Compare And Contrast Darwin's Differences Between Nature And Nurture

Darwin’s theory ties to “nature versus nurture” because its basis lies in the assumption that we are born with innate abilities. These innate abilities are then adjusted based on the environment to ensure survival. Darwin’s theory of Evolution eventually transformed into psychology’s school of thought called functionalism. Functionalism is the study of human behavior and mental processes and how these behaviors and processes assist the individual in adapting to the constantly changing environment. Darwin’s observations and theories eventually lead to the formation of comparative psychology, or the systematic study of similarities and differences within a species (Goodwin, 2012, p.141-142).

Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton (1822-1911), was supposed to be a medical doctor as well. However, similar to Darwin, Galton was repulsed by the surgical procedures. Galton was fascinated with figuring out the best way to quantify

He entitled his findings English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture (Galton, 1874). He also pioneered the use of twin studies. He would survey sets of twins, which resulted in findings that supported his theory of heredity. Galton found that the twins he surveyed showed many similarities, even if their environments had been very different for a long period of time. Twin studies are still used today to study the effects of nature versus nurture (Goodwin, 2012, p. 153-154).

Galton was the first to frame the study of heritability when compared to the environment in terms of how much. How much of who we are is nature and how much of it is nurture? He framed his research around questions such as, is heritability or environment more important. Galton was also one of the first to study human abilities and characteristics by measuring them. These studies laid the foundation for modern personality and IQ testing (Gillham,