Psychology is a scientific analysis of state of mind and behaviour. These studies have been taking place for over the last hundred years, the “nature versus nurture” debate is something that many psychologists have been unable to agree on for quite some time. A person in favour of the nature theory would believe that the genetic build up of someone is what determines his or her personality. A person in favour of the nurture theory would believe that the environment is what determines his or her personality. Skinner was a behaviourist and is probably best known for his writing on operant conditioning. He believed that most behaviour was a product of what he named ABC. This stands for Antecedents, behaviour, and Consequences. Antecedents are thought of as stimuli e.g. if someone is working in a factory and hears the sound of a bell they may leave their work area for their lunch, the bell is the stimuli (antecedents) to go for lunch. Behaviour is our actions, what we are doing. Working on the factory line or taking notes from the supervisor are both parts of behaviour linked to a day at work. Consequences are the outcome of the behaviour.

Bandura carried out hundreds of studies and experiments one of which included the bobo doll studies. Fourteen of the thieves displayed an affectionless character, that is, a lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility. Of course Bouchard would argue that if the child was incapable of a loving relationship, it would be because the child had not inherited that particular gene from their parents and affectionless psychopathy would have no bearing on the matter. At Minnesota University there were around twenty pairs of twins raised apart and in one particular experiment two male (M Z) twins turned out very similar (just as the pair mentioned above) but they had many similarities in their lifestyles before they knew one another existed. As Bandura had suspected the children followed his young students actions and beat up the doll in exactly the same way that she had. John Bowlby"tms maternal deprivation hypothesis. Bowlby believed that an infant"tms failure to attach to primary caregiver or mother figure would have long-term psychological effects. Alexander Thomas Stella Chess. Bowlby also proposed the concept of monotropy, which is the need for one central caregiver, usually the mother, but alternatively the father or another person. Bandura set up another experiment, involving exactly the same procedure only this time he used a live clown instead of a doll, again the children reacted in exactly the same way and beat him up as if he was a doll! Afterwards the children were awarded for imitating the young lady. Finally, Bowlby felt that there was a critical period in the formation of attachments. Bouchard would criticise Skinner And Bandura, as he and his Study group focus on the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, that project involves the psychological and medical evaluation of monozygotic (identical) twins. Thomas and Chess would disagree with Bowlby, Skinner, and Bandura in the 1970s Thomas Chess Interviewed a section of middle-class American parents and asked them to describe their children. All Bowlby"tms theories suggest that nurture is the is the cause of personality, he believed that as long as child has a loving relationship with a mother figure of some kind, then the child would be psychologically healthy. His theory basically meant that a child would develop his or her personality through social learning, learning by example such as T V, parents, and peer groups.