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Nature Vs Nurture Research Paper

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Throughout history there have always been questions that have plagued mankind. One of these questions would be: “why are we here?” A new question has arisen that forces us to 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 …show more content…
For decades many people believed that nurture had a more profound impact on the sexuality of humans than did nature. Psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that sexual orientation was derived from nurture. He developed a theory that demonstrated that starting from birth up until the age of four every child is considered bisexual. When the child reaches the age of around four, he or she begins to learn to withhold their feelings for members of the same sex and starts expressing those feelings toward members of the opposite sex. Freud proposed the unique idea that male homosexuality might originate when this crucial stage of development is hindered by some outside force, by nurture. According to Freud, this can occur when either a child is raised in a fatherless home or with an overbearing mother figure (Berk 17). Many years after Freud’s research, it has become clear that nature plays a strong role in the development of our sexual …show more content…
Growing gay and lesbian communities and the visibility of the homosexual identity has changed the view of same sex desires and has made it more liberal. Some have begun to raise the question that, if homosexuality is genetic, then there should be a so called “gay gene” somewhere in our DNA. Scientists have found that there is at least one gene which may be responsible for homosexuality. Though this is not conclusive evidence, with time and the advancement of technology we may, one day, have the ability to actually pin point this gene (Steen 337).
From the time of conception, nature has already planned out many important factors which will affect our lives in many different ways. If nature does control the many facets of our existence then it is possible that it could also control our sexual preferences.
Sometimes nature is not the only reason one may be homosexual. Some may feel that simply living in a homosexual environment places young people at a special risk of following that behavior. For example, if a child is raised by two fathers or two mothers and is surrounded by other homosexual families, then that child is more likely to become a homosexual adult. However, it may be possible that those children who live in homosexual homes would still become homosexual even if they resided and where raised in a heterosexual

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