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Nature v nurture in child development
Nature v nurture in child development
Nature v nurture in child development
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A huge psychology debate that has been going on for years is called, Nature vs Nurture. We think of nature as pre-writing, the genetics we are born with, and some other biological factors. Nurture is the influence everyone gets through external factors, such as experience and learning. Although, the real question is, can we predict the outcome of a child's behavior due to the past experiences of their parents? I do not believe a child can be born to act like the parents, genetically. I believe that children will not make choices based on their genetic DNA. I believe they will make choices based on the people and surrounding around them. Everybody has parts and bits of pieces of family members, but it is truly about how those family members …show more content…
When humans are born we rely so much on our parents. They feed us, clean us, support us, teach us, and love us. They do everything for us, and while they do these things we learn from their teachings. When babies are born they form an attachment to the love it has been receiving from the parents. They imitate speech that they have heard and they learn from the environment around them. What we feel is what we learn. Our knowledge is determined from experience. Our parents will tell us not to touch the hot pan and when we touch it we learn from our experience. Our genetics do not tell us to touch the hot pan or not we learn from our experience with the hot pan. We are exposed to a lot of things during our lives. These different types of exposure teach us different …show more content…
We all have a piece of them in us. Our parents are going to go through different experiences and things. They are gonna teach us about those things. Some parents aren't going to be making the right choices with their children watching. That child is going to learn from the example and do what the parent is doing. They don't know any different they think that is normal. A mother can do drugs and drink while pregnant and that will lead to implications. The baby has a higher risk of being addicted to drugs and alcohol when it grows up. That is nature and there are plenty of other things people can be born with that is also called nature. Your family can be very experienced musicians, but just because you're born with it doesn't mean you have to work for it. You can be born with genetics but you cant except to be just like your parents because of it. If you don't use it you lose it. How a person behaves can be linked to the parents, but usually it is linked to how the parents teach their
On October 9, 1968, a set of twins were born, but separated at birth and ultimately, put up for adoption. The decision to separate the twins came from the adoption agency who wanted to conduct a nature versus nurture experiment; however, the experiment was conducted in secret. However, for unknown reasons, the experiment never developed to fruition. Unaware the child they adopted was a twin; both sets of parents raised a singular child. Thirty-five years later, one twin began a search for her biological mother through the adoption agency, only to find out that she was born a twin. Upon learning her identity, she reached out to her twin and they began the journey of getting to know one another by comparing characteristics that appeared similar such as temperament and mannerism. They even discovered that they both held positions as a film critic and enjoyed almost identical movies.
...s may never agree on a conclusive degree to which both nature and nurture play roles in human development, but over the years, more improved studies have shown that both are crucial aspects. With all the knowledge we are gaining from these studies, it would be quite limiting to believe that a criminal and his actions are the sole result of heredity. Even in people who do not commit crimes, genes themselves are affected by the prenatal environment. Undoubtedly, the fetus experiences changes in environment, forcing possible changes in heredity and reactionary response. We are likely to never find the answer to how much or how little either, nature or nurture, impacts our lives, but at least we can agree that they both do, in fact, have major roles. Our development is not the culmination of heredity alone, but of a tangled web of experiences and genetics entwined.
For this first analytical essay, I have decided to have a go at analyzing the Nature Vs. Nurture using my own viewpoint as a sibling. No doubt this is a topic that has been debated to mental death already, but I think it is something I will benefit from thinking about. Also, at the end of my main topic, I will quickly address a topic brushed on in the book.
Because genes are hard-coded into a human and cannot be changed, people believe that in certain environments, especially stressful ones, humans will begin acting based on instinct rather than rationality; that people's actions are the product of their own inherent will rather than circumstance. “Instinctive, or hard-wired (i.e., by definition, genetically determined), behavior ...implies that a behavior is performed without thought and cannot be modified by learning.” (Source J). Additionally, people believe that genes not only cause genes to give people a disposition toward certain decisions, but guarantee that those types of decisions will eventually be made. While genes do cause people to have certain personalities and be disposed toward certain things, the rest of the argument is fundamentally false. This is because it ignores one of the core components of genetics: epigenetics. Epigenetics is a part of genetics that determines whether or not a gene is expressed. Even if a person were to have a gene to cause violence, “in order to express this gene, ...you have to be involved in something that is really traumatic -- not a little stress, not being spanked or something, but really seeing violence, or being involved in it, in 3D” (Source D). Essentially, although genetics is hard coded into a person,
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.
Undoubtedly, humans are unique and intricate creatures and their development is a complex process. It is this process that leads people to question, is a child’s development influenced by genetics or their environment? This long debate has been at the forefront of psychology for countless decades now and is better known as “Nature versus Nurture”. The continuous controversy over whether or not children develop their psychological attributes based on genetics (nature) or the way in which they have been raised (nurture) has occupied the minds of psychologists for years. Through thorough reading of experiments, studies, and discussions however, it is easy to be convinced that nurture does play a far more important in the development of a human than nature.
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 is the word used to describe the biological aspects that shape behaviour, for example genes. Nurture is the word used to describe the social aspects that shape behaviour, for example interaction with parents. This essay will cover both sides of the argument referring to psychological theory. To start with the psychodynamic theory, this is defined, according to Dictionary.com as “The interaction of various conscious and unconscious mental or emotional processes, especially as they influence personality, behaviour, and attitudes”. This is a theory used on the side ...
Human behavior is a loosely defined foundation for individuality, generally considered to be influenced and developed by the environment. However, recent molecular studies have exposed genetic factors that suggest a more biological origin for behavior. Gene segments in the genome of humans and other animals have been identified and associated with particular behavioral traits. Is it possible that the presence or absence of even a single gene may predispose one to alcoholism, increased irritability, or enhanced intelligence? Clearly exploration of the nature versus nurture argument with regard to genetic predisposition has social, political, and legal significance.
Someone can physically look like their parents, siblings or even ancestors from the third generation. When a baby is born, it is common to learn in a natural way. No one teaches a baby how to crawl or how to react when he and she is hungry. However, talents, qualities and personalities are developed through experiences. The environment in which people grew up can have a lasting effect or influence on the way they talk, behave and respond to things around. According to Steven Pinker, Behavioral genetics has shown that temperament emerges early in life and remains fairly constant throughout the life span, that much of the variation among people within a culture comes from differences in genes, and that in some cases particular genes can be tied to aspects of cognition, language, and personality (2). Researchers believe that the origin of behaviors occur in genes in the DNA or even animal instincts which this concept is known as nature of human behavior. Other researchers believe that people are they were they are because they are taught to do so. This concept is well known as nurture in human behavior. In society, there will always be the doubt between Do we born in this way or do we behave according to life experiences? I strongly believe that nurture plays an important role in the upbringing of a child and the decisions that one makes in the future. Firstly, humans learn from their environment and other’s behaviors. Secondly, culture is a huge remark in people’s life. Finally,
Height, hair color, eye color and sex are just a few examples of ways our DNA has shaped us. But could it be possible that our DNA also effects the way we behave in society. It is possible that genetics effect us is more ways that we may have imagined. Dr. Peter B. Neubaur believes that shyness, eating disorders, obsessive behavior and psychological illness can all be traced back to our genetics. Sexual orientation is also believed to be derived from genes in our body which determine what sexual preference we prefer. Violence and other types of crimes can be linked back throughout a person’s lineage to witness that other family members have been committed similar crimes without ever meeting one and other.
From birth, a child owns not much knowledge in his brain for the lacking of experiences. As time goes by, he would gradually learn to produce sound, to talk, to play, and to do certain things from his parents and the surrounding people. Also, his personality is influenced by the environment until he reaches his mature age. This is the time when he develops his own conscience and full awareness of the impact of the negativity and the goodness on his life. People say that a child is a product of the parents’ guidance for those reasons.
The line between genetic and environmental influence on our everyday lives is quite commonly seen as a blurred concept. Traits such as hair color, height, and even nose shape are examples of being securely rooted in our genomic make-up. On the other hand, there is personality, beliefs, and values that can be comfortably categorized as guided by our environmental experiences. In the study of psychology, this dichotomy is referred to as nature versus nurture. The problem with this division, however, is that there is a significant grey area in-between where many, if not most, of our traits tend to lie.
Developmental Psychology is an area which studies how we as humans change over the period of our life span. The majority of the focus is broken into three categories: cognitive, physical and social change. The creation of who we are today comes down to the everlasting debate of nature versus nurture. This ongoing debate of what makes us who we are and which one is the driving force in development may be so simple that it’s complex. Rather than it being a conflict of nature “versus” nurture, it is very well possible both play an equal part in the development of us as humans. In the beginning, we start off as single cell in the form of a zygote. In that moment, where the DNA begin to form and the first seconds of life take place, the zygote is already experiencing interaction with the womb. In the process of determining why we are who are it is better to look more at the interactions of nature and nurture, analyzing how both have shaped us.
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).