biological determinism

(noun)

The hypothesis that biological factors such as an organism's genes (as opposed to social or environmental factors) determine psychological and behavioral traits.

Related Terms

Examples of biological determinism in the following topics:

  • Sociobiology

    • Many critics draw an intellectual link between sociobiology and biological determinism, the belief that most human differences can be traced to specific genes rather than differences in culture or social environments.
    • Critics also see parallels between sociobiology and biological determinism as a philosophy underlying the social Darwinian and eugenics movements of the early 20th century as well as controversies in the history of intelligence testing.

  • Aging and Race

    • However, these outcome disparities are not usually the result of biological determinants of health, which means that minority populations are not biologically less healthy than white populations.
    • Rather, the disparity in medical outcomes is more likely attributed to social determinants of health, which are socioeconomic conditions that bear on health.

  • Gender Identity in Everyday Life

    • It is the result of socialization, but it also has a biological basis.
    • What causes individuals to sense a sort of confusion between their biological gender and their gender identity?
    • However, despite the deep relationship to biology, gender identity cannot only be biologically determined.
    • They are biologically male, but dress and behave in a manner that Polynesians typically consider female.
    • Discuss the difference between biological and social construction of gender identity

  • The Role of Biology

    • The hijras of the Indian subcontinent are traditionally either eunuchs (castrated biological males) or born with ambiguous genitalia.
    • Sex refers to a person's biological make-up as male or female.
    • Typically, a person's genotype (genetic makeup) and phenotype (observable traits) are used to determine a person's sex.
    • While sex is the determination of whether a person is biologically male or female, gender is the sociocultural determination of
    • Some physical differences between the male and female sexes are thought to occur as a result of both biological and cultural processes.

  • Race and Genetics

    • Racial groups are sociologically, rather than biologically, different; that is to say, there is no "race" gene or set of genes.
    • There are very few biological differences between the races and there is no "race" gene or set of genes to speak of.
    • Today it is possible to determine, by genetic analysis, the geographic ancestry of a person and the degree of ancestry from each region.
    • Some anthropologists, particularly those working with forensics, consider race to be a useful biological category as it is often possible to determine the racial category of a person by examining physical remains, although what is actually being identified is the geographical phenotype.
    • While a person's race can generally be visually determined, different racial groups do not in fact differ biologically in substantial ways.

  • Nature vs. Nurture: A False Debate

    • Is nature (an individual's innate qualities) or nurture (personal experience) more important in determining physical and behavioral traits?
    • In modern scientific terms, it may refer to genetic makeup and biological traits .
    • For example, researchers have long studied twins to determine the influence of biology on personality traits.
    • The nature versus nurture debate conjures deep philosophical questions about free will and determinism.
    • Similarly, the "nurture" side may be criticized for implying that we behave in ways determined by our environment, not ourselves.

  • Biological Theories of Deviance

    • A biological theory of deviance proposes that an individual deviates from social norms largely because of their biological makeup.
    • A biological theory of deviance proposes that an individual deviates from social norms largely because of their biological makeup.
    • Their explanation was that some individuals had a biological propensity for crime.
    • After an individual had been convicted of a crime, the state's responsibility was to protect the community and prevent the criminal from doing more harm—as his biology determined he would do.
    • Cesare Lombroso argued that criminality was a biological trait found in some human beings

  • Aging is Both Biological and Sociological

    • Aging (sometimes spelled as ageing) is both a biological and sociological process wherein human beings experience and accomplish stages of biological and social maturation.
    • Aging may be seen as a relatively objective biological process whereby one becomes older and experiences varied biological developments.
    • This person will likely experience a biological development characterized by the addition of years from birth and by biological understandings of the time (e.g., a being born in 1980 would have a life expectancy, medical and legal definition, and contextual series of economic, educational, and other possibilities based upon birth at this time).
    • As a result, this child's biological age (how far from birth one is) may or may not match this child's subjective age (how old he/she feels and what responsibilities develop at what age).
    • Additionally, this child may not align with societal age norms by not doing what society expects the child to do at certain ages.Aging is a complex process of subjective biological and social realities intertwined with relatively objective biological and social standards that shift within and between historical and cultural periods.

  • Sexual Orientation

    • Some of these institutions offer sexual reorientation therapies in which individuals who are attracted to members of the opposite sex but do not want to have those attractions can try to become solely attracted to members of the opposite biological sex.
    • This idea runs up against studies that demonstrate how widely sexual orientation varies in light of cultural and historical circumstances, indicating that one's environment and cultural context play significant roles in determining one's sexual orientation.

  • Language and Perception

    • The strong version states that language determines thought and emotions/feelings, and linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories
    • The strongest form of correlation is linguistic determinism, which holds that language entirely determines the range of possible cognitive processes of an individual.
    • This position often sees the human mind as mostly a biological construction, so that all humans sharing the same neurological configuration can be expected to have similar or identical basic cognitive patterns.
    • The constructivist view holds that human faculties and concepts are largely influenced by socially constructed and learned categories that are not subject to many biological restrictions.
    • The idealist view holds that the human mental capacities are generally unrestricted by their biological-material basis.