ANTHR310 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Developmental Psychology, Eleanor Maccoby, Operationalization
27 Sep 2016
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Nature/nurture debate: a controversy whether humans think or act in certain ways because of some inherent nature or because of the social and physical environment in which they are reared and nurtured. Nature and nurture in the history of western ideas. Biological determinism: the belief that human behaviors are caused by biological factors. There is no doubt that human behavior is the complex outcome of both biological and social factors. Strict adherents to the nurture argument overlook evidence that at least some human behaviors have a biological substrate: i. e. some mental illnesses have an underlying genetic component. Physical characteristics can be influenced by environmental factors; by this argument, it is highly likely that behavior is as well. So-called human-behavior being addressed is one much more often attributable to one sex than the other. Belief in women"s natural inferiority in western philosophy and religion. Belief in women"s natural inferiority in western science.
