Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How social interactions affect intellectual development
Nature-nurture debate
Nature-nurture debate
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The topic of whether human development is influenced by nature or nurture has been researched for quite a while now. I have always been torn between the two and I’m glad that this class is a part of our program as it clarifies some of the questions I have. The video First Impressions: Exposure to Violence and a Child’s Developing Brain is documentation that greatly illustrates how much an environment can impact a developing child. The video provided several real-life stories where children were exposed to violence in their homes. There were cases that indicated that the children became very aggressive in school, inflict harm on themselves, and grew up to be batterers. The video showed how the cycle of violence would go on and on into several
...on the behavior. There are plenty of abused children that go on to lead healthy, well-adjusted lives without committing criminal behaviors. Ultimately, I think human behavior is a delicate balance between nature and nurture although there is no way to prove it with the measures available today.
Tio Hardiman, the creator of the Violence Interrupters Program, said, “You can give them a history lesson. Your daddy was violent, your granddaddy was violent, and your great granddaddy was violent. And now your brothers are messed up because you misled them” (James et al., 2012). He is describing how violence is a learned behavior from your family and close peers. Hardiman goes on to tell a little about his own family’s history with violence. When he was fourteen, a man tried to hurt him in the streets, but his stepfather killed the man right in front of him, and he recalls feelings good about it. This family taught him violence was okay through their own
In the well-received novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Mark Twain skillfully addresses the ancient argument about the origin of one’s character and whether it’s derived from his nature or his surroundings. We can best see this battle between nature versus nurture by inspecting the plot lines that follow the characters Thomas a Becket Driscoll, Valet de Chambre, and Roxana the slave. Thomas was born into a wealthy white family while Roxy birthed Chambers into a life of slavery. It seemed as though each would have gone their separate ways into opposite walks of life, but Roxy secretly swapped the children, which destined each to their counterintuitive fates. Through their words and actions, Tom, Chambers, and Roxy have proven the idea that one’s behaviors and desires are a result of his upbringings and the environment he lives in rather than by his innate nature.
Nature vs. nurture has been one of the oldest and most debated topics among psychologists over the years. This concept discusses whether a child is born into this world with their developmental work cut out for them or if a child is a “blank slate” and their experiences are what shape them into who they are. Over the years and plenty of research, psychologists have all mostly come to agree that it’s a little bit of both. Children are both born with some genetic predispositions while other aspects of the child’s development are strongly influenced by their surrounding environment. This plays into the criminal justice system when discussing where criminal behavior stems from. Is a criminal’s anti-social behavior just part of their DNA or is it a result of their upbringing? The answer to this question is not definite. Looking at research a strong argument can be made that criminals developed their anti-social patterns through the atmosphere in which they were raise, not their DNA.
Many experts do not accept that biology alone creates children who kill. They believe that violence is a learned behavior. Being abused or witnessing domestic violence is an environmental factor in ju...
The quote from the famous psychologist John B. Watson essentially sums up behaviourism. Behaviourism refers to the school of psychology founded by Watson, established on the fact that behaviours can be measured and observed (Watson, 1993). In behaviourism, there is a strong emphasis that the acquisition of learning, or permanent change in behaviour, is by external manifestation. Thus, any individual differences in behaviours observed was more likely due to experiences, and not by the working of genes. As the quote suggest, any individuals can be potentially trained to perform any tasks through the right conditioning. There are two major types of conditioning, classical and operant conditioning (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2012).
It is my belief that aggressive behavior in children is linked to the media, but also to the behavior portrayed by the people around them. Many studies have been targeted toward the link between aggression and viewing violence in the media. One well-known study was conducted by Albert Bandura and is known as the Bobo doll experiment. Research has shown that a child will mimic the actions of others if the actions are reinforced. “Albert Bandura argued that aggression in children is influenced by the reinforcement of family members, the media, and the environment” (Bandura, 1976).
The statement suggests that those with no history of violence within their family and/or those who had a good upbringing will most likely not go on to commit violent crimes. At first this does seem like a reasonable suggestion to make. However, once we look deeper into this topic we uncover more complex explanations that are used to understand the phenomenon that is violent crime. Psychological perspectives are widely used throughout the world of criminology in order to help comprehend why crime is committed and the patterns that occur between the type of offender and type of crime. There perspectives are broken down into four main areas within psychology; Biological/Evolutionary, Social/Learning theory, Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic and finally
Nurture,” the mentality that is built in them. The argument of “Nature vs. Nurture” is whether you were born with a that certain mentality or you were taught to have that certain mentality. This influences the way your life turns out whether you were born with something inside or taught to act a certain a way. “I was taught to remember, but never question, Wes was to taught to forget, and never ask why.”(Moore, 4) This quote shows the different ideas they were taught at a young age and the drastic difference between the two. Scholar Wes Moore was taught more to trust the decisions made, and the imprisoned Wes Moore was taught to just forget about it. “Rule number one: If someone disrespects you, you send a message so fierce that they won't have the chance to do it again. It was Murphy homes law and Wes took it to heart.”(Moore, 33) This ideology was ingrained into Wes`s mind which will lead into the violent actions he performs throughout his life including almost stabbing a kid and shooting a person. The Scholar Wes never had this kind of influence because he didn't have brother or a family member in such a situation that would give him such ideas. This is where Nurture argument starts to become stronger because what they are taught will differ in the way they make out messages and
Traditional research to ascertain the effects of living with domestic violence on children conducted psychological test to measure children’s competency and development. Development psychologists experimented on children in laboratory settings, if the level of competency demonstrated by a child was below average for their age and stage of development, witnessing domestic violence was deemed to be the cause. To know whether a child has been harmed by their experiences we need to how ‘normal’ children function and develop (Archard 197). But there is no universally agreed timeless norm of children’s health and development. Some psychologists believe domestic violence effects the way that children think and can cause ‘pre-mature’ developmental understanding and ways of thinking. What counts as harm depends on norms of well-being which vary culturally.
Noted psychologist Jerome Kagan once said "Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form" (Moore 165). The debate on nature versus nurture has been a mystery for years, constantly begging the question of whether human behavior, ideas, and feelings are innate or learned over time. Nature, or genetic influences, are formed before birth and finely-tuned through early experiences. Genes are viewed as long and complicated chains that are present throughout life and develop over time. Nature supporters believe that genes form a child's conscience and determine one's approach to life, contrasting with nature is the idea that children are born “blank slates,” only to be formed by experience, or nurture. Nurture is constituted of the influence of millions of complex environmental factors that form a child's character. Advocators of nature do not believe that character is predetermined by genes, but formed over time. Although often separated, nature and nurture work together in human development. The human conscience is neither innate from birth or entirely shaped through experience, instead, genetics and environmental influences combine to form human behaviorism, character, and personality traits that constantly change and develop throughout life.
Nature by itself can affect a child’s development. If the child is born with a disease or mental illness, they may develop at a slower pace. For example, if a child is born with Asperger’s syndrome, the child will have a difficult time with social skills and understanding emotions. Nurture deals with the environment. If a child was raised in a hostile environment, that child is more likely to be hostile when they get older. Environment may play a larger role in most cases due to everyday lifestyle, from the city you live in to the way you are raised. If one was raised in a healthy house hold, someone who lived in a toxic household may behave differently.
Nature versus nurture is a long question of whether genetics influence environmental or environmental influences, genetics (Myers, 2014). While we are all born with 20,000 to 25,000 genes there are some that are dormant and some active; believed that environmental influences effect which stay dormant and which become active (Myers, 2014). Throughout Bandura’s experiment, we can see that while some children already seem exposed to elements to awaken the genes for anger and aggression. While others seem to repeat what they saw the adult do, but not with as much force and
Specifically the nurture side you can bring up children or even adults who look at things in the media or play games and become violent because of the things they see and because they want to do what they see. They are influenced by the violent acts they see which are bad because they continue the acts of violence. The things they see around them and see through the media turn them into the violent people we hear of in the world.
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).