...Nature Verses Nurture The discussion on the importance of heredity and environment in human development is not new. The nature verses nurture question has been debated for years (Psychology). Nurture side of the debate considers all the environmental influences on an individual after conception. While the nature side of the debate focus on nature that which is inherited, or know as genetics. The nature verse nurture discussion has been a part of the history of psychology that goes back to Francis Galton. Galton was influenced by the book, The Origin of Species written by his cousin, Charles Darwin. The Origin of Species has been criticized for over simplifying two theories of why a lifestyle of wealth, education and privilege seems to be passed on to biological children. Galton takes credit for the phrase in his English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture, first published in 1874. In this book he states that nature and nurture are, "a convenient jingle of words, for it separates under two distinct heads the innumerable elements of which personality is composed. Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world and nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth” (p.12). It is thought that how one is nurtured is what controls the psychological aspects of child development and the concept of growth applies to the biological facets of human life. When infants bonds to the individual(s) bestowing love and affection, she/he has received, she/he...
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...Describe the basic elements of the nature-nurture controversy. The amount of influence that genes have on personality verses the influence of learning experiences is not only related to genetics but also psychology. The debate of nature- nurture controversy has been studied for over 130 years and is still being researched. “After studying many prominent English families, Galton concluded that intelligence is inherited- that nature, not nurture, is responsible for intelligence” (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2005, p. 278). Nature refers to an individual’s innate qualities. Genes is considered nature, the physical and personality traits determined by ones genes will always stay the same. The coding of genes determines an individual’s traits such as eye color, hair color, and height. Nurture refers to personal experiences. This refers to ones childhood and how they were raised. This debate will always be controversial. An individual’s traits are predetermined by their genes but life experiences are what shape a person. There have been many research studies completed regarding this debate with no conclusive results. Discuss what is controversial in the nature- nurture debate. Nature versus nurture is one of the most frequently debated issues among psychologists. The term was created by a British researcher Sir Francis Galton who studied the role of genes in intelligence. The debate is about the importance of an individual’s inherited qualities versus personal experiences in determining...
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...Developing a healthy child. 1. Nature versus Nurture: an ongoing debate describing the differences in child development. The prime question of this debate is whether genetic factors or environmental factors determine the development of a child. Nature or genetic factors refers to biological or hereditary genes imbedded in a child. Nature factor determines a child’s physical appearance like the eye color, hair color, height and other traits that are inherited. Nativists or a group of people who believe strongly in Nature, form an assumption that each individual is different due to his individual genetic code. Characteristics that are not observed at birth but which emerge later in life are formed due to maturation. On the contrary, environmental factors or Nurture refers to a child’s daily interactions with various people. The Nurture factor determines a child’s personality which he adapts due to his surroundings. Empiricists or people who are strong believers of Nurture, believe that a human mind at the time of birth is a blank slate or tabula rasa and is gradually formed due to environmental influences. They believe that psychological characteristics and behavioral differences that emerge through infancy and childhood are a result of learning. (Book) * A child’s reaction of a specific behavior and the influence of Nature-Nurture Anger, an emotion characterized by resentment toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done something wrong to you. Anger can...
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...Nature versus nature has always been a heated debate in the scientific community. Nature is considered the biological aspect such as genetics or hormones while nurture is considered learned behavior in an environment. Per Baumeister and Bushman (2014) learning and instinct are crucial components in this dispute and individuals can learn to be aggressive or to restrain aggression. One example I have is nature and nurture in terms of how I grew up. When I was born my parents were in their late teens and still well into their peace, love, and happiness phase. I was always told to let anger roll off me like rain off an umbrella. I was taught aggression is unnecessary and that I should embrace turning the other check and being the bigger person...
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...When it comes to the nature verses nature debate, I always find myself sandwiched between the two. I am neither against nature nor nurture; nor am I biased to one side. The psychological theories (e.g behaviourism, cognitive psychology, biological perspective) that augment their respective altercations, while valid and fundamentally true, can be misconstrued by others, since we all collect different experiences throughout our lifetime. We all (at some point in our lives) face the effects of nature and nurture to some degree—regardless of the impact. While it is true that some of us are raised with more nurture than nature (and vice versa), it may be erroneous to conclude we are solely one or the other. I view myself as someone who has been heavily influenced by nurture as many people I have met throughout my life have affected me in ways I never thought were possible; as a result, I am able to cognitively think about the friendships (nature) and make rational decisions as to what I should do. Incidentally,...
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...The start of this paper I think the best place to look is to the bible for what it says about 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...
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...Nature vs Nurture is often a big topic of debate for people. This is the idea that people may be born one way or they were taught to be this way through their environment. It’s seen as a debate in many cases, but one specifically is the topic of children killers, kids who before they became adults did the unimaginable and killed another person. There are many different examples of this happening and many people say they were born or made this way. Two examples of this are Mary Bell, and Daniel Bartlem. In certain children killer cases there will be rulings saying that they had certain psychological problems, but not in all. The question is then raised, where these kids born this way? Or have they been made to act out this way due to things in their lives? The first example is Mary Bell she was an eleven year old girl, who was originally sentenced to a life sentence in jail. She killed two boys one the age three and the other the age four and said she did it “purely for excitement”. Her mother was a prostitute and said to often not be home, and her father was thought to be Bill Bell who was a criminal charged with armed robber, Mary was born when her mother was only seventeen. It was said that as a kid her mother tried to kill her more than once...
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...Nature vs. Nurture Over the years there has been a pretty big debate over nature verses nurture and which one plays the larger role in human development and how they act. Nature is the genetics or hereditary influences of a person; basically nature is the genes you are born with that can’t be changed. Nurture is experiential or environmental influences that you develop over time after you are born, such as how your parents raise you which gives you a large variety to how you will act as you develop. The question is which one of these two determines what kind of person you are. Im going to try to give a better idea of the difference in nature and nurture. Lots of people believe nature plays the larger part. A person’s genes can determine whether a person is predisposed to a disease or illness for example people who are born with genetic disorder such as Down syndrome have trouble with information processing. Their mental hardware, which are cognitive structures including different memories where information is stored, and their mental software, which are organized sets of cognitive processes that enable people to complete specific takes like reading sentences, playing video games, or hitting a baseball. These things will ultimately effect the way they grow up and the way they see and do things. A person who is affected with those types of diseases shows how nature can directly effect the development of an individual. A new technique called developmental genetic analysis...
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...Forgiveness is important in this christian walk because that is one of manu major attributes that sets us apart from the world, yes for giveness because when someone does you wrong and others know about it they look to see how you will respond if you say you are a christian. So the best way to lets Gods light shine in our lives is continue to serve him, seek to please him and the bible says vinges is mine says the lord. Because you will reep if you faint not, in the times of adversity. God has your back covered so just continue to walk forward Just Like forgivrness is a major charastwestic & you take up charachersisits from those that you try to be like rater they are nature or nurture. In the nurture relm you have those things you had not controll over they just genetically happened. Verses the nature relm meaning those outside influences that have effect on who you are for example, who we try to be like. And our main goal is to be like christ in all aspects of our life to please him. For the bible says in all we do seek to please him. Jesus was the perfect lamb of God, sent to be the example. So because Jesus was the perfect lamb of god he had to be without spot or blemish, which he was. But, he came to take apon the sins of the world and carry a heavy load on his back. All or problems, sadness, heartache, sins he feels...
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...Motivation & Emotion and Development Psychology The three parts of my identity and psychological makeup that I choose to discuss in the nature vs. nurture viewpoints are; personality, motivation, and self-esteem. Nature is more of what you’re born with such as; genetics and nurture is more of the environment. The nature of my personality is that I received some things from both parents. I received from my mother kind heartedness meaning that I will do anything I can to help someone who needs help, especially if I see where they are doing some good for themselves and trying their best. From my dad I have the kind of attitude at times where I tell people exactly what I think and don’t care how it affects their feelings. One of my sayings that I say a lot is “It is what it is”. The nurture part of my personality is that I have dual personalities because I am a Gemini. I consider astrology as the environment portion. My world comes in pairs of good and evil, naughty and nice. No matter how hard I try not to believe in it, it is true. I can be your best friend and happy one day or moment, and then the next I can be your worst enemy. Some days I can be friendly and speak and talk to people, and other days I don’t say nothing or have an attitude like everything irritates me. Everyone who I meet or know me says I’m more mean than nice. The nature part of my motivations comes mostly from my father and my brother. Both of them are go getters. They know what they want in life and go...
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...Nature versus Nurture The nature versus nurture debate has been one that has been around for centuries. This debate was spawned from the idea that nature and nurture are both pieces of the human puzzle. Are we as humans shaped because of our genes only or are we influenced by our peers and environment? The opinion of this writer is that a person is who he or she is based on both principals of nature and nurture. Personal Thoughts My thoughts on nature and nurture have never been explored until now. I have always assumed that I am who I am because God made me this way. Now that I have learned a bit more about this debate, I find that I am a product of both nature and nurture. I am tall, have brown hair, wear glasses, and speak with a country accent because of my gene structure given to me by my parents. The way that I act and my thought processes come from influences in my environment and the teachings of my family. “We are a product of nature and nurture, but we are also an open system” (Myers, pg. 167). This means that even though genes and culture are influences in a person’s overall structure, a person can defy each. For example, as a teenager, I was always pressured to go with the crowd and conform to their ways of thinking and acting. I wanted so badly to fit in and found it difficult because I was tall, lanky, and had acne which was all given to me by my nature or genetic structure. Growing up in a smaller town, teenage drinking was a pressure...
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...Multidirectional (changes occur in all and a straight line) 2. Multicultural (cultural differences have an affect even intercontinental) 3. Multicontextual (life is affected by many context including family, history, and environment) 4. Multidisciplinary (scientific disciplines including psychology, biology, and education) 5. Plastic (an individual traits can be altered at any point in development) As I have stated lifespan is from the time of conception to death of a person development and growth. The perspective is in relationship to humans development is a lifelong changing experience. The theories of lifespan development can be viewed in Freud, and Piaget study on the subject. With Freud and Piaget influences of a person life is nature and nurture. A person’s lifespan began as a fetus, which develops and grows for 9 months within the womb of the mother. During this stage the fetus will become a male or female and will develop organs, genetic traits, and other mental capabilities. The study of human development is a science seeking to understand how humans change over their lifetime (Berger, 2008). The theories that focus on lifespan are derived from fields of psychology such as the cognitive...
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...experiencing outside life until she reached thirteen, it shocked America and has been an ongoing unforgettable story for quite some time. Cases like this have influenced psychological researches to discover the social, physical and psychological impacts these experiences can cause on individuals. Being isolated for long periods of time from society can cause significant social impacts. Without the ability to communicate with others, this could limit the capability to care for one’s self. The story of Genie states that she was not toilet-trained and was limited to the amount of words she could say. These skills are only learnt from the influence and environmental impacts of hearing others speak etc. Nature verses nurture is an ongoing argument debating concern whether individual’s innate qualities verse personal experience in determing or causing the differences in physical and behavioural traits. It’s shown in this case however that Genie was learnt how to talk more and dress herself once she escaped, which shows human contact is important to the social standards of life and our behaviour. These conditions of being excluded from society can also affect the physical state of those concerned. In Genie’s case, she wasn’t available to the correct nutrition of a growing child which causes malnutrition. As illustrated in the story I have studied, Genie was unable to chew and swallow solid foods, this could be because she had never experienced it or because the malnutrition caused her such a weak...
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...Nature vs. Nurture There has always been a large controversy over whether inherited genes or the environment influences and affects our personality, development, behavior, intelligence and ability. This controversy is most often recognized as the nature verses nurture conflict. Some people believe that it is strictly genes that affect our ways of life, others believe that it is the environment that affects us, and some believe that both of these influence our behavior. Either way, social scientists have been struggling for centuries deciding whether our personalities are born or made. Tests are done often on identical twins that were separated to see how they are each influenced by their separate environments. In the past twenty years, it has been discovered that there is a genetic component to every human trait and behavior. However, genetic influence on traits and behavior is partial because genetics account on average for half of the variation of most traits. Urie Bronfrenbrenner, who studies genetics, said, "It is not nature vs. nurture, but the interaction of nature and nurture that drives development." Researchers are finding that the balance between genetic and environmental influences for certain traits change as people get older. Also, people may react to us in a certain way because of a genetically influenced personality and, we may choose certain experiences because they fit best with our instinctive preferences. This means that our experiences may be influenced...
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...The many theorists of personality and psychologists cannot agree on a definition of personality. They understand that it is what makes each person unique, but other than that they are baffled. This is not from a lack of trying. Many theorists have been studying personality for years. Sigmund Freud has theorized many things about personality and his work is still being used today. Nature verse nurture is another debate in the personality world. Psychologists cannot come to a conclusion as to whether it is genetics or the environment that gives people their personality. Psychologists have theorized many ways as to how people obtain their personality, whether it is nature or nurture; this paper will discuss that topic. The word personality has no set in stone meaning. The reason for this is because psychologists cannot agree on the meaning. Each branch of psychology will think that the meaning of personality is different, as well as each psychologist within the branch thinking that the meaning is different. Although psychologists do not agree on the same definition they can agree on what it does to a point; this is the generic definition of personality. They agree that personality is the characteristics and traits of a person that attribute to each person’s own behavior. Since psychologists cannot agree on just one definition of personality, many psychologists have come up with theories for what it is and different concepts about it. According to Feist & Feist (2009),” A scientific...
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