CHAPTER 2
Learning objectives:
1. Explain how and why the human brain evolved the way it did.
2. Understand how culture and nature work together to affect
choices and behaviour and make culture a better way of being
social.
3. Summarise how the two systems of the mind differ and work
together.
4. Describe how inner processes serve interpersonal function
Nurture: Regarded as the guiding principles that guide the way an individual
lives their life.
o An individual’s nurturing is based on many factors, including religion, culture,
geographic location, race, gender and family upbringing, parenting styles,
sibling interaction and schooling.
The way we are nurtured is even more influential than the individual’s innate
nature, although this has been widely debated and contested.
NATURE, NURTURE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
EXPLAINING THE PSYCHE
Psyche: A broad term for mind, including emotions, desires, perceptions and
indeed all psychological processes.
Why are people the way they are? Why is the human mind set up as it is? Why
do people think, want, feel and act in certain ways?
o The answers lie in nature and culture.
The nature explanations say that people are born a certain way:
Their genes, hormones, brain structure and other processes dictate
how they will choose and act.
The cultural explanations focus on what people learn from their
parents, from society and from their own experiences.
Frans de Waal argued that nature versus culture isn’t a fair fight because without
nature you have nothing.
, o He proposed that the argument should be waged between whether a
particular behaviour is the direct result of nature or comes from a
combination of nature and culture.
o Simply nature comes first, and culture builds on what nature has provided.
Nature has prepared human beings specifically for culture.
The characteristics that set humans apart from other animals include language,
a flexible self that can hold multiple roles, and an advanced ability to understand
each other’s mental states.
o These characteristics are mainly there to enable people to create and sustain
culture.
NATURE DEFINED
Nature: The physical world around us, including its laws and processes.
o It includes the entire world that would be there even if no human beings
existed.
Those who explain human behaviour using nature invoke the sorts of processes
that natural sciences have shown.
o Eg. Neuroscientists look for explanations in terms of what happens inside the
brain (chemical reactions, electrical activity).
Behaviour geneticists seek to understand behaviour as the result of genes
and show that people are born with tendencies to feel and act in certain ways.
Advocates of nature in psychology turn to evolutionary theory to understand
behaviour patterns.
, EVOLUTION, AND DOING WHAT’S NATURAL
The theory of evolution was proposed by the British biologist Charles Darwin in
the 1800s.
o It focuses on how change occurs in nature.
Humans are animals and engage in the basic needs and wants of another
animal.
An important feature of most living things is the drive to prolong life.
o There are 2 ways of doing this
1. Go on living.
Beliefs that death is not the end but merely a transition into a
different kind of life have been found all over the world.
2. Reproduction.
Reproduction is the only possible strategy to enable any form of life
to continue into the future.
Change is another common trait of living things.
o Nature produces changes that are essentially random.
o Some random changes will disappear, whereas others will endure.
The process of natural selection decides which traits will disappear
and which will continue.
Natural selection has 2 criteria:
1. Survival.
2. Reproduction.
A trait that improves survival or reproduction will tend to last for many
generations and become more common.
o An unusual trait that makes someone happier or gives the person higher self-
esteem or fosters a weird sense of humour will not necessarily be passed on
to future generations, unless those changes can translate into better survival
or better reproduction.
Survival: Living longer.
Herbert Spencer’s survival of the fittest describes natural selection.
o Animals compete against each other to survive, as in who can get the best
food or who can best escape being eaten by larger animal
Survival depends in part on the circumstances in your environment.
Learning objectives:
1. Explain how and why the human brain evolved the way it did.
2. Understand how culture and nature work together to affect
choices and behaviour and make culture a better way of being
social.
3. Summarise how the two systems of the mind differ and work
together.
4. Describe how inner processes serve interpersonal function
Nurture: Regarded as the guiding principles that guide the way an individual
lives their life.
o An individual’s nurturing is based on many factors, including religion, culture,
geographic location, race, gender and family upbringing, parenting styles,
sibling interaction and schooling.
The way we are nurtured is even more influential than the individual’s innate
nature, although this has been widely debated and contested.
NATURE, NURTURE AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
EXPLAINING THE PSYCHE
Psyche: A broad term for mind, including emotions, desires, perceptions and
indeed all psychological processes.
Why are people the way they are? Why is the human mind set up as it is? Why
do people think, want, feel and act in certain ways?
o The answers lie in nature and culture.
The nature explanations say that people are born a certain way:
Their genes, hormones, brain structure and other processes dictate
how they will choose and act.
The cultural explanations focus on what people learn from their
parents, from society and from their own experiences.
Frans de Waal argued that nature versus culture isn’t a fair fight because without
nature you have nothing.
, o He proposed that the argument should be waged between whether a
particular behaviour is the direct result of nature or comes from a
combination of nature and culture.
o Simply nature comes first, and culture builds on what nature has provided.
Nature has prepared human beings specifically for culture.
The characteristics that set humans apart from other animals include language,
a flexible self that can hold multiple roles, and an advanced ability to understand
each other’s mental states.
o These characteristics are mainly there to enable people to create and sustain
culture.
NATURE DEFINED
Nature: The physical world around us, including its laws and processes.
o It includes the entire world that would be there even if no human beings
existed.
Those who explain human behaviour using nature invoke the sorts of processes
that natural sciences have shown.
o Eg. Neuroscientists look for explanations in terms of what happens inside the
brain (chemical reactions, electrical activity).
Behaviour geneticists seek to understand behaviour as the result of genes
and show that people are born with tendencies to feel and act in certain ways.
Advocates of nature in psychology turn to evolutionary theory to understand
behaviour patterns.
, EVOLUTION, AND DOING WHAT’S NATURAL
The theory of evolution was proposed by the British biologist Charles Darwin in
the 1800s.
o It focuses on how change occurs in nature.
Humans are animals and engage in the basic needs and wants of another
animal.
An important feature of most living things is the drive to prolong life.
o There are 2 ways of doing this
1. Go on living.
Beliefs that death is not the end but merely a transition into a
different kind of life have been found all over the world.
2. Reproduction.
Reproduction is the only possible strategy to enable any form of life
to continue into the future.
Change is another common trait of living things.
o Nature produces changes that are essentially random.
o Some random changes will disappear, whereas others will endure.
The process of natural selection decides which traits will disappear
and which will continue.
Natural selection has 2 criteria:
1. Survival.
2. Reproduction.
A trait that improves survival or reproduction will tend to last for many
generations and become more common.
o An unusual trait that makes someone happier or gives the person higher self-
esteem or fosters a weird sense of humour will not necessarily be passed on
to future generations, unless those changes can translate into better survival
or better reproduction.
Survival: Living longer.
Herbert Spencer’s survival of the fittest describes natural selection.
o Animals compete against each other to survive, as in who can get the best
food or who can best escape being eaten by larger animal
Survival depends in part on the circumstances in your environment.
