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Some authors have stated that the nature - nurture debate is no longer as contentious as it once was. This paper presents four arguments in opposition to this position. First, the nature - nurture controversy, conceived of as an attempt to assign relative weightings of importance to genotype and environment in relation to psychological phenomena, is no closer to being settled today than it was at any point in the past -- nor could it be. Second, though of considerable consequence for psychological theory and practice, the mapping of the human genome will not assist in the settlement of the nature - nurture debate. Third, heritability studies are of little value to psychologists and cannot help in the resolution of the debate. Fourth, the nature - nurture controversy is not a scientific issue. Though it is possible to estimate the effect that changes in the environment or specific interventions will have on a given trait at a particular time and place, the question of ontological importance is beyond the scope of empirical investigation.
Recently the work of Rushton (1985) has sparked a debate concerning the causes of group differences in various psychological traits. At the same time, the related and often strongly contested issue of the reasons for individual differences appears to have been subsiding. Though research seemingly pertinent to the question of individual differences with respect to a number of behaviours and psychological traits is being published constantly, the heated exchanges that marked the 1970s are now apparently absent. Some authors would have us believe that this latter issue is no longer as contentious as it once was. For instance, according to Johnson (1990, p. 331), the nature - nurture controversy, as a consequence of recent research, is moving toward an "amicable, if complex, settlement." Further, he also asserted that the mapping of the human genome, which is scheduled to be completed in fifteen years, will provide a "big push" in the direction of the settlement. Johnson is not the first in the history of modern psychology to posit the death, or near death, of the nature - nurture debate. His claim concerning the importance of recent research is one that has always accompanied predictions of the debate's resolution. And though his assertion...