Explain how the vulnerability model relates to the nature-versus-nurture debate in neuroscience.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The nature-versus-nurture debate asks about the relative contributions of heredity and environment in shaping our behavior. While genes are inherited, and thus can reflect the role of nature in influencing our behavior, the vulnerability model describes how most diseases do not result simply from an individual inheriting a specific allele of one gene. For example, a person with a genetic predisposition for schizophrenia may or may not develop schizophrenia, depending on the environmental risks (such as stress or trauma) that they experience. The vulnerability model describes how nurture can impact the extent to which heredity can shape behavior.