Why do sociologists reject nurture theories of behaviour?
Look at the following notes. Use the words below to fill in the gaps.
Explanations, genes, similar things, history, behave, witchcraft,
biology, Anthropologists, Sioux Indians, individuals, nature, norms, people
We have two different *** for human behaviour. One uses nature to explain behaviour, the other uses nurture. The question is, which is the best explanation? If you use nature to explain why people think and act as they do, then you are saying that human behaviour is something do with ***. As you may know from science lessons, most animals with the same genes look very similar to each other and behave in almost the same way.
All human beings have the same basic *** so it would follow that all humans would *** in the same way if what we did was based just on nature. People in Britain do tend to behave in a similar way. They do *** and wear certain types of clothing. Do all people all over the world behave in the same way? Sociologists tend to say 'no' and use three types of evidence to prove the point.
The first type of argument uses historical evidence. If human behaviour was in our genes then human behaviour over a period of time would hardly change, in the same way that animal behaviour only changes very slowly. Your knowledge and understanding of *** shows you that this is not the case. Just over three hundred years ago women were burnt or drowned because they behaved differently from others. They would be accused of *** when now we would consider these women eccentric, different or at worst mentally ill.
The second argument uses anthropological evidence. Anthropologists are people who study and compare societies from all over the world. If our behaviour was in our genes then people all around the world would behave in the same way. *** show that people behave differently in different societies. For example, among the *** of North America people show wealth by giving what they own away.
A case study is a study of one particular person. We study *** to find out about all people. If our behaviour was a result of *** then our behaviour would not change much during our lives or from one person to another. We would all be the same. If our behaviour is just to do with nature, then people who are brought up without other *** will behave as other people do. Dogs who are brought up without other dogs will still wag their tails and bark, but humans who are brought up by animals, such as the ‘wolf boy of Aveyron’ or Amala and Kamala behave very differently from other children.
This goes to prove that humans are taught how to behave by other people in society. Although our biology may be important in how we behave, sociologists believe that society and culture are far more important in giving us our *** , morals and values.