The semiautonomous process: Its nature and nurture.

Theories concerned with analysis of the complexity of the "central process" in thought and perception are considered. Data concerning the "nature of the semi-autonomous process of the cerebrum" are examined. New "possibilities of explanation… open up when one separates sensory from perceptual processes, and recognizes that identifying the two had a purely theoretical origin and neurological to boot. This can be a psychological distinction, based on behavioral criteria, and need not be contaminated by other ideas… . Psychology cannot be reduced to physiology… but… the psychologist may need every now and then a short bout of physiological psychotherapy, just to permit him to get on with his own business." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and nurture of creative talent.

"Creativity… is a process extended in time and characterized by originality, adaptiveness, and realization." Except for mathematicians "where there is a low positive correlation between intelligence and the level of creativeness, we have found within our creative samples essentially zero relationship between the two variables." A research study of the characteristics and background of creative architects is extensively discussed. Implications of the nature of creative talent for the nurturing of it in school and college through the processes of education are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward nature WITH nurture.

Responds to the comments of D. C. Rowe (see record 2001-00159-006), J. C. Loehlin (see record 2001-00159-007), A. Reifman (see record 2001-00159-008), and S. McGuire (see record 2001-00159-009), which comment on the A. W. Collins et al discussion (see record 2000-13816-002) on behavioral genetics and the parenting theory. Collins et al respond to each of the criticisms in turn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arnold L. Gesell: The paradox of nature and nurture.

A. L. Gesell (1880–1961) has had an important and lasting impact on the field of developmental psychology. He is best remembered for his developmental norms, which were acquired from decades of detailed observations of infants and children and are still the basis of most early assessments of behavioral functioning. Gesell's influence as a theorist is less direct. His maturationism quickly lost favor in the intellectual climate of Piaget, behaviorism, and information-processing approaches. Nonetheless, nativism is still a dominant theme in contemporary developmental studies in the guise of neural determinism, innate knowledge, and genetic studies. Gesell is characterized as a man of paradoxes and contrasts. Although he acknowledged the contributions of the environment, he denied its agency. Although he was devoted to children and their welfare, he assigned their individuality to biological destiny. And although he remained a steadfast maturationist, he prefigured other more dynamic views of development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond nature versus nurture: DF analysis of nonshared influences on problem behaviors.

J. C. DeFries and D. W. Fulker's (see record 1986-23496-001) regression model (later termed "DF analysis" by R. Plomin and R. Rende [see PA, Vol 78:18462]) used kinship pair data to separate heredity and shared environmental influences. This article extends DF analysis to include measured indicators of the nonshared environment. These indicators represent specific sources of environmental influence that cause related children to be different from one another. Two studies are presented which used twin, full-sibling, half-sibling, and cousin pairs from over 7,000 5–12 yr old children in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Study 1 was a validity analysis of kinship height and weight data. Study 2 was a DF analysis of problem behavior scores. Spanking, reading, and quality of the home environment were shown to account for nonshared variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lessons from twins: of nature, nurture, and consciousness

Once accorded a high place in the world's mythologies, twins may be poised to reappear with new power in the images are archetypal patterns that shape the modern mind. On a concrete level, they are influencing how we define ourselves. As a result of intrauterine ultrasound studies, we are finding that more of us are twins than we ever imagined: a phenomenon dubbed "the twin without." We are also learning about within": our complementary "solar" and "lunar" traits of which the ancient Twin myths speak, whose integration is one of life's great tasks. Some of the most compelling messages of twins are appearing in an unexpected area: modern science. One of the great discoveries of 20th-century physics is the principle of complementarity: the idea that a subatomic particle can possess dual or twin aspects; that under certain experimental conditions it can manifest as a particle, and under others a wave. This is an expression of what could be called the "Twinship Principle" in modern science. The gene-environment relationship, which we have examined, is another. We might also add the predator-prey relationship in ecology; the alternation of day and night and the seasons; the sleep-wake cycle; perhaps even the one-and-zero relationship that is the basis of modern computer languages. In art, we find twinship in figure and ground, light and shade. Perhaps the most profound expressions of the Twinship Principle occur in psychology and spirituality: mind that is both local and nonlocal; the personal and the transpersonal; mortal and immortal; physical and immaterial; transcendent and immanent; sacred and profane. In all of these relationships, the entities illustrate the "coincidence of opposites." Like the poles of a magnet, they define each other and cannot exist without each other. Philosopher Alan Watts once said that the most profound metaphysical principle is that every inside has an outside, and every outside an inside. Is this the most important lesson of twins?     

The developmental interface between nature and nurture: A mutual influence model of child antisocial behavior and parent behaviors.

Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12-18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial/hostile behavior and adoptive mother's parenting practices affect each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nurture assumption persists.

Comments on the A. W. Collins et al article (see record 2000-13816-002) which critiqued the views expressed in Rowe's book (see record 1994-97284-000) on the influence of genetics on behavior. Rowe contends that Collins et al perpetuated a double standard in the treatment of genetic and environmental hypotheses. This double standard led them to be overly sanguine about the strength and importance of parental treatment effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of values in the nature/nurture debate about psychiatric disorders

This paper discusses the role that values play in our estimates of the relative importance of nature/nurture factors in the etiology of psychiatric disorders. It is argued that all parameter estimates, heritability estimates, variance explained, odds ratios, and relative risks, are based, at least in part, on value judgements that are made in the course of our research activities. Four aspects of causal inference where values are particularly influential are discussed: gene/environment interactions, environmental specificity, the distinction between causes of variation and the causes of a factor, and the reification of our measures. The value component in our research is illustrated in two areas of research: life events and depression and individual factors in violence.     

On being useful: The nature and consequences of psychological research on social problems.

Discusses the definition of problems and causal attribution bias in psychological research into social problems. An analysis of the literature on blacks covered in Psychological Abstracts during a 6-mo period indicates the types of variables studied (person vs. situation) and the causal relationships between them. It is concluded that too much research emphasis is placed on "blaming" the personal characteristics of those experiencing problems, and that greater attention should be given to the possible influence of external factors. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The developmental interference between nature and nurture: A mutual influence model of child antisocial behavior and parent behaviors": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by X. Ge et al (Developmental Psychology, 1996 [Jul], Vol 32[4], 574–589). On page 584, Figure 2, negative signs were mistakenly inserted in front of 2 coefficients. The correct coefficients are given. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-01781-002.). Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12–18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial/hostile behavior and adoptive… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking workplace and homeplace: Relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting behaviors.

A total of 188 employed mothers and fathers and their 5–7 yr-old child participated in a study of the relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting attitudes and behaviors (a line of research influenced by both socialization and stress perspectives). In general, positive features of work (i.e., complexity of work with people, challenge, and stimulation) tended to be associated with both self-report and observational measures of developmentally sound parenting (e.g., less harsh discipline, more warmth and responsiveness). Interaction effects indicated that gender of parent and child further condition these relations. Analyses partially support the interpretation that conditions of work influence parenting through their effect on mood but also suggest that certain conditions of work may directly socialize behavior in the parental role (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nature–nurture integration: The example of antisocial behavior.

Nature and nurture do not operate independently of each other, and, to an important degree, genetic effects on behavior come about because they either influence the extent to which the individual is likely to be exposed to individual differences in environmental risk or they affect how susceptible the individual is to environmental adversities. The time has come for an explicit research focus on the forms of interplay between genes and environment and on how this interplay is involved in the causal mechanisms for the origins of antisocial behavior and for its persistence or desistance over time. Molecular genetics has an even greater potential than quantitative genetics for understanding environmental risk mechanisms and the interplay between nature and nurture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social isolation: A case for interdisciplinary research.

Psychological research on the effects of social isolation on human beings has been relatively sparse, and has been hampered by artificiality, cultural one-sidedness, and some unstated and untested assumptions. Cross-cultural and biographical sources indicate that while isolation may be initially stressful, adaptation does occur; that cultural norms, roles and expectancies are important in determining individual responses to solitude; and that isolation may in fact have beneficial effects in some circumstances. Multidisciplinary efforts among psychologists, anthropologists, historians and biographers would help to shed light on these phenomena, which are important to a variety of theoretical as well as applied areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The depressing nature of current understanding of research on gender and depression: A reply to Page.

Responds to comments by S. Page (see record 1991-04686-001) on J. M. Stoppard's (see record 1989-29654-001) assertion that the greater incidence of depression (DP) among females stems from their position in a male-biased society. Data are presented to show the greater incidence of DP among females. A greater understanding of the relation of gender to DP must be based on patients' experiences in their daily lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and outcomes of work: A replication and extension of interdisciplinary work-design research.

Research into the changing nature of work requires comprehensive models of work design. One such model is the interdisciplinary framework (M. A. Campion, 1988), which integrates 4 work-design approaches (motivational, mechanistic, biological, perceptual–motor) and links each approach to specific outcomes. Unfortunately, studies of this framework have used methods that disregard measurement error, overlook dimensions within each work-design approach, and treat each approach and outcome separately. This study reanalyzes data from M. A. Campion (1988), using structural equation models that incorporate measurement error, specify multiple dimensions for each work-design approach, and examine the work-design approaches and outcomes jointly. Results show that previous studies underestimate relationships between work-design approaches and outcomes and that dimensions within each approach exhibit relationships with outcomes that differ in magnitude and direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)