...Homosexuality: A Case of Nature versus Nurture By Robert L Smith Instructor: Mr. Simbarashe Chiduma A RESEARCH PAPER Submitted to Baker College in partial fulfillment of requirements For class: Soc 201 Winter 2012 Homosexual is defined as: “of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex” (Webster’s Dictionary, 4th ed., 2003) The nature approach is based on a chance that humans are born with a specific gene that determines if they will be homosexual. "In other words, some people are born gay." (Johnson, 2003) The nurture approach tells that people are influenced by their surroundings. In this approach, "A nurtured gay person is one that is 'made' gay." (Johnson, 2003) Originally the American Psychological Association (APA) had deemed homosexuality a mental disease. The debate now- a-days revolve around if sexuality is based on nature, a person’s environment, or based on nurture, a person’s upbringing. Alfred Kinsey pioneered one of the earliest experiments in the 1930s. Kinsey’s research resulted in little besides putting the word homosexual into the common language. Karen Hooker completed the first psychological test in 1957. The research was put together to investigate the relationship between homosexuality, psychological development, and illness. The subjects were given three tests, the Rorschach, TAT, and MAPS. She determined that there was no link between social determinism of sexuality...
Words: 937 - Pages: 4
...The Nature versus Nurture Debate Sharon Turzai Western Governors University The Nature versus Nurture Debate Nature versus nurture, a debate of the influence of genetics compared to a persons’ environment has been, and continues to be a debate of scholars over many years. On one side of the argument there stands “heritability, a measure of the degree to which a characteristic is estimated to be influenced by heredity” (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2011, p. 247). The individuals’ environment or how, where and with whom the person was raised would be the other side of the discussion. On one hand, some believe that nature, the genetics of a person is what decides how a person shall end up in life. Many have argued that intelligence, personality, and even sexual orientation are decided by a person’s genetics. On the other hand, some have stated that it is the individuals’ environment, or nurture that molds the person. Some of course argue that both genetics and environment make up a persons’ destiny. “Today, most psychologists agree that both nature and nurture contribute to intelligence, but they continue to debate the relative contributions of these two factors” (Wood et al., 2011, p. 247). There has been much controversy regarding the nature versus nurture debate. The dispute that develops with the debate comes much from the social and political inequalities that is seems some of the research results in. There are many examples of such issues. Some individuals have...
Words: 1398 - Pages: 6
...dig much deeper. This question is whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on our development. I believe that nature has a more dominate role in the development of how people behave in society with regards to sexual orientation. Nature determines our height, hair color, eye color and gender. Could it be possible that nature also affects the way we behave? Is it possible that nature affects us in more ways than we may have imagined? I believe that traits such as shyness and psychological illnesses can all be traced back to our genetics; traced back to nature. I...
Words: 996 - Pages: 4
...What factors contribute to person, whether male or female being a homosexual? Could it be their genes (nature), or could it be the environment (nurture) in which someone is brought up in? The nature concept of being a homosexual argues that genes present at the time of birth genetically predispose people to homosexuality, leading to the belief that some are born homosexuals. The nurture concept of homosexuality assumes that social, parental and environmental variables influence a person's homosexuality, leading us to believe that a nurtured gay person is one that becomes a homosexual. Personally I feel that homosexuality stems from the events that take place in a person’s childhood. With that being said, I’m going with the theory of “Nurture”. Nurture being defined as a general tern for all the environmental influence that affect development after an individual is conceived (Berger 2011). I personally have nothing against homosexuals; I love everyone, and I actually have an uncle and a first cousin who are homosexuals. I believe that people aren’t born homosexual; that a person becomes a homosexual due to traumatic sexual childhood events, such as being molested. I also believe that a child can be misled to believe that the sexual behavior of the perpetrator is acceptable. By this I mean an adult that takes sexual advantage of a child and tells the child that it’s okay to do what they are doing; therefore the child conforms to this same sex orientation and becomes a homosexual...
Words: 1030 - Pages: 5
...Many people are curious to know what controls a human beings sexual orientation. There has been an ongoing debate about nature versus nurture and its connection to human sexual orientation. The are also other influences that has an affect on sexual differentiation and gender idenity. This paper will explain the interaction between hormones and behavior, and how these interactions affect the the determination of gender identiy. The sexual behavior of humans are shaped and influenced by cultural factors that leads human sexuality to be expressed in various ways through many cultures historically. The biological factors in sexual differentiation are very important to the human because it allows a person to grasp and understand the complexities and problems that are involved in human sexual conditions. The premature stages of sexual differentiation after birth are influenced by environmental factors. Once the child advance from childhood and into young adulthood the influences of biological, environmetal, and culture has an effect on sexual differentiation. According to Ault and Brzuzy (2009), gender identity is a multifaceted system of ideas surrounding masculinity and femininity, in terms of the roles prescribed to men and women by society, and how they relate to maleness and femaleness in relation to the self. Gender identity is presented through behavioral expressions of masculinity and femininity, feelings surrounding the body as a sexual, and individual perceptions...
Words: 966 - Pages: 4
...Throughout the course of Psychology 101, many concepts have been present to the class. These concepts have been presented in hopes of helping students to understand human behavior and what causes or contributes to it.. Nature vs nurture is a concept that deals with the upbringing of people. Fundamental attribution error deals with why people sometimes think differently. Lastly the concept of defense mechanisms has to do with the way people cope with events in their life. Nature vs nurture is an ongoing concept being discussed in the psychological community. It is an ongoing debate on whether nature or nurture is what causes a person to act and behave how they do. The nature part of this concept refers to the genes passes from parent to child. The nurture part of the concept refers to the environment the people are exposed to at early ages. A good example of this concept being applied is with homosexuality. People who support the nature side of the argument believe homosexuality is something passed on through genes. People who...
Words: 586 - Pages: 3
...Introduction Homosexuality is defined or characterized as attraction towards the same gender either male or female. It came from the Greek language, where “homo” means the same or similar, hence referring to the attraction between two beings of the same sex. Homosexuality is also referred as a clinical term. Most male homosexuals generally prefer to be called "gay men" and most homosexual women generally prefer to be called "lesbians." Homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside bisexual and heterosexual. The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is an example of normal and positive variation in human sexual orientation. Currently the most common adjectives in use are lesbian for women and gay for men, though gay can refer to either men or women. The American Psychology Association defines sexual orientation in the following way: “Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectionate attraction toward others”. There are three broad categories within the family of sexual orientations which are defined as: heterosexuality, homosexuality (gay orientation) and bisexuality. The origins of homosexuality has been surfacing now and then in our time and we will look at how the future will hold for them(homosexuals). Literature Review Nowadays, homosexuality is an uncomfortable and even forbidding topic for many, but in the ancient...
Words: 3697 - Pages: 15
...Homosexuality, Nature vs. Nurture Western Governors University Homosexuality, Nature vs. Nurture Nature versus nurture is one of the most enduring debates in the psychology world today. These debates have been studied and reviewed for many years, with only hypotheses formed, no clear conclusions have been met. In the middle of the debates is human behavior, whether they are learned or inherited remains unanswered. Intelligence, ability, or even personality remains under scrutiny whether these traits are learned or predetermined by specific genes. Physical characteristics can be contributed to hereditary, i.e. eye color or hair color. When referring to nature, it is assumed that what and who we are, as humans, comes in a natural state or inherited. In other words, we are going to be who we are without the influence on how we were raised and matured in our environment. On the other hand, nurture is viewed as what or who we are as a result of our influences and our environment or surroundings. Homosexuality is one of the hottest topics today. One of the reasons for the popularity is the current debate on same sex marriage, along with homosexual human rights campaigns going on in today’s public arena. More so either this “behavior” is by choice or predetermined by genes. The Studies One of the best research in this area is on identical twins. Howard Gruber, the director of the Institute for Cognitive Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, reviewed and quoted two...
Words: 1245 - Pages: 5
...Gender Identity Ryan Boyd PSY/340 February 28, 2013 Felicia Martin Gender Identity Many people are curious to know what controls a human beings sexual orientation. There has been an ongoing debate about nature versus nurture and its connection to human sexual orientation. There are also other influences that have an effect on sexual differentiation and gender identity. This paper will explain the interaction between hormones and behavior, and how these interactions affect the determination of gender identity. The sexual behavior of humans are shaped and influenced by cultural factors that lead human sexuality to be expressed in various ways through many cultures historically. The biological factors in sexual differentiation are very important to the human because it allows a person to grasp and understand the complexities and problems that are involved in human sexual conditions. The premature stages of sexual differentiation after birth are influenced by environmental factors. Once the child advance from childhood and into young adulthood the influences of biological, environmental, and culture has an effect on sexual differentiation. According to Ault and Brzuzy (2009), gender identity is a multifaceted system of ideas surrounding masculinity and femininity, in terms of the roles prescribed to men and women by society, and how they relate to maleness and femaleness in relation to the self. Gender identity is presented through behavioral expressions of masculinity...
Words: 963 - Pages: 4
...THE GAY GENE The good ol’ nature vs. nurture debate; it’s been around for ages. Scientists still to this day are trying to figure out whether it’s our genetics or the environment we are surrounded by that determines the characteristics of us human beings. I think its safe to say that society accepts the fact that our genes establish biological factors such as our height, blood type eye color etc. What about our social behavior? Genes explain anatomy of a human being but they don’t explain why some people act the way they do. It can’t explain why some people are smarter then others, why people are more violent then others or why some people choose to be homosexual. Those types of social characteristics are determined strictly by your surroundings. Our society, environment, education and parental/neighborhood behavior are part of what makes us who we are. Genes can determine how you look but can’t determine how you act. Homosexuality is a hot topic of debate among us in today’s world. From same-sex marriage to Gays and Lesbians adopting children with their partners; there is a lot of ethical questions to be answered when it comes to those topics. When trying to answer these questions we need to get to the root of the issue, is homosexuality a choice or is it something you are born into? Nature or Nurture? Some popular arguments that I will be critiquing in this paper in support of gay marriage are as follows: 1. Homosexuality is a result of genetic and biological...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...Nature vs. Nurture Homosexuality, Addictions and Intelligence There have always been disputes on whether the decision to be homosexual or heterosexual was based on biological or environmental factors. These disputes are known as the Nature vs. Nurture argument. The two sides argue over how gender is chosen within a person. Based on reproductive organs, sex is easily determined at birth: male or female. Gender, however; is the sexual identity an individual takes on. It is possible for sex and gender to be different. For an example of nurture children who were both born with an injured or damaged reproductive organ, males usually can be raised successfully as females. In order to understand which factor is the deciding factor of a person’s gender, both sides of the case must be fully evaluated. DNA studies which appear to prove that gender is a genetic trait. Researchers have analyzed the makeup of the human brain of homosexuals and heterosexuals seeking a connection between gender and the brains physiology. They found when studying the part of the brain directly related to a persons’ sexual drive, that homosexuals had an enlarged hypothalamus, whereas heterosexuals had a normal one indicating a direct correlation between the brain and gender selections (AllPsych). In researching DNA’s role in gender identity, some scientist have identified the gene that determines a person’s sexual preference. Although there are mounting evidence of the existence of a “gay...
Words: 822 - Pages: 4
...have argued that the Johns Hopkins psychologist used this opportunity as an experiment to test his nurture theory of gender identity. What are the expected results of this experiment, assuming that the nurture theory is valid? Given that this nurture theory is valid, the expected results of this experiment is that Brenda (who was formally Bruce) will grow up thinking that she was born a female and will throughout her entire life spam portray only idealistic female roles. 2. According to the nurture theory, predict the gender identity Bruce would express if he were not subjected to gender re-assignment surgery and raised as a boy? According to this nurture theory, if Bruce had not been subjected to gender re assignment, he would grow up as a little boy, doing all the things that little boys do. He however, would probably question why he was different in the genital area as opposed to his twin brother. Part 2 1. What, if any, aspects of David’s experiences support the nurture theory of gender identity? There is really no one aspect of David’s experiences to support this theory or nurture because even though his parents tried to grow him as a female and he was played in an environment with other females, he still refused to act according to how a female should be. 2. What, if any, aspects of David’s experiences support the nature theory of gender identity? The nature theory says that the way we act is solely based on our environment. Based on my readings I would...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture? Homosexuality: Nature or Nurture? I. Check the circle that corresponds to your answer. 1. Have you experienced bullying or any kind of abuse from others? O YES O NO 2. Are there any relatives of yours who are homosexual? O YES O NO 3. Do you have any other siblings that are homosexual? O YES O NO 4. Do you have close friends who are openly homosexual? O YES O NO 5. Did your mother have any hormonal abnormality during her pregnancy of you? O YES O NO 6. Do you think the dramatic change in the gay rights movement affected your sexuality in any way? O YES O NO 7. Did your parents limit your exposure to the LGBTQ community before you knew you were gay? O YES O NO 8. Have you noticed signs of your homosexuality during childhood? O YES O NO 9. Did you ever have problems with your social life? O YES O NO 10. Is it your choice to be homosexual or not? O YES O NO I. Check the circle that corresponds to your answer. 1. Have you experienced bullying or any kind of abuse from others? O YES O NO 2. Are there any relatives of yours who are homosexual? O YES O NO 3. Do you have any other siblings that are homosexual? O YES O NO 4. Do you have close friends who are openly homosexual? O YES O NO 5. Did your mother have any hormonal abnormality during her pregnancy of you? O YES O NO 6. Do you think the dramatic change in the gay rights movement affected your sexuality in any way? O YES O NO 7. Did your...
Words: 943 - Pages: 4
...Nature vs. Nurture: What are the reasons behind the development of human behavior? Laquinta Gantt Baker College English 102: Composition II Melissa Rigney May 4, 2012 Nature vs. Nurture Theory: What are the reasons behind the development of human behavior? Throughout history, research has attempted to determine if an individual’s personality, behaviors and intelligence are shaped by genetics or the environment, which formed the nature versus nurture theory. The nature versus nurture debate is about the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities (“nature”) versus personal experiences ("nurture") in determining individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. There have been many theories formulated to explain why humans behave the way they do. Explanations vary from demonology to magnetic fluids controlling people's behaviors. Toby Epstein Jayaratne’s article entitled “The Perennial Debate: Nature, Nurture, or Choice? Black and white Americans’ explanation for individual differences” attempts to persuade readers that choice is just as an influential factor as genetics or the environment by examining a group of black and white Americans to determine which of the three factors are most responsible for their differences. The author argues that in order to account for a person’s behavior, their explanation or beliefs about what causes them is very influential in determining the behaviors they exude. To provide evidence for his topic...
Words: 1312 - Pages: 6
...Psychology 1010 Exam #3 Study Guide Professor Tomaszycki Language ✓ What are the components of language? What is language? What does it mean to say that language is generative? ✓ How do nature and nurture play a role in language? Know what the associated theories are: nativism, social pragmatics, and general cognitive processing. ✓ What are the two brain areas responsible for language? What happens with damage? ✓ What are the general trends in language development? ✓ What are some ways to test language comprehension early on? ✓ What are overextension and underextension? ✓ Know the evidence for language-like capacities in nonhuman animals Development ✓ What is the evidence that nature and nurture contribute to development? When does nurture begin? ✓ What are some problems associated with studying development? ✓ Know the basic stages of prenatal development. What is the developmental trend in brain size? When is your brain the largest? When do most changes in the brain occur? ✓ What are the four major steps in prenatal brain development? Which occur(s) after birth? ✓ What are teratogens? What is one example? ✓ Know who Piaget was, what he studied, and how his four stages of development contribute to our knowledge of development. Know the major developmental milestones (and deficits) for each of Piaget’s 4 developmental stages. ✓ What are some problems associated with Piaget’s conclusions or studies? ...
Words: 564 - Pages: 3
