Life Span Development

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Recommended: Nature vs. nurture debate with regard to human development

The impact of genes and environment on human development has been a controversial debate for a long time. On one hand, some people claim that nature is the sole determiner of human development; on the other hand, others assert that nurture is the only determiner of human development. In this paper, possible roles of both biology and environment on cognitive abilities will be discussed through providing a balanced interpretation based on the text and relevant readings from the class. Nature’s influence is not limited to appearance but extends further than that. Studies have shown that people inherit cognitive abilities and temperament patterns from their parents. The new question in today's research is: to what extent does nature’s role play in the formation of a human personality and whether the environment can favorably or adversely affect one’s personality (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in each individual’s heredity. Of these 23 pairs, 22 are similar in males and females. The 23rd pair determinates the sex of an individual. As it is seen in this case, the genes are the sole determiner of the sex of an individual (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). Even though some human body traits are only determined by genes, it is not that black and white in many cases. For example, in a study by Bouchard and McGue (1981), the intellectual abilities of some family members are compared to reveal the degree of interaction between genes and environment. According to this study, the average correlation between identical twins is 0.86 if they are raised together and 0.72 if they are raised apart. The average correlation for fraternal twins who are raised together is 0.60 and those fraternal twins who are raised apart is 0.52. M... ... middle of paper ... ...cal characteristics (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). Let’s go back to the study by Grilo and Pogue-Geile (1991). In this study, the correlation for height between twin pairs is 0.80. Even if we assume that 80% of height is determined by genes, there is a huge 20%. Let’s suppose that your genes determined your height as minimum 5 feet. With a healthy diet, exercising, staying away from smoking, drugs, and excessive consumption of alcohol, the remainder 20% of environment factors may enable you to height up to 6.4 feet. Even though nature and nurture is still being a hot topic, in the light of recent research, most of the people now believe that both play a significant role in development. Instead of separating and handling their contributions one by one, it is more realistic to adopt a holistic approach and understand how these forces work together to make us what we are.

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