The Nature versus Nurture Debate
The nature versus nurture debate asks whether human characteristics and behaviour are mainly the product of biology and instinct, nature, or of socialisation and the environment a person grows up in, nurture.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Learn the precise definitions of nature, biological or instinctive explanations, and nurture, socialisation or environmental explanations.
- Learn why most sociologists favour nurture, because behaviour and culture vary so widely between societies and change over historical time in ways pure biology would not predict.
- Learn the details of at least one feral or isolated child case, such as Genie or Oxana Malaya, that you can use as evidence, including roughly when and where it happened and what it showed.
- Be ready to explain exactly what the case shows: children isolated from normal socialisation fail to develop typical human language and social behaviour, even though they are biologically human.
- Learn one limitation of using feral child cases as evidence, for example that they are extremely rare and involve other factors, such as neglect or malnutrition, that make it hard to isolate the effect of socialisation alone.
- Practise applying nature and nurture to other topics on the course, such as gender identity or criminal behaviour, rather than only discussing feral children.
- For 'discuss' or 'assess' questions, use the strongest evidence for nurture, feral children and cross-cultural variation in norms and values, against the strongest points for nature, before reaching a conclusion.
Worked example
A newspaper article reports that a five-year-old boy in a remote area was recently found after being kept largely isolated from other people for most of his life, and that he does not yet speak in full sentences the way most five-year-olds do. Using this scenario and sociological evidence, explain what this might suggest about the importance of nurture in child development.
- Identify the key detail: the boy has had very limited normal social contact for most of his life, the defining feature of a feral or isolated child case.
- Identify the outcome described: he does not speak in full sentences the way most five-year-olds do, pointing to delayed or incomplete language development.
- Link to the definition of nurture: since language is normally learned through socialisation and interaction with others, a nurture process, his lack of normal social contact is a plausible explanation for his delayed language.
- Bring in comparative evidence: this is similar to real documented cases such as Genie, found isolated in California in 1970, who also failed to fully develop language despite having no known biological reason why she could not learn to speak.
- State the sociological conclusion carefully: this suggests being biologically human, nature, is not on its own enough to produce typical human behaviour such as full language; normal socialisation, nurture, also appears necessary.
- Add a caution: because this is a single case, and other factors, such as any additional neglect or health issues, could also be involved, a sociologist would be careful not to conclude that nurture is the only factor at work.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1Define 'nature' in the nature versus nurture debate.Show answer
Answer: The view that human characteristics and behaviour are mainly the product of biology, genetics or instinct.
Q2Define 'nurture' in the nature versus nurture debate.Show answer
Answer: The view that human characteristics and behaviour are mainly the product of socialisation and the environment a person grows up in.
Q3Which side of the debate do most sociologists generally favour, and why?Show answer
Answer: Nurture, because human behaviour, norms and values vary enormously between different societies and change over time in ways pure biology cannot easily explain.
Q4Who was Genie, and what did her case show?Show answer
Answer: A girl discovered in California in 1970, aged around thirteen, after being kept isolated from almost all social contact for most of her childhood; her failure to fully develop language afterwards is used as evidence for the importance of early socialisation, nurture.
Q5Who was Oxana Malaya, and what did her case show?Show answer
Answer: A girl found in Ukraine in 1991, aged around eight, after spending years largely in the company of dogs due to parental neglect; she showed dog-like behaviours and difficulty developing human speech, used as further evidence for the importance of socialisation.
Q6Give one limitation of using feral or isolated child cases as evidence for nurture.Show answer
Answer: They are extremely rare and often involve other complicating factors, such as neglect, malnutrition or abuse, which makes it hard to say socialisation alone explains everything observed.
Q7Give one type of evidence, other than feral children, that sociologists could use to support a nurture-based explanation of behaviour.Show answer
Answer: Cross-cultural evidence showing that norms and values, such as what is considered polite or typical gender roles, vary widely between different societies.
Q8Why might a sociologist argue that nature and nurture interact rather than one alone explaining behaviour?Show answer
Answer: Because some basic biological capacities, such as the ability to learn language at all, appear to have a natural basis, while the specific language, norms and behaviour a person actually develops depend on their social environment.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two reasons why sociologists generally favour nurture-based explanations of human behaviour over nature-based explanations.
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Explain two ways in which the case of a feral or isolated child provides evidence for the importance of socialisation.
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Item G: The case of Genie, a girl discovered in California in 1970 after being kept isolated from almost all human contact for most of her childhood, is often used as evidence in the nature versus nurture debate. When found, aged around thirteen, Genie could not speak and showed few of the social behaviours typically expected of a child her age. Discuss the extent to which evidence from cases of extreme childhood isolation, such as Genie, supports the view that nurture is more important than nature in shaping human behaviour.
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See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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