Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 8
Nature Versus Nurture
In this unit (to accompany SAPIENS podcast S6E4), students will learn the origin of the nature versus nurture debate within the field of anthropology and explore where the debate currently stands. Students will examine the ways in which nature and nurture intersect and explore how the lens of nature versus nurture shaped Derek Freeman’s and Margaret Mead’s understanding of the Samoan people.
Learning Objectives
- Explore the concept of nature versus nurture from an anthropological standpoint and the ways the two intersect.
- Express how Derek Freeman’s and Margaret Mead’s writings on Samoa incorporated the idea of nature versus nurture.
Sapiens articles
What Our Skeletons Say About the Sex Binary
Society increasingly accepts gender identity as existing along a spectrum. The study of people, and their remains, shows that sex should be viewed the same way.
Genetic Factors May Help Explain Athletic Sudden Death
Biological anthropologists and other researchers investigate why there is a diversity of symptoms and outcomes in people with sickle cell trait.
Keywords
View All in Evolution
![A person with short gray hair wearing a blue shirt holds a black camera up to their face and points it at a figure that looks like a hairy unclothed person with one hand on their lap and the other on its chin.]()
![In a dark and rainy forest, a large Tyrannosaurus rex stares into a green car with its headlights on. The car has a yellow and black graphic on its hood with text that reads, “Jurassic Park.”]()
![On a paved city street fenced off and lined with people, three people wearing colorful clothing stand and hold signs. These read: “Monogamy is not for everyone,” “I love my girlfriend’s boyfriend,” and “Sharing is Caring.”]()
![A computer-rendered graphic depicts a group of people in torn clothes and furs with black smudges on their faces and bodies. They gather in front of a rock overhang, with one sitting in front and poking at a pile of wood near which are dangling pieces of meat.]()
![Two black-haired chimpanzees lie on the dirt ground in front of a blurred background of brown rocks and green, leafy trees.]()
![A close-up image features a pile of logs glowing red and surrounded by orange flames. Sparks fly up against a dark blue night sky.]()
What’s Behind the Evolution of Neanderthal Portraits
Since the 1800s, Neanderthal depictions have evolved not only with changing science but also due to social views. An archaeologist explains why visualizations of our evolutionary cousins matter.
Celebrity Status Almost Ruined Ancient DNA Research
An evolutionary anthropologist draws lessons from paleogenetic’s journey from Jurassic Park fiction to Nobel Prize reality.
What Is “Natural” for Human Sexual Relationships?
A biological and anthropological researcher explains how humans' diverse ways of mating might have evolved.
Dismantling the “Man the Hunter” Myth
Two biological anthropologists analyze archaeological and physiological evidence to debunk enduring assumptions about the gendered division of labor in ancient times.
Spend a Day Tracking Chimpanzees
A series of short videos captures a rare view into the lives of wild chimps through the eyes of a researcher.
Extinguishing the Idea That Hobbits Had Fire
Research has overturned earlier claims that a diminutive human relative, Homo floresiensis, lit fires—but big stories die hard.
View All in Genetics
![In a dark and rainy forest, a large Tyrannosaurus rex stares into a green car with its headlights on. The car has a yellow and black graphic on its hood with text that reads, “Jurassic Park.”]()
![Surrounded by an otherwise occupied crowd, a person wearing a white cap and shirt uses gloved hands to work with the finger of a person seated beside them. The second person wears a red-orange dress and holds a baby while a slightly older child stands beside them, looking at the viewer.]()
![A landscape features a grassy complex with a large, tiered structure made of stones that towers upward toward a blue, cloud-filled sky. Mountains taller than the structure are barely visible behind clouds in the distance.]()
![In a science lab, a masked person wearing a white hazmat suit, face shield, and bouffant cap holds small objects under the glass hood of a silver metal workstation.]()
![An aerial photograph features a large arc-shaped complex of stone ruins showing the remains of rectangular rooms and circular sacred gathering places.]()
![A photograph features a group of people in patterned clothing gathered on a sandy plot with domed huts visible in the distance. In front, two people dance as others cheer.]()
Celebrity Status Almost Ruined Ancient DNA Research
An evolutionary anthropologist draws lessons from paleogenetic’s journey from Jurassic Park fiction to Nobel Prize reality.
Gene Therapy’s Promise Meets Nigeria’s Sickle Cell Reality
Breakthrough treatments can now cure sickle cell anemia in the U.S. But the pricey therapies will hardly help in Nigeria, where social changes could do more for millions impacted by the disease.
Decoding Diversity and Power at Machu Picchu
New DNA analysis has revealed surprising diversity among remains from burial sites in Peru. A genetic anthropologist explains what this suggests about the 15th century Inca palace.
The Hidden Ancestry Extracted From an Ancient Pendant
An anthropologist explains how new forensics tools offer unprecedented answers to questions about who likely held or wore Stone Age objects.
Navigating the Ethics of Ancient DNA Research
Paleogenomic research has expanded rapidly over the past two decades, igniting heated debates about handling human remains. Who gives consent for the ancient subjects of studies—and who should speak for them today?
Did Humanity Really Arise in One Place?
New evidence is prompting researchers to rethink Homo sapiens’ origin story—and what it means to be human.
View All in Race
![A person wearing a black baseball cap and a shirt covered in a collage of different images of a man’s face walks down a presentation hall. A screen showing many people elsewhere is to their right and a poster with a graphic of a gun hangs over a booth in front.]()
![On a wood-paneled floor, four barefoot people wearing different outfits in shades of red, yellow, and blue dance in front of a gray wall. Captured in motion, and therefore blurry, each has several of their dance moves overlapping and visible at once.]()
![Three people stand on a grassy field holding signs with pictures of young people’s faces pasted on them. Also on the signs, in colorful text, are two phrases: “Invest in Us” and “End the War on Drugs” with the word “Drugs” crossed out and the word “Blacks” added before it.]()
![A person wearing a sleeveless shirt with a white paper attached that reads “Assefa” holds up a white sneaker with three black stripes in front of a blue structure with a digital time clock on it.]()
![Two people hug in a bathroom, with one seated on a closed toilet and the other kneeling on a tan-and-brown tiled floor. Two standing onlookers flank the image’s foreground.]()
![A person wearing a white dress whose skirt is made of ribbons, each with a name written on it, leans back with their eyes closed. They are on grass with a Black Lives Matter banner on the ground beside them and a circle of drummers and bystanders around them.]()
Among Gun Rights Activists, Fears About Survival Reign
An anthropologist delves into what the rising ranks of local firearm-touting militias in Virginia reveal about intensifying political polarization in the U.S.—and what these shifts might mean for the 2024 presidential election.
Making Anthropological Poetry Reel
In featuring three SAPIENS poems, students in a digital anthropology seminar infused video reels for Instagram with vivid history and powerful emotions.
How Racism Shapes the U.S. Opioid Epidemic
Public health officials say opioid use and related deaths have reached a crisis point in the U.S. An interview with anthropologist and psychiatrist Helena Hansen unpacks the racial disparities in how drug addiction is interpreted, portrayed, and treated.
Why Shoes Do Not Make the Runner
East African runners wearing “super shoes” have outpaced global marathon records. But the shoe fervor—alongside older stereotypes about African runners’ “natural” abilities—means athletes’ hard work often gets sidelined.
How Eugenics Shaped the U.S. Prenatal Care System
Black women in the U.S. are far more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy and birth than White women. Two scholars explore how the discrediting of Black midwives helped create these racial disparities—and call for alternative models of prenatal care.
The Urgency of Envisioning a World Without Police
An anthropologist working in Baltimore argues that safety for Black communities requires an end to policing. That also means taking a hard look at how policing intersects with patriarchy and intimate partner violence.
Glossary
Cultural Determinism
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The belief that an individual’s culture influences one’s behavior and emotions.
Eugenics
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A scientifically inaccurate theory that strives to select and reproduce desirable hereditary characteristics in order to improve future generations.
Professor Talking Points
- During the 19th century, the prevalence of Darwinism and evolutionary theory prompted scholars to distinguish between two causes for animal traits and behavior: natural (biological, hereditary) and environmental (upbringing, culture, surroundings). Sir Francis Galton coined the phrase for this debate as “nature versus nurture.” Lead students in a discussion about this topic.
- The biologist H. M. Parshley, a key player in the debate, argued for the importance of nature and favored biological determination, eugenics, and hereditary traits. Auguste Weismann was another key player, and he promoted the theory that natural selection drove evolution. In contrast, J. B. Watson and Franz Boas believed nurture determined behavior. J. B. Watson popularized the theory of behaviorism in psychology and argued that a child’s environment shapes their behavior. Boas, Mead’s mentor and professor, promoted cultural determinism and is credited with the theory of cultural relativism. He argued that a culture’s practices and traditions must be understood within that culture. Explore the debate with students.
- The theory that nature governs traits and behavior was a well-established dogma and was used to support racist ideologies by classifying humans into hierarchies based on biological differences. Lead a discussion with students on how it was thus difficult initially for Boas and his followers to find support for the alternate theory of cultural determinism.
- Freeman claimed that “The Boasians had an antipathy to biology, and to genetics and evolutionary biology in particular” (The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead 1998, 295). Explore with students how he used this argument as evidence against Mead’s conclusions about the Samoans.
- Freeman’s second book focuses on providing a detailed ethnography of the Samoans and pointing out Mead’s errors. The book includes a history of how the nature versus nurture debate began, its standing at the time of publication, and an explanation for why Boas pushed against accepting any genetic study for behaviors.
- Mead had her own understanding of nature versus nurture. Regarding adolescence, Mead wrote: “If the same process takes a different form in two different environments, we cannot make any explanations in terms of the process, for that is the same in both cases. But the social environment is very different, and it is to it that we must look for an explanation” (Coming of Age in Samoa 1928, 159).
- Anthropologist Paul Shankman points out the lack of evidence and incorrect conclusions Freeman makes in his argument against Mead. Shankman notes that Freeman overemphasized the popularity of Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa, disregarded her acknowledgment of biology (and promoting genetics in anthropology in general), and failed to provide transcripts for his hoax-claim interviews. Time and location also played a factor: Mead was in American Samoa in the 1920s, while Freeman was in a different part of the islands in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Today many experts use the words “genetics” and “environment” interchangeably for nature and nurture, respectively. “Environment” encompasses a broader range of interactions that are not solely from parents and caregivers. During the mid-20th century, anthropologists were divided and felt compelled to pick a dominating factor in individual development. Today it is widely accepted that both genetics and environment play a role in human development.
- Epigenetics, the study of how genes are expressed, has added an additional layer of complexity to the nature versus nurture discussion in recent decades. Experts have found that some early childhood environmental factors may dictate what parts of an individual’s genetic code are “turned on.”
Academic Articles
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Barlow, Fiona Kate. 2019. “Nature vs. Nurture Is Nonsense: On the Necessity of an Integrated Genetic, Social, Developmental, and Personality Psychology.” Australian Journal of Psychology 71 (1): 68–79.
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Levitt, Mairi. 2013. “Perceptions of Nature, Nurture and Behaviour.” Life Sciences, Society and Policy 9 (13).
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Schneider, Susan M. 2007. “The Tangled Tale of Genes and Environment: Moore’s the Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of ‘Nature vs. Nurture.’” Behavior Analyst 30 (1): 91–105.
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Shankman, Paul. 2000. “Culture, Biology, and Evolution: The Mead–Freeman Controversy Revisited.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 29 (5): 539–556.
Student Discussion Questions
- How did eugenics spark a response to the cultural determinism movement in anthropology? Who were some of the major players?
- What is the crux of the nature versus nurture argument? Can the two sides work together to explain human behavior?
- In their respective works, did Freeman and Mead acknowledge both nature and nurture in relation to developing human behaviors or do they both strictly adhere to their ideals?
- What is the status of the nature versus nurture controversy in anthropology today?
- How has the argument for nature versus nurture changed over the past 150 years? Where do you see nature versus nurture being debated today?
- Is it enough to cite a single example claiming nature or nurture are responsible for human behavioral development or are multiple instances required to prove a theory? For example, is Mead’s work in American Samoa enough to prove the nurture theory is applicable in all instances of adolescent behavior or should it be viewed alongside examples of adolescents in the United States?
Activities
- Select an anthropological study on human behavior. Discuss if the study demonstrates a nature, nurture, or mix of both explanations of human behavior.
- Write an essay exploring Freeman’s claim that Mead omitted biological discussions in her work in American Samoa. Does she purposefully deny nature’s impact on human behavior or simply focus on cultural (nurture) factors?
- List ways the perception of nature versus nurture in anthropology has evolved in recent decades given new discoveries, understanding, and technologies.
Additional Resources
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Article: Evan Nesterak’s “The End of Nature Versus Nurture”
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Article: Hunter Honeycutt’s “Nature and Nurture as an Enduring Tension in the History of Psychology”
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Article: Psychology Today’s “Nature vs. Nurture”
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Book: Carl Degler’s In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought
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Book: Derek Freeman’s Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth
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Book: Derek Freeman’s The Fateful Hoaxing of Margaret Mead: A Historical Analysis of Her Samoan Research
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Book: Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa
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Podcast: Steven Pinker’s “Nature vs. Nurture: What’s More Impactful” in The Life of the Mind
Unit By
Catherine Torres, Freedom Learning Group
Teaching
The Problems With Coming of Age
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Unit 9
Colonialism and Christianity in the South Pacific
