Psychologists conduct adoption studies to determine how traits vary in people raised away from their biological parents. Adoption studies are a way to look at the nature versus nurture debate. If an individual raised away from his or her family grows up to have similar characteristics to their biological parents then the characteristics are strongly influenced by genetics rather then by the environment. If the individual raised away from their biological parents have characteristics that differ from their biological family then those characteristics are influenced more by the persons environment. One set back of Adoption studies is that the adoption agencies use selective placement, where they place the child in a home similar to there biological parents. I believe adoption studies are important because they help us determine what characteristics are influenced by either a persons environment or by their genetics. I really like the idea that a persons environment can influence their characteristics just as much as genetics do, and adoption studies are great way to determine which characteristics are influenced by genes or a persons environment. Another adoption study that can more closely examine the influence of characteristics would be a twin adoption study, where a monozygotic twins are adopted by two different families. Since monozygotic twins share 100 percent of their genes if they grow up and have different characteristics then those characteristics are very strongly influenced by a persons environment. Adoption studies are a great way to determine what influences a persons characteristics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J71L_15mO4M&feature=relmfu
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