Nature vs Nurture Continued

1. Nature
vs.
Nurture:
What Studies Tell Us
!

2. Stress: Nature or Nurture?
Some people respond well to
stress.When there is too much
work to get done, these people
remain calm, organize time
well, finish the work with focus
and without feeling
overwhelmed. Other people do not respond
well to stress.When they have
too much work to do, they feel
like the world is crushing them.
They feel panic. Sometimes, they
feel so much panic that they
can’t focus on the work that
needs to be done.

3. Stress: Nature or Nurture?
Group 1:
Baby rats are nurtured
by a mother rat
Group 2:
Baby rats are neglected
by a mother rat
?

4. Stress: Nature or Nurture?
Group 1:
DNA is tested and
epigenetic tags are visible
on the stress response
gene.These rats respond
very well in stressful
situations.
Group 2:
DNA is tested and
epigenetic tags are not
present on the stress
response gene.These rats
do NOT respond well in
stressful situations.

5. Stress: Nature or Nurture?
Group 1:
The offspring of these rats
ALSO has epigenetic tags
on the stress response
gene: the stress response
gene is “turned on.”
Group 2:
The offspring of these rats
ALSO have no epigenetic
tags on the stress
response gene. (They
inherited an imprinted
gene, and also do not
resound well to stress).

6. Stress: Nature or Nurture?
The rats that were not nurtured as
babies had the stress response gene
“turned off.” In this case, the rats
could not handle stressful situations
well for the rest of their lives.
This study shows that attentive, loving parents set their
children up for future success by creating an epigenetic
modification that allows the children to better cope with
stress.The environment can change our genes, and our
genes impact certain aspects of our behavior.

7. Genes & Test Scores
In a recent study at University college London, researchers
compared test scores of high school students to their genes.
The study found that 58% of the variation on student test
scores was due to genetic factors.
The research drew
on the exam scores
of more than 11,000
16-year-olds.
Researchers also
compared the scores
of identical and non-
identical twins in a
supplementary study.

8. Genes & Success
Does having amazing genes lead to future
career success and wealth?
If this boy in poverty has great genes - for example, high intelligence -
will he be successful in a future career?

9. Genes & Success
For children living in poverty, it did
not matter whether they had good
genes or not.The negative impact of
the environment almost always
played a greater role in their future
success than their genes.
For children in middle class and
wealthy homes, having good genes
became very important to
determining their future success.
Genes played a much greater role in
the future success of each child.

10. Genes & Success
Researchers concluded that for children in harsh living
conditions, it is harder for exceptional genes to “shine through.”

11. Pair-Share
Is it possible for a child to be born evil?

12. Psychopathy
A personality disorder in which a person shows a lack of
remorse and empathy. Also known as anti-social
personality disorder, psychopathy is characterized by lack
of a conscience: a psychopath may understand society’s
definition of right and wrong, but they either don’t care,
or don’t understand why they need to conform to it.

13. Psychopathy
Signs someone might be a psychopath:
!
- They are charming, and good at
wearing the “mask” of a sane and
likable person
- They think they are better than
others and have an inflated image of
their own greatness
- They are good at manipulating
others
- They frequently lie
- They do not show any emotions or
sympathy for others
- They are reckless and impulsive

14. Sociopathy
The terms psychopath and sociopath mean roughly the
same thing.The word “sociopath” was coined to refer to
someone whose immoral behavior is learned (a product
of the environment) rather than someone whose
immoral behavior is due to their nature (biology).The
term has fallen out of use by psychologists.
Sorry Sherlock,
A psychopath and a sociopath
are the same thing…And you
just made up the term “high-
functioning sociopath.”

15. Psychopathy Facts:
1% of the human population has the personality
disorder known as psychopathy. That means out
of every 100 people you’ve met in your life, one of
them was a psychopath!
!
Men are three times more likely to be
psychopaths than women.
!
15-25% of all prisoners in jail are psychopaths.
!
The profession with the highest number of psychopaths
is company CEO/top executive. Psychopaths also make
good lawyers.