Ally and Paul were trying to have a baby.

They had been trying for over a year and had been very unsuccessful. As a result they decided to adopt a baby. Three months after adopting their new baby boy, Ally found out she was pregnant! As the two children grew up, Ally and Paul noticed that their adopted son showed Pauls love for sports and Allys quick wit more than their biological child. Which levels of analysis could be used to understand these phenomena?

There are various levels of analysis that could be used to understand these phenomena. The environmental analysis looks at the effects of external influences on human thought and behaviour. In this specific case, the psychologist examining from an environmental perspective might suspect that because the baby is adopted, the parents are likely to give it special attention which could cause the baby to grow up with similar characteristics of his parents such as their likes and dislikes, illustrated by the mutual love for sports between the baby and Paul. Another aspect is viewed from the biological perspective, which describes behaviour in the physiological context. A possible reason for the delay in Allys pregnancy could be because of a biological factor that made it difficult for her to get pregnant. It is possible that this could be a biological condition or a mutation of some sort that could suggest that the genetic deficiency that caused her delay in pregnancy may have caused a mutation in her biological child which could explain why he does not share Allys quick wit.
What researchable questions could be asked using these levels?

Some possible research questions that could be asked are: How does parental behaviour affect a childs upbringing? How does nurture affect a childs development compared to his/her nature? o Which one is more dominate in affecting development?

What are possible answers to these questions?

How does the amount of attention a child receives from his/her parents affect his upbringing? Parental behaviour will definitely affect a childs behaviour development. Very young children are like wet cement. They have nothing that imprints them or defines their shape. As they grow older, like cement the imprints left on them due the influence of others will become permanent. The parents have the most influential role on the child. All a child has to base his set of morals in the future, as well as develop habits is his/her parents. The following article; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1939-0025.1987.tb03528.x/abstract discusses the belief that abused children grow up and become abusive parents. The author hypothesises that this belief is in fact true, and brings up various arguments and investigations that support his hypothesis. This article is an example of the role nurture in child development, and more specially how parental habits influence a childs development.