SPEAKER: Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser is interested in how nature and nurture interact. She is specifically interested in how that interaction plays out in interpersonal relationships. To investigate the nature–nurture interaction, Dr. Neiderhiser studies twins and adoptive families.

In one of Dr. Neiderhiser's published studies, she and her colleagues tried to understand the relationship between parental criticism and somatic symptoms in adolescents. Somatic symptoms are unexplained or undiagnosed physical problems, like headaches.

Parental criticism has been associated with increased somatic symptoms in adolescents, but we weren't sure why. Maybe the symptoms were caused by the criticism or maybe something about the adolescent caused both the symptoms and increased the likelihood of parental criticism. Maybe there were underlying genetic causes of both parental criticism and the somatic symptoms.

In the core lesson, you learned about twin studies. Dr. Neiderhiser and her colleagues studied twins and the children of twins to try to identify the cause. They found an environmental cause. Parental criticism causes the somatic symptoms in teenagers.

If you're interested in reading this article, you can find it in the course space. If you would like to learn more about Dr. Neiderhiser and her work, you can check out her Penn State web page, linked here. If you are interested in nature, nurture, and their interaction, you are in luck. There are a number of World Campus courses that might interest you.

Intro to Developmental Psychology includes some discussion on environmental and genetic influences on growth and change across the life span. Intro to Social Psychology includes information about how our social environments affect our thinking and behavior. Intro to Personality focuses on determinants of personality, both genetic and environmental.

The Neurological Basis of Human Behavior focuses on the biological determinants of behavior. Introduction to Abnormal Psychology, Health Psychology, the Psychology of Fear and Stress, and Child Psychopathology all include information about how our nature and/or our nurture influence our physical and/or psychological health and well-being.

More detailed descriptions of each of these courses can be found in the World Campus course directory.