Sociology Study Test Questions with Correct Answers

Sociology Study Test Questions with Correct Answers What is the nature-nurture debate? - ANSWER The nature-nurture debate is a debatable subject about whether human's genetics are influenced primarily by nature - being that how a person was brought into the world receiving genes from mother and father gave them the characteristics (language, intelligence, social and sexual relations) and made them into the person they are today. Or if humans genetics are primarily influenced by nurturing - being how one is raised by mother and father, how the environment and society effects them as a whole. In the nurture corner (blank slate) - it is believed that humans know or know how to do nothing at the time of birth, no inheritable characteristics (learning exerts the overwhelming influence). It is seen by some evolutionary biologists that our behaviors are so extremely diverse that "genetics" seem to hardly exist. Is the nature-nurture debate truly debated among scholars? Why or why not? - ANSWER I don't believe it is actually a true debate. Scholars by have a true belief/disbelief in one or the other, though I don't think there is a true, long, drawn out debate. What type of evidence is used to support nature arguments? - ANSWER a. How genes code for proteins, which constitute the entire body including the nervous system. One of the nervous systems functions is behavior - the actions of muscles and glands in response to environmental stimulation. b. Naturalists point to studies using brain-imaging technologies to support their claims of the inheritability of behavior. What type of evidence is used to support nurture arguments? - ANSWER a. Neural plasticity - learning and development b. How learning changes the physical and chemical structure of the brain. i. The classically conditioned fear in rodents changes the amygdala, which controls fear reactions by way of output projections to the behavioral, autonomic, and endocrine response control systems located at the brainstem Which perspective on human nature does Dr. Pinker attempt to discredit? - ANSWER He firmly disagrees with the blank slate theory; he offers a strong critique of it by providing evidence that biology plays an important role in human behavior. What does the term blank slate mean? - ANSWER Lets suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? To this I answer in one word, from EXPERIENCE. -This is the doctrine of the blank slateb. Modern day social science endorses the blank slate (nurture) theory of human nature and behavior. Be able to summarize the various theories of human nature discussed in Pinker's article and in class. - ANSWER a. The Blank Slate b. The noble savage i. I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran. c. "The doctrine of the ghost in the machine" i. When I consider the mind... I cannot distinguish in myself any parts, but apprehend myself to be clearly one and entire... But it is quite otherwise with corporeal or extended objects, for there is not one of them imaginable by me which my mind cannot easily divide into parts... This [is] sufficient to teach me that the mind or soul of man is entirely different from the body. -Rene Descartes