Lesson 4.3.1.3

4.3.1.3 The nature-nurture debate Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.1.3, The nature-nurture debate: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is the main focus of the nature-nurture debate in psychology?

    • Idiographic versus nomothetic
    • Conscious versus unconscious
    • Holism versus reductionism
    • Heredity versus environment

  2. Which model illustrates the interactionist approach in psychological disorders?

    • Absorption-addiction model
    • Phase model
    • Diathesis-stress model
    • Filter model

  3. Which factor represents the 'nature' side of the nature-nurture debate?

    • Peer pressure
    • Social learning
    • Genetic inheritance
    • Parenting style

  4. Which factor represents the 'nurture' side of the nature-nurture debate?

    • Genetic inheritance
    • Innate reflexes
    • Hormonal levels
    • Environmental influence

  5. What does a heritability coefficient of 1.0 indicate about a trait?

    • Entirely genetically determined
    • Entirely environmentally determined
    • Zero genetic contribution
    • Equal gene-environment influence

  6. Why are monozygotic twins compared with dizygotic twins in research?

    • Varying genetic similarity
    • Equal sample sizes
    • Different birth dates
    • Identical environments

  7. What statistic is compared between twin pairs to evaluate genetic contribution?

    • Concordance rate
    • Correlation coefficient
    • Statistical power
    • Standard deviation

  8. If identical twin concordance is 50% and non-identical is 20%, what is indicated?

    • Environment only
    • Genetics only
    • Chance factors only
    • Genes and environment

  9. An adopted child closely resembles their biological parents in personality. What does this support?

    • Environmental reductionism
    • Empiricist position
    • Soft determinism
    • Nativist position

  10. High family correlation for a trait cannot prove genetic causation because families share what?

    • Shared environment
    • Equal age gaps
    • Identical genomes
    • Unconscious conflicts

  11. A child with a genetic predisposition for shyness becomes more shy when raised in a critical environment. Which concept does this example illustrate?

    • Hard determinism
    • Idiographic investigation
    • The interactionist approach
    • Holism

  12. Which research design best separates the influences of heredity and environment?

    • Case studies
    • Adoption studies
    • Naturalistic observations
    • Unstructured interviews

  13. Which term describes the extreme view that all human behaviour is inherited?

    • Radical behaviourism
    • Hard determinism
    • Extreme nativism
    • Extreme empiricism

  14. A behaviourist claims that all behaviour is learned through reinforcement. Which side of the debate does this represent?

    • Nurture
    • Holism
    • Nature
    • Interactionism

  15. A heritability estimate of 0.6 indicates what percentage of population variance is due to genes?

    • 60%
    • 100%
    • 0.6%
    • 40%

  16. Heritability estimates describe variation across a population, meaning they cannot be applied to which level?

    • A species
    • An individual
    • A culture
    • A generation

  17. Which approach views behaviour as a complex combination of both heredity and environmental factors?

    • Hard determinism
    • Interactionism
    • Biological reductionism
    • Cultural relativism

  18. Twin studies assume identical and non-identical twin pairs experience equally similar environments. What is this assumption called?

    • Interactionist assumption
    • Equal environments assumption
    • Matched participants assumption
    • Heritability index assumption

  19. Brain plasticity shown by animals raised in enriched environments demonstrates environmental effects on which structure?

    • Biological structure
    • Chromosome number
    • Genetic code
    • Hereditary genotype

  20. Interactionist explanations of behaviour avoid which major theoretical drawback?

    • Ethnocentrism
    • Androcentrism
    • Oversimplification
    • Subjectivity

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