The statement ‘nature trumps nurture’ is referring to the nature versus nurture debate that has been ongoing in psychology since its origin. The debate aims to examine to what extent human development is influenced by our genetic inheritance (nature) and by external environmental influences (nurture). One principle which is focussed on within this debate is intelligence, which often refers to IQ or established factor ‘g’ (Spearman, 1904). Overall, research suggests that genetic variance in intelligence increases throughout development, explaining around 50% of variance in adulthood (Chipuer, Rovine & Plomin, 1990), whilst environmental influence decreases throughout …show more content…
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