholars while writing an essay on this subject. John Locke, John B. Watson, Calvin Hall, and other authors had all shared ideas on the issue. If you need more names, try searching sample essays on nature and nurture online since most of them point out the key names. This might also help you to identify possible nature vs nurture essay titles.
Results of research studies. Research evidence is among the key nature vs nurture essay topics because there were many attempts to prove one or the other view. Examples of such studies may be cited in your textbook, so it should be the first point of your research. Your school’s library and Google Scholar might also give you more information. If you find any sources online, make sure that they are of academic quality, or you might lose marks.
Your personal experience and thoughts. Because the controversy is so prominent, nearly all people who study psychology or social studies have an opinion on it. If the instructions don’t prevent you from doing this, you should share your thoughts on the debate between nature and nurture. Support your opinion with credible research evidence and link it to the work of other scholars. If you believe that the environment is more important than genes, why is that? What other theorists supported this view, and why did they? Your opinion, supported by relevant facts and views, may become an excellent nature vs nurture essay thesis.
Suggestions for further research. Try to think about what could be done to resolve the debate once and for all. What are the main gaps in studies on nature vs nurture and how could they be addressed by scholars?

Covering all of the themes above will help you to produce an outstanding essay. Make sure to check our website for a nature vs nurture essay prompt, titles, and other useful materials!

Nature vs. Nurture In most cases, nature determines the physical characteristics which in effect influence the behavior of an individual. These are traits which largely determined by the socio-cultural environmental factors or the way the individuals are socialized […]
Human Development: Nature or Nurture? With studies and theories carried out to examine the impact of nature on the personal development and personality traits, heredity is an important factor in the development.
As Nature Made Him: Summary and Analysis As aforementioned, the author of this book provides useful analysis of this aspect of personality. One of the greatest questions that readers get answer from this book is the question of nature vs.nurture in sexuality […]
Nature vs. Nurture: “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote Thus, by contrasting Dick’s nurturing in love and affection and the conditions of his blissful childhood and adolescence with the details of a horrible crime committed by him and his attitude to it, the author […]
Nature Versus Nurture and Learning Among Children Of much concern among modern researchers is the determination of the degree of influence of nature and nurture on the development of a child and the provision of learning experiences.
Violent Behavior: Nature vs. Nurture Considering this circumstance, the shifts in one’s attitudes are likely to be ascribed to the modifications in conditions, which can be reported by families with children.
“Nature” Versus “Nurture”: Effects on Child Development Consequently, a child’s behavior cannot be viewed as solely attributable to the genetic composition of the parents and the hereditary characteristics.
Physical and Mental Wellbeing: Nature Versus Nurture In conclusion, the debates on nature versus nurture reveal that both innate health conditions and external factors shape the outcomes for physical and mental wellbeing of an individual.
Nature vs. Nurture: New Science Stirs Debate How Behavior Is Shaped A prime example of this nature of debates is the debate on whether nature or nurture has a greater bearing on the development of the diverse individual behavioral differences that exist.
Alcoholism-Nature vs. Nurture Debate The analysis on physiological physiology regarding alcohol shows that, alcohol displays feelings of superiority and fearless behavior and also, it reduces an individual’s fear.
The Relationship Between Nature and Nurture on the Intelligence
The Controversies Surrounding the Topic of Nature Versus Nurture
The Nurture Side of the Dichotomy Nature Versus Nurture
The Formula For Fruition: The Age Old Debate of Nature Versus Nurture by Kendra Cherry
The Meaning of Nature and Nurture in Psychology
The Role of Nature vs. Nurture in Violent Behavior
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The Role of Nature and Nurture: Adolescence Eating Disorders
The Nature vs. Nurture Debate in Learning More About Alcoholism
The Psychological Argument Between Nature vs. Nurture
The Role of Nature and Nurture in Human Development
The Influence of Nature Versus Nurture on an Individual Human Behavior
Use of Nature and Nurture Based Studies on Epigenetics
The Impact of Nature and Nurture on Huck’s and Finn’s Personality and Behavior in the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Correlation Between Nature and Nurture in the Personal Development
Role of Nature and Nurture in Language Development
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Understanding the Role of Nature Versus Nurture in Alcohol Addiction
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The Nature Versus Nurture Debate in the Blasphemy of Talking Politics During Bach Year, an Article by Susan McClary
What Roles Do Nature and Nurture Play on Children’s
What Differentiates the Entrepreneurs From Non-Entrepreneurs on Nature and Nurture
The Source of Violence: Nature vs. Nurture
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The Debate Between Criminal Nature and Criminal Nurture: William Sheldon Theory
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The Personality and Biology Differences in Nature Versus Nurture and Man Versus Woman Situations in Daily Life
The Importance of Twin Studies in the Nature Versus Nurture Debate
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The Issue of Nature Versus Nurture in the Development of Serial Killers
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What Makes a Monster Nature vs. Nurture in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
The Theme of Nature Versus Nurture in Shelly’s Frankenstein
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Homosexuality: Nature vs. Nurture?
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How Do You Argue Nature vs. Nurture?
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What Are Examples of Nature vs. Nurture?
Nature vs. Nurture: What Does Matter More?
What Is Stronger Nurture vs. Nature?
Why Nurture Is Better Than Nature?
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Twin Studies: What Can They Tell Us About Nature vs. Nurture?
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Who Won Nature vs. Nurture?
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NEWS FEATURE
19 March 2024

AI image generators often give racist and sexist results: can they be fixed?

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In 2022, Pratyusha Ria Kalluri, a graduate student in artificial intelligence (AI) at Stanford University in California, found something alarming in image-generating AI programs . When she prompted a popular tool for ‘a photo of an American man and his house’, it generated an image of a pale-skinned person in front of a large, colonial-style home. When she asked for ‘a photo of an African man and his fancy house’, it produced an image of a dark-skinned person in front of a simple mud house — despite the word ‘fancy’.

After some digging, Kalluri and her colleagues found that images generated by the popular tools Stable Diffusion, released by the firm Stability AI, and DALL·E, from OpenAI, overwhelmingly resorted to common stereotypes, such as associating the word ‘Africa’ with poverty, or ‘poor’ with dark skin tones. The tools they studied even amplified some biases. For example, in images generated from prompts asking for photos of people with certain jobs, the tools portrayed almost all housekeepers as people of colour and all flight attendants as women, and in proportions that are much greater than the demographic reality (see ‘Amplified stereotypes’) 1 . Other researchers have found similar biases across the board: text-to-image generative AI models often produce images that include biased and stereotypical traits related to gender, skin colour, occupations, nationalities and more.

Amplified stereotypes. Chart showing the difference between self-identification of people working in different professions and AI model output.

Source: Ref. 1

Perhaps this is unsurprising, given that society is full of such stereotypes. Studies have shown that images used by media outlets 2 , global health organizations 3 and Internet databases such as Wikipedia 4 often have biased representations of gender and race. AI models are being trained on online pictures that are not only biased but that also sometimes contain illegal or problematic imagery, such as photographs of child abuse or non-consensual nudity. They shape what the AI creates: in some cases, the images created by image generators are even less diverse than the results of a Google image search, says Kalluri. “I think lots of people should find that very striking and concerning.”

This problem matters, researchers say, because the increasing use of AI to generate images will further exacerbate stereotypes. Although some users are generating AI images for fun, others are using them to populate websites or medical pamphlets. Critics say that this issue should be tackled now, before AI becomes entrenched. Plenty of reports, including the 2022 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence from the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO, highlight bias as a leading concern.

Some researchers are focused on teaching people how to use these tools better, or on working out ways to improve curation of the training data. But the field is rife with difficulty, including uncertainty about what the ‘right’ outcome should be. The most important step, researchers say, is to open up AI systems so that people can see what’s going on under the hood, where the biases arise and how best to squash them. “We need to push for open sourcing. If a lot of the data sets are not open source, we don’t even know what problems exist,” says Abeba Birhane, a cognitive scientist at the Mozilla Foundation in Dublin.

Make me a picture

Image generators first appeared in 2015, when researchers built alignDRAW, an AI model that could generate blurry images based on text input 5 . It was trained on a data set containing around 83,000 images with captions. Today, a swathe of image generators of varying abilities are trained on data sets containing billions of images. Most tools are proprietary, and the details of which images are fed into these systems are often kept under wraps, along with exactly how they work.

An AI-generated image showing a Black man in a long tunic with a disconnected leg standing in front of a small mud hut with a grass roof

This image, generated from a prompt for “an African man and his fancy house”, shows some of the typical associations between ‘African’ and ‘poverty’ in many generated images. Credit: P. Kalluri et al . generated using Stable Diffusion XL

In general, these generators learn to connect attributes such as colour, shape or style to various descriptors. When a user enters a prompt, the generator builds new visual depictions on the basis of attributes that are close to those words. The results can be both surprisingly realistic and, often, strangely flawed (hands sometimes have six fingers, for example).

The captions on these training images — written by humans or automatically generated, either when they are first uploaded to the Internet or when data sets are put together — are crucial to this process. But this information is often incomplete, selective and thus biased itself. A yellow banana, for example, would probably be labelled simply as ‘a banana’, but a description for a pink banana would be likely to include the colour. “The same thing happens with skin colour. White skin is considered the default so it isn’t typically mentioned,” says Kathleen Fraser, an AI research scientist at the National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada. “So the AI models learn, incorrectly in this case, that when we use the phrase ‘skin colour’ in our prompts, we want dark skin colours,” says Fraser.

The difficulty with these AI systems is that they can’t just leave out ambiguous or problematic details in their generated images. “If you ask for a doctor, they can’t leave out the skin tone,” says Kalluri. And if a user asks for a picture of a kind person, the AI system has to visualize that somehow. “How they fill in the blanks leaves a lot of room for bias to creep in,” she says. This is a problem that is unique to image generation — by contrast, an AI text generator could create a language-based description of a doctor without ever mentioning gender or race, for instance; and for a language translator, the input text would be sufficient.

Do it yourself

One commonly proposed approach to generating diverse images is to write better prompts. For instance, a 2022 study found that adding the phrase “if all individuals can be [X], irrespective of gender” to a prompt helps to reduce gender bias in the images produced 6 .

But this doesn’t always work as intended. A 2023 study by Fraser and her colleagues found that such intervention sometimes exacerbated biases 7 . Adding the phrase “if all individuals can be felons irrespective of skin colour”, for example, shifted the results from mostly dark-skinned people to all dark-skinned people. Even explicit counter-prompts can have unintended effects: adding the word ‘white’ to a prompt for ‘a poor person’, for example, sometimes resulted in images in which commonly associated features of whiteness, such as blue eyes, were added to dark-skinned faces.

An AI-generated image in a photo-realistic style showing a white man in a white doctor's coat sitting beside three Black children

In a Lancet study of global health images , the prompt “Black African doctor is helping poor and sick white children, photojournalism” produced this image, which reproduced the ‘white saviour’ trope they were explicitly trying to counteract. Credit: A. Alenichev et al. generated using Midjourney

Another common fix is for users to direct results by feeding in a handful of images that are more similar to what they’re looking for. The generative AI program Midjourney, for instance, allows users to add image URLs in the prompt. “But it really feels like every time institutions do this they are really playing whack-a-mole,” says Kalluri. “They are responding to one very specific kind of image that people want to have produced and not really confronting the underlying problem.”

These solutions also unfairly put the onus on the users, says Kalluri, especially those who are under-represented in the data sets. Furthermore, plenty of users might not be thinking about bias, and are unlikely to pay to run multiple queries to get more-diverse imagery. “If you don’t see any diversity in the generated images, there’s no financial incentive to run it again,” says Fraser.

Some companies say they add something to their algorithms to help counteract bias without user intervention: OpenAI, for example, says that DALL·E2 uses a “new technique” to create more diversity from prompts that do not specify race or gender . But it’s unclear how such systems work and they, too, could have unintended impacts. In early February, Google released an image generator that had been tuned to avoid some typical image-generator pitfalls. A media frenzy ensued when user prompts requesting a picture of a ‘1943 German soldier’ created images of Black and Asian Nazis — a diverse but historically inaccurate result. Google acknowledged the mistake and temporarily stopped its generator creating images of people.

Data clean-up

Alongside such efforts lie attempts to improve curation of training data sets, which is time-consuming and expensive for those containing billions of images. That means companies resort to automated filtering mechanisms to remove unwanted data.

AI-generated images and video are here: how could they shape research?

However, automated filtering based on keywords doesn’t catch everything. Researchers including Birhane have found, for example, that benign keywords such as ‘daughter’ and ‘nun’ have been used to tag sexually explicit images in some cases, and that images of schoolgirls are sometimes tagged with terms searched for by sexual predators 8 . And filtering, too, can have unintended effects. For example, automated attempts to clean large, text-based data sets have removed a disproportionate amount of content created by and for individuals from minority groups 9 . And OpenAI discovered that its broad filters for sexual and violent imagery in DALL·E2 had the unintended effect of creating a bias against the generation of images of women, because women were disproportionately represented in those images.

The best curation “requires human involvement”, says Birhane. But that’s slow and expensive, and looking at many such images takes a deep emotional toll, as she well knows. “Sometimes it just gets too much.”

Independent evaluations of the curation process are impeded by the fact that these data sets are often proprietary. To help overcome this problem, LAION , a non-profit organization in Hamburg, Germany, has created publicly available machine-learning models and data sets that link to images and their captions, in an attempt to replicate what goes on behind the closed doors of AI companies. “What they are doing by putting together the LAION data sets is giving us a glimpse into what data sets inside big corporations and companies like OpenAI look like,” says Birhane. Although intended for research use, these data sets have been used to train models such as Stable Diffusion.

Citations show gender bias — and the reasons are surprising

Researchers have learnt from interrogating LAION data that bigger isn’t always better. AI researchers often assume that the bigger the training data set, the more likely that biases will disappear, says Birhane. “People often claim that scale cancels out noise,” she says. “In fact, the good and the bad don’t balance out.” In a 2023 study, Birhane and her team compared the data set LAION-400M, which has 400 million image links, with LAION-2B-en, which has 2 billion, and found that hate content in the captions increased by around 12% in the larger data set 10 , probably because more low-quality data had slipped through.

An investigation by another group found that the LAION-5B data set contained child sexual abuse material. Following this, LAION took down the data sets. A spokesperson for LAION told Nature that it is working with the UK charity Internet Watch Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Winnipeg to identify and remove links to illegal materials before it republishes the data sets.

Open or shut

If LAION is bearing the brunt of some bad press, that’s perhaps because it’s one of the few open data sources. “We still don’t know a lot about the data sets that are created within these corporate companies,” says Will Orr, who studies cultural practices of data production at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “They say that it’s to do with this being proprietary knowledge, but it’s also a way to distance themselves from accountability.”

In response to Nature ’s questions about which measures are in place to remove harmful or biased content from DALL·E’s training data set, OpenAI pointed to publicly available reports that outline its work to reduce gender and racial bias , without providing exact details on how that’s accomplished. Stability AI and Midjourney did not respond to Nature ’s e-mails.

Orr interviewed some data set creators from technology companies, universities and non-profit organizations, including LAION, to understand their motivations and the constraints. “Some of these creators had feelings that they were not able to present all the limitations of the data sets,” he says, because that might be perceived as critical weaknesses that undermine the value of their work.

How journals are fighting back against a wave of questionable images

Specialists feel that the field still lacks standardized practices for annotating their work, which would help to make it more open to scrutiny and investigation. “The machine-learning community has not historically had a culture of adequate documentation or logging,” says Deborah Raji, a Mozilla Foundation fellow and computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018, AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru — a strong proponent of responsible AI and co-founder of the community group Black in AI — and her team released a datasheet to standardize the documentation process for machine-learning data sets 11 . The datasheet has more than 50 questions to guide documentation about the content, collection process, filtering, intended uses and more.

The datasheet “was a really critical intervention”, says Raji. Although many academics are increasingly adopting such documentation practices, there’s no incentive for companies to be open about their data sets. Only regulations can mandate this, says Birhane.

One example is the European Union’s AI Act, which was endorsed by the European Parliament on 13 March. Once it becomes law, it will require that developers of high-risk AI systems provide technical documentation, including datasheets describing the training data and techniques, as well as details about the expected output quality and potential discriminatory impacts, among other information. But which models will come under the high-risk classification remains unclear. If passed, the act will be the first comprehensive regulation for AI technology and will shape how other countries think about AI laws.

Specialists such as Birhane, Fraser and others think that explicit and well-informed regulations will push companies to be more cognizant of how they build and release AI tools. “A lot of the policy focus for image-generation work has been oriented around minimizing misinformation, misrepresentation and fraud through the use of these images, and there has been very little, if any, focus on bias, functionality or performance,” says Raji.

Even with a focus on bias, however, there’s still the question of what the ideal output of AI should be, researchers say — a social question with no simple answer. “There is not necessarily agreement on what the so-called right answer should look like,” says Fraser. Do we want our AI systems to reflect reality, even if the reality is unfair? Or should it represent characteristics such as gender and race in an even-handed, 50:50 way? “Someone has to decide what that distribution should be,” she says.

Nature 627 , 722-725 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00674-9

Bianchi, F. et al. Proc. 2023 ACM Conf. Fairness Account . Transpar. (FAccT '23) 1493–1504 (2023); available at https://doi.org/mkw9

Ash, E., Durante, R., Grebenschikova, M. & Schwarz, C. Visual Representation and Stereotypes in News Media. CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP16624 (CEPR, 2021); available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3960205

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