...psychology and its studies how would you know how the mind works? Because it isn’t something that can be seen with the eye or examined by touch. So with psychology they have all kinds of ways to test and research the mind. Some psychological perspectives that explain human behavior are: behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychodynamic. Behavioral view emphasizes the study of observable behavior and the effects of learning; stresses the influence of external rewards and punishments; neutral, scientific, somewhat mechanistic view of human nature. Cognitive view Concerned with thinking, knowing, perception, understanding, memory, decision making, and judgment; explains behavior in terms of information processing; neutral, somewhat computer-like view of human nature. Humanistic view Focuses on subjective, conscious experience, human problems, potentials, and ideals; emphasizes self-image and self-actualization to explain behavior; positive, philosophical view of human nature. And psychodynamic view Emphasizes internal impulses, desires, and conflicts—especially those that are unconscious; views behavior as the result of clashing forces within personality; somewhat negative, pessimistic view of human nature. The environment, the genes, and the personal choice all shape human behavior for each and every person. But the amount of influence each of these factors exerts varies from one individual to another. An environment can suppress the expression of some genes and promote the expression...
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...eugenics, just to mention a few. The common thread between these fields is their proponents collectively postulate that all human traits, including weight, strength, intelligence, aspects of personality such as temperament (aggression for example), criminality and morality, are ultimately determined by the information encoded in DNA. They espouse that "we are who we are" because of our genes solely; that biodiversity in man is ultimately precipitated by phenotypic variations, caused by purely genetic differences, amongst individuals, therefore ostensibly offering little or no gravity to non-genetic factors. Non-genetic factors, generically labelled as the environment, encompass not only the physical, chemical and biological criterion, but also the numerous social and psychological ones that shape our lives as we grow and mature. Can we seriously take the influence of the environment, an intangible but nonetheless powerful force we experience every single day, out of the equation? Are we really who we are simply because our genes deem it so? What happens when you examine twins who have the same genes but were raised in different environments? Nature versus Nurture For years, the nature versus nurture debate has had people struggling to explain what makes them who they are. Studies performed on identical twins, which have been separated at birth, have come the closest to ending this debate. However, the topic of discussion is still left without a clear victor. The debate is between...
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...chromosome contains one DNA molecule, which is made up of smaller segments called genes. A gene is a unit of heredity and it carries a unique code that makes us who we are. These codes are passed down from one generation to the other, and over a period of time, contribute to evolution. Behavioral Genetics is the study that explores the genetic and environmental roots of human differences. Myers (2014) Simply put, it is the study of how genetics affect our behavior. Behavioral geneticists explain these differences by studying identical twins, fraternal twins and adopted children. I found the study involving the twins Jim Lewis and Jim Springer extraordinary. Given that they did not even know each other, but yet had similar personalities, choices, intelligence and health traits, even down to their life choices, was pretty illuminating for me. They even gave their respective dogs the same name. I found it interesting that while identical twins had identical genes, fraternal twins did not, and therefore could have completely varying personalities. As far as adoption is concerned, the discovery was that environment has no impact on inherent personality. However, environment and parenting do influence a child’s attitudes, mannerisms and general outlook towards life. It was interesting (and heartening), that adopted children have successful outcomes, regardless of how the biological parents fared in life. One statement that stood out to me was, ‘Forget nature versus nurture; think nature...
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...have often wondered why I turned out the way I did, an addict. I wonder if circumstances in my life influenced or contributed to that first time I decided to alter my state with a drug. Honestly, I don’t think it did. I had a normal childhood, in a loving family. We did not have a lot of money, but we had enough. We ate dinner together every night, we went camping in the summer, and took frequent family vacations. Even though there were no traumatic events to blame, I became an addict. But, I am not alone. A quick Google search will tell you that in 2002 there were an estimated 22 million Americans dependent on or abusing drugs, alcohol or both. That was a staggering number then, and is likely much higher now. Every day the news is full of the ramifications of addiction like drug overdoses, alcohol related accidents, and even death. I wonder how many of the people involved in these situations became addicts because of choice or if they were predisposed to the disease of addiction? There is much debate on whether addiction is a choice or a disease. Hundreds of books, journals and articles have been written on the topic and yet, the verdict is still out. Even in my own family there are conflicting points of view. At the dinner table one person argues it is definitely a choice, another says it is a disease, and yet another says it may very well be a disease, but you have a choice to use or not to use, therefor counting on will power to keep you healthy. Addiction is something...
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...Does the Cultural Environment influence Lifespan Development more than our Genes? This debate has been ongoing for a long period of time where some believe that cultural environment influence lifespan development while others are against the claim. The argument that cultural environment influence the lifespan development of an individual more than genes is true as it is argued that culture is an evolution which is a process that is very different from genetic evolution by natural selection, and it is playing the central role in the production of people’s behavior (Guest, A.M 2011). Genes does not dictate how development will go what they do is that they participate together with the environmental influences in making some of the developmental outcomes to happen. It is also true that genes are involved in human behavior as for every aspect of a person’s phenomenon it is due to the interaction between the environment and the genome. An example that shows how gene is involved in our behavior is in the degree in which we use vision to adjust ourselves, like hitting a baseball and selection of new clothes for kids. The reason behind this is because we have genetically evolved to be sight animals whereby our perception system that is dominant is vision and the next one is hearing. The information that is in our DNA that is supposed to produce morphology and physiology which makes sight very important to us has been molded by natural selection (Guest, A.M 2011). According to evolutionary...
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...theory This paper will serve as a fact sheet and will answer questions pertaining to the gene environment and interaction influence personalities, personality expressions in cultures, twin studies, temperament, and the characteristics of constancy over a period of time. The term personality was originated from a specific place and is exponentially more complex although there are some assumptions when developing theories on personality alone. Any type of behaviors that are produced by a conscious choice is known as a free will or forces that are deemed as determined by a person’s control. In my opinion, free will expressions are contrary to the power to choose their actions and the extremity of influence in factors of heredity is none other than influenced by environmental factors. The term personality was originated from a specific place and is exponentially more complex although there are some assumptions when developing theories on personality alone. These factors are learned behaviors in which plays a significant role in the predetermined role of personality traits. For instance; if I do not follow good eating techniques I am most likely to contract high blood pressure and diabetes like my grandparents, aunts and uncles or possibly heart disease like my mother. For these reasons it can definitely be assumed that we as human beings do have free will and the choices we make are sometimes life changing whether the results are good or bad. Heredity is could be viewed as a maker...
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...hereditary factors, or do experience and other environ -mental factors affect it?", and "Can the two work together in shaping human development and behavior?" Developmental psychologists still attempt to find the answers to these questions in order to discover the sources of growth in children's cognitive, language, and social skills. Most developmental psychologists believe that nature and nurture combine to influence biological factors playing a stronger role in some aspects, such as physical development, and environmental factors playing a stronger role in others, such as moral development. They are also beginning to acknowledge the role of a variable combination of both inborn factors and social experiences when explaining children's behavior. Scientists and Psychologists have a name for such an occurrence; epigenetics/epigenesis. In this essay, I will be presenting to my audience information on this highly, and sometimes heated debate, as well as the reasons as to why the belief of this dual influence called epigenetics is becoming more fact than theory. For as long as there has been life, and those who question life, there has always been the one question that has yet to be answered; whether inherited genes or the environment influences and effects our personality, behavior, and development. This controversy is most recognized as the nature -vs- nurture conflict. Some believe that it is strictly our genes that affect our way of life, while others...
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... Professor Powers English 102 10 December, 2013 How can diets work in order to obtain ultimate health? While researching books and articles about nutrition and diets, I found something very interesting that almost all the authors had in common. 95 percent of the authors of the books and articles I researched were obese at certain point of their lives and had tried many types of modern diets such as Atkins, South Beach, Ornish, Zone, the blood type diet, detoxing, the cookie diet-I and etc… without any long term good results. “Every year we are offered new diets, new books on dieting, and new weight-loss programs” (Katharine 1). So, I started researching about vary types of diets, how they function, how they are designed, and if it really fits all people. I researched about genetics, because I wanted to know if it has anything to deal with our health and if it has any influence in our gain of weight. I’ve noticed that when a mother and a father are obese usually the kids also tend to become obese. “Many Americans, including health care professionals and citizens alike, continue to gaze in the wrong direction” (Katherine 2). My goal with this paper is to find what would be the ideal diet and how we could live in a healthy lifestyle and never gain all the weight back! To reach this goal I have organized this paper in three main sections. In the first section, I provide an account of information about our genetics and how we can use that information in order to understand...
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...M1 The nature vs nurture debate has been massively argued about between many theorists and philosophers in relation to why a person is how they are. Nurture “refers to all environmental influences after conception, i.e. experience” (simplypsychology, 2007 website ) that are responsible to how a person is. Nature on the other hand “refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are – from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics”. (psychology.about website). In Angelina Jolie’s, she has many life events which could be accounted for by either side of the argument. However first I will explain how Nature has effected her development through the stages of her life. Nature Infancy In Jolie’s infancy, she would have many characteristics which would have been their because of nature. Some of these characters include the her physical appearance, such as her eye colour, nose shape, lip shape, skin pigment, whether her hair is straight or curly, body shape and so on. This is due to proteins within her body being influenced by how her genes instruct the structure of her amino acids, therefor shaping the cells in her body. These genes are inherited from her parents, Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. This is clear when looking at Jolie’s mother when she was around the age Jolie is now as they have very similar characteristics, including the same dark straight hair and lip shape. As nature effecting Jolie’s appearance, it will also effect...
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...our human nature as well as how nurturing plays a part inside the life of a person. When we look to the bible for understanding of human nature we are lead to see that our human nature is one of sin and death. Looking at Romans 8:13 for an example of this to quote part of it “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die” this tells us that if we live by our human nature that it will only lead to death. However if we finish reading the verse it also says “but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” this gives us hope that if we live by the Spirit there is hope in life. Furthermore we can see answers for how nurturing plays a key part inside our lives. Inside the bible we can see a lot of examples of what the bible says about nurturing a child to adult to bring them up right and proper. The best example I have found is inside Ephesians 6:4 to quote it says “bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord”. This is a great example of how to raise a kid inside a household. Moving forward to develop an answer to the first question on my opinion on the idea of the whole argument of Nature vs. Nurture took me on a road that really has left me with more questions than answers. What I have to say about this topic is based upon a lot of my personal experiences with addiction as much as with other addicts. To say out right that one’s environment causes there total outcome in life would be a total fallacy in...
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...lifecycle, they go through numerous stages of development which they accumulate through various experiences and life choices. Amongst the number of stages, a person experiences, is a very important element which conditions based on that specific person’s characteristics. This stage is the personality development stage. The personality element consists of many of the characteristics to include the person’s thoughts, their behavioral processes, and last their emotional responses to certain things that happen to them. Psychologists have ventured into this subject of study to identify the person as a whole by taking them in and understanding various possibilities as an individual. A couple of key findings in research have identified particular and unusual characteristics such as self-esteem or shyness which ultimately influence their life choices and overall shape their behavior through personality development. Through each characteristic, you will find what is known as a personality trait or pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior which is relatively consistent over a particular timeframe and through various situations. Gordon Allport discussed personality as an coherent whole and that through proper goal seeking, sensitive to particular contexts, and adaptive to the persons environment, that two ideas were brought together, the mental nature of personality and how personality arises from the basic biologic processes. Over the few decades, psychologists would uncover evidence...
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...Directly observable characteristics Genetic Foundations Some definitions… Genes: Basic unit of genetic information Chromosomes: rod-like portions of DNA which store/transmit genetic information 46 chromosomes in each cell (23 pairs) DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid; chemical substance that makes up genes, chromosomes Mitosis DNA duplicates itself through mitosis Permits a one-celled fertilized ovum to develop into a human being Sex Cells Gametes: sex cells (sperm, ovum); each have 23 chromosomes; combine to create a zygote Zygote: sperm and ovum unite (conception); have 46 chromosomes Meiosis: Cell division process through which gametes are formed; Halves number of chromosomes in body cells (46) Autosomes: 22 matching pairs of chromosomes that are NOT sex chromosomes Sex Chromosomes: The 23rd pair of chromosomes (XX=female; XY=male) Twins Fraternal (dizygotic) twins Most common multiple birth Caused by release/fertilization of 2 ova As genetically similar as any two siblings Older maternal age, fertility drugs, in vitro all contribute to more fraternal twins Identical (monozygotic) twins Zygote that has begun to duplicate separates into 2 clusters of cells Same genetic makeup 1 out of every 285 births Genetic Inheritance Alleles Two forms of the same gene One inherited from each parent Homozygous – the two alleles are alike Heterozygous...
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...response in the space below. Psychoanalytic- States that people are said to have sexual and aggressive drives. People’s behaviors are ruled by irrational forces and the unconscious, as well as instinctual and biological forces. It is believed people have no free will. Sigmund Freud made his own theory in the 1890’s. Freud theory was that a hysterical patient could have these problems due to a painful childhood experience that they cannot remember. This theory states that there is influence of lost memories that shape our feeling, thoughts and behavior. Behaviorist- Emphasizes objective, observable environmental influences on overt behavior. B.F. Skinner research states that when you give a person positive reinforcement for a correct chose they will go out of their way to make the correct choice for that positive reinforcement. Also works the other way. When a person chooses a negative choice and you give them a negative reinforcement they will go out of their way to avoid the wrong choice to avoid the negative reinforcement. Humanist- In the 1950s a new approach emerged, which stressed free will, which was a voluntarily chosen behavior, and self-actualization, which is a state of self-fulfillment. Carl Rogers was one of the founders of the humanistic...
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...being a mix. A lot of our characteristics are already in our genes, aspects of race that are being passed by from generation to generation. Those are the things we acquire to survive, things that are mainely based on our environment, and due to evolution these things get embedded in our system. So, in a way, I believe that the Nature aspects are in fact influenced by our environment. The Nurture aspects influence the Nature aspects and vice versa. The skills we are born with influence the things we pick up from our environment. Cause and effect.A big debate in psychology is nature vs nurture. The argument is as to whether a person's gene's (nature) mold them into an individual or whether their environment and how they are raised plays a part. The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development. Some philosophers such as Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn, or that they simply occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Other well-known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience. For example, when a person achieves tremendous academic success, did they do so because they are genetically predisposed to be successful...
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...Genetic testing is a scientific process in which an individual’s DNA can be screened for mutations or variations that may cause certain diseases or dysfunctions. It is my opinion that standard genetic testing for disease or the predisposition to disease is purely beneficial. Having clear answers as to whether or not a person may carry a higher risk for some diseases may in fact save their life, or the lives of their current or future children. However, over the years of development of the science, more and more controversial types of testing have developed. In this paper, the science of genetic testing will be introduced by going through a brief history, the different types of genetic testing available, as well as the controversies that surround them. History Genetic testing had a very positive and productive start. The first usage of Genetic Testing occurred over half a century ago, beginning with the testing of infants for PKU, or Phenylketonuria, “an inborn error of metabolism in which an amino acid buildup in the blood causes mental retardation.” (Lewis) To test infants, a drop of blood was taken from their heel while at the hospital after birth. If a child was found positive for PKU, dietary treatment was used to prevent loss of brain function. Testing was reliable and results were accurate. The disease being tested for was easily treatable, and every child that came through was tested without a problem. (Lewis) In the 1970’s, doctors began the process of testing...
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