The Nature-Nurture Debates: Bridging the Gap - Softcover

Goldhaber, Dale

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521148790 ISBN 13: 9780521148795

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2012

Synopsis

How is it possible that in more than one hundred years, the nature-nurture debate has not come to a satisfactory resolution? The problem, Dale Goldhaber argues, lies not with the proposed answers, but with the question itself. In The Nature-Nurture Debate, Goldhaber reviews the four major perspectives on the issue - behavior genetics, environment, evolutionary psychology and developmental systems theory - and shows that the classic, reductionist strategies (behavior genetics and environmental approaches) are incapable of resolving the issue because they each offer a false perspective on the process of human development. It is only through a synthesis of the two holistic perspectives of evolutionary psychology and developmental systems theory that we will be able to understand the nature of human behavior.

About this title

Review

"...offers an excellent historical introduction to the debates and as such deserves a wide readership among biologists and psychologists alike."
--Johan J. Bolhuis, Utrecht University, SCIENCE
"...successfully argues that a synthesis of the two holistic perspectives is necessary in order to understand the nature of human behavior and thereby finally resolve the debate.... Highly recommended..."
--R.B. Stewart Jr., Oakland University, CHOICE
"...this book provides a useful review of the history of thought about the different influences on human development that might well provide the basis for an interesting undergraduate course..."
--Dr. Susan E. F. Chipman, PsycCRITIQUES

Book Description

After a century of debate, the nature-nurture question of human development continues to evade resolution. In The Nature-Nurture Debate, Dale Goldhaber argues that the problem lies not with the answers, but with the question itself. He reframes the debate, providing fresh insight into enduring questions concerning human behavior and development.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0521148790
• ISBN 13: 9780521148795
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 188