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Module 1.1

© Tony Freeman/PhotoEdit — All rights reserved. Active Learning
TEACH

rubberball/Getty Images to pay close attention to the nature
(20 minutes) Encourage students

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AP Exam Tip versus nurture debate and the inter-
A nature-made nature–nurture experiment Identical twins have the same genes. This makes action between nature and nurture in
them ideal participants in studies designed to shed light on hereditary and environmental influences on determining human behavior. This is
personality, intelligence, and other traits. Fraternal twins have different genes but often share a similar Pay close attention to what your
environment. Twin studies provide a wealth of findings — described in later modules — showing the authors emphasize as they tell the a theme that will emerge again and
importance of both nature and nurture. story of psychology. When they
say the nature–nurture issue is the again throughout the textbook. Divide
biggest issue in psychology, that’s
countered that there is nothing in the mind that does not first come in from the external a sign that it’s likely to appear on students into small groups and assign
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the AP exam.
world through the senses. them a common human behavior (e.g.,
Insight into how our species’ history sways our behavior arose after 22-year-old Charles aggression, helping). Ask them to come
Darwin embarked on a seafaring voyage. During his adventure, Darwin pondered the incred- AP Exam Tip
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ible species variation he encountered, including tortoises on one island that differed from up with one nurture explanation and
those on nearby islands. Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) explained this diversity by There is a ton of vocabulary in this one nature explanation for the behav-
proposing the evolutionary process of natural selection : From among chance variations, unit, and in psychology. Learning ior. For example, aggression might be

nature selects those traits that best enable an organism to survive and reproduce in a specific vocabulary is really not so hard:
environment. Darwin’s principle of natural selec- The secret is to work on it every influenced by hormone levels (nature)
tion is still with us 160+ years later as biology’s day. Try flash cards or an online or parenting styles (nurture). Then have
quizzing memory game. Work
Worth Publishers.
organizing principle. While some theorists used with a study buddy. Impress your them answer the following questions:
evolutionary principles in discriminatory or racist friends with your new vocabulary.
ways (such as the discredited idea of eugenics, or Just don’t leave it until the night • Is one explanation more important
before the test. If you rehearse the
selectively breeding humans to promote certain vocabulary throughout the unit,
characteristics), evolution also has become an you will do better on the unit test. than the other? (Both are equally
important principle for twenty- first-century psy- Don’t just reread the flash cards, important in the example of
but rather quiz yourself on them
chology. This would surely have pleased Darwin, or paraphrase them in your own aggressive behavior.)
who believed his theory explained not only animal & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
words. The big bonus is that you
structures but also animal behaviors. will also retain far more information • How might the two interact to
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The nature–nurture issue recurs throughout for the AP exam. influence the behavior? (Nurture
this text, as today’s psychologists continue to explore
the relative contributions of biology and experi- works on what nature provides.
ence. They ask, for example: How are we humans natural selection the principle If both nature and nurture play
alike because of our shared biology and evolu- that the inherited traits enabling a role in heightened aggression,
tionary history? That’s the focus of evolutionary Charles Darwin (1809–1882) Darwin an organism to survive and

argued that natural selection shapes behaviors
.

psychology And how do we individually differ as well as bodies. reproduce in a particular then aggressive behavior would be
environment will (in competition
because of our differing genes and environments? Bedford, Freeman & more likely, though not inevitable.)
with other trait variations) most
That’s the focus of behavior genetics . likely be passed on to succeeding
We can, for example, ask: Are gender differences biologically predisposed or socially generations.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman Module 1.1 5 example, are gender differences
constructed? Is children’s grammar mostly innate or formed by experience? How are evolutionary psychology the PRACTICE
intelligence and personality differences influenced by heredity and by environment? study of the evolution of
Should we treat psychological disorders — depression, for example — as disorders of the behavior and the mind, using
brain, disorders of thought, or both? principles of natural selection. Argumentation (SP 4)
Again and again, we will see that in contemporary science, the nature–nurture tension behavior genetics the study
of the relative power and limits
dissolves: Nurture works on what nature provides. Moreover, every psychological event (every of genetic and environmental (One class period) The authors pose
thought, every emotion) is simultaneously a biological event. Thus, depression can be both influences on behavior. questions related to the role of nature
a brain disorder and a thought disorder. Copyright © and nurture in human behavior. For
Interaction of Heredity and Environment
biologically predisposed or socially
constructed? Are intelligence and
heredity or the environment? Set up
03_myersAPpsychology4e_28116_ch01_002_163.indd 5 15/12/23 9:20 AM personality differences influenced by
debates among students focused
on these questions, by assigning
students to defend either the nature
or nurture side using scientifically
derived evidence. End the debates
with a discussion of how nature and
nurture are not opposed, but rather
work together to influence behavior
and mental processes. Education
World has a useful website for
“Debates in the Classroom.” Visit
educationworld.com/a_curr/strategy/
strategy012.shtml for details on how
to use this engaging tool.
Interaction of Heredity and Environment Module 1.1 5

03_HammerTE4e_47547_ch01_2a_163_4pp.indd 5 07/02/24 5:15 PM