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The debate between heredity and environment reiterates the earlier debate about nature and nurture. Following the publication of work by the behaviourist J.P. Watson, there was a widespread assumption that environment and conditioning were all-important; this view ignored biological and genetic determinants, disregarding strong evidence for genetic factors. Geneticists, such as Mather and Jinks, observe gene behaviour but do not say that a gene type is identical with behaviour. They look at the interaction between genetic and environmental aspects, as this accounts for individual variation. A new discipline, sociobiology, attempts to combine both approaches, looking at goals directed by both genetic and environmental pressures. MJ |
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