title: The "enduring mission" of Zing-Yang Kuo to eliminate the nature-nurture dichotomy in psychology.
abstract: This paper reviews the arguments against the instinct concept and the nature-nurture dichotomy put forward by Zing-Yang Kuo (1898-1970) during the 1920s. Kuo insisted that nativism represented a kind of finished psychology, and that the labels of nature and nurture reflected and promoted one's ignorance of the development of a trait. Also discussed are his lesser known lines of research on the origins of the so-called rat-killing instinct in cats and his analysis on the determinants of animal fighting. His research illustrated the shortcomings of a nature-nurture framework and highlighted the necessity of his developmentally grounded alternative to studying behavior. Reasons for why Kuo's work has been marginalized in modern histories of psychology are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA 22812, USA. hhoneycu@bridgewater.edu
authors.forename: Hunter
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honeycutt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007323:Instinct; D007858:Learning; D011582:Psychological Theory