Does naughtiness develop from environmental factors or is our behaviour genetic? Read our blog on the second episode of Planet Child.

May 15, 2019

• Topical

EPISODE 2

In the second episode of ITV’s new docu-series, Planet Child, twin doctors Chris and Xand van Tulleken set out to explore how we develop a sense of right and wrong and what makes one child well behaved and another naughty. The primary consideration revolved around the question, does naughtiness develop from environmental factors or is our behaviour genetic? Drawing on a personal anecdote, the two brothers reveal that although have the same genetic makeup, their behaviour at school was fairly disparate, with Chris being sent to detention much more frequently than his brother.

In this second episode’s social experiment, a sweetshop in Covent Garden is set up with hidden cameras. A group of children, aged 3-5, are left alone to find the sweetshop and meet up with Xand, but what they don’t know is that he is going to be very late. In the shop, the owner leaves and tells them to not let anyone touch or eat any of the sweets. The children soon break the first rule of not touching the sweets and ultimately give in to the temptation of eating them after 20 minutes. Only the four-year-old, Betty, seems to acknowledge any wrong-doing as the other children slowly amass multiple bags of sweets. Once Xand returns and asks the children what has happened, they own up to eating the sweets even if it may “get them into trouble”. The doctors explain to the viewers that as children’s brains develop, they gain better self-control and become more capable of following rules. But under the age of 6, emotional impulses often take over, so it was unusual for Betty (aged 4) to resist and stop herself from following suite.

As in the first episode, this behaviour carried out amongst British children is contrasted with that of children on the other side of the world in this second episode. In Japan, good behaviour is taken very seriously and they believe that teaching cooperation in young children can help prevent disruptive behaviour. We revisit seven-year-old Michi and learn about the sense of community encouraged in school as we are shown him and other children taking it in turns to serve one another at lunchtime. Moral education is fundamental part of the Japanese school curriculum and it is suggested that this may be why they have one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Moving from Asia to Africa, a group of children in rural Namibia take part in an experiment wherein they are told not to look in a box and surprisingly they all succeed in completing the task successfully, with the implication being that they have grown up in an environment demanding a greater respect for obeying rules due to the dangers facing them – such as snakes and other wild animals.

Understanding when to follow rules is something that takes years to learn and the episode moves from this concept to that of lying, explaining that whilst it is primarily learnt as a form of self-protection and evading reprimand, it is later developed as a way in which we can protect others. To demonstrate this, Xand presents a group of kids with his own special new ice cream flavour, deeming it to be the “best flavour in the world” when in fact he has laced it with salt and vinegar. The question here is will the children tell white lies to try protect his feelings? Whilst they cannot hide their disgust upon tasting it, when asked by Xand what they think of his special recipe, they all tell white lies to spare his feelings. This is pro-social lying that shows they have developed enough empathy to tell a white lie to spare someone’s feelings and shows how their behaviour has developed from merely telling lies for self-protection.

The greater ‘honesty’ and obedience observed in foreign parts of the world more so than amongst the British children taking part is blamed in part on British culture’s promotion of individuality. We want our kids to be honest but we also want them to be individual and to do this they need to push boundaries. The doctors conclude that perhaps the ideas of bad and good behaviours should not be so rigidly divided but seen collectively as the skills that you need to become a capable adults. Just as with the first episode, this conclusion seems fairly vague and does not provide any real answers to how we could change our approach to raising children. Instead, it merely seems to dismiss the children’s bad behaviour as something necessary towards their development.

It all pans out rather unsurprisingly and whilst the doctors do provide some fairly interesting insight as to how certain behaviours develop or why various cultural distinctions may exist, the programme does not provide the viewer with any meaningful revelations. The initial question of whether bad behaviour develops primarily from environmental factors or our genetic makeup is only somewhat answered with reference to how different cultures encourage different outlooks. The causes of bad and good behaviour are not thoroughly examined, and the show could perhaps have explored this avenue in more depth in order to help parents understand the factors affecting their child’s behaviour.

Have you watched the second episode yet? We would love to know your thoughts if so. Please do contact us!