People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed. It is not easy
to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is
competitive.
Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain
why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but
two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches
are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each
theory. The controversy is often referred to as "nature/nurture".
Those who support the "nature" side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do
with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory
maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a degree that we are almost completely governed
by our instincts.
Proponents of the "nurture" theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claimed that our
environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A
behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their
surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like
machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior.
Either of these theories cannot yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to
our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the controversy will continue for a long
time is certain.
1. Which of the following statements would the supporters of the "nature" theory agree with?
A. A person's instincts have little effect on his actions.
B. Environment is important in determining a person's behavior and personality.
C. Biological reasons have a strong influence on how we act.
D. The behaviorists' view correctly explains how we act.
2. Concerning the nature/nurture controversy, the writer of this article.
A. supports the nature theory
B. supports the nurture theory
C. believes both are completely wrong
D. thinks that the correct explanation of human behavior will take ideas from both theories.
3. In the United States, Black people often score below White people on intelligence tests. With this in
mind, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Nature proponents would say that Whites are genetically superior to Blacks.
B. Supporters of the nature theory would say that Whites score well because they have a superior
environment.
C. Behaviorists would say that Blacks often lack the educational and environmental advantages that
Whites enjoy.
D. Nurture proponents would disagree that Blacks are biologically inferior to Whites.
