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Nature vs. Nurture
When we look at the world around us today, we are struck by the amazing diversity that we see in people. There is a vast diversity in the characteristics of people that are immediately obvious: short, tall; fat, thin; Asian, Caucasian; and many other characteristics. Each person as an individual is unique, be it in physical outlook or character. How is it that of the 6 billion people on Earth, there are no 2 individuals who are exactly alike? Every persons physical and psychological characteristics are determined by many factors, and these can be divided into 2 main groups: our genes and our environment, or nature and nurture.
What are our genes? Genes are the chemical blueprint unique to each person. Different people may have the same genes but in different combinations and so they may have some similarities in their characteristics, but never all. Genes determine a vast array of discontinuous characteristics such as hair and eye colour as well as playing a great part in many continuous characteristics (which also depend on other factors) such as height. Our environment is all other factors that may contribute to the development of an individual such as nourishment, climate and even culture or upbringing. It also includes the element of chance.
Since we are all different as individuals, what would happen if we were to eliminate the differences due to our genes? The only situation where we have genetically identical individuals is in identical twins that came from the same fertilised egg. Anyone who knows a pair of twins knows that even though they are physically almost identical (which is where the phrase "only their mother can tell them apart" comes from), psychologically they may be vastly differ...
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... place, so we can see that genetics allows for the possibility of a behavioural trait being expressed and the environment will determine if this behavioural trait will be expressed at all.
Each individual is unique because of the delicate interactions between our genes and the environment. Slight differences in the environment can result in great personality differences and differences in the genome can give rise to totally differing physical characteristics. As a general rule, our genes have a greater part to play in our physical outlook and our environment is more likely to affect our behaviour. In the end, the interactions between genes and environment can be described as such: genes will determine the maximum potential of a given trait, from behaviour to physical characteristics; whereas the environment will determine if we fulfil this potential in the end.
One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest: Every Person is Different In this world there are millions upon millions of people that roam around the earth in there own special, little life. Every person is different than the next one and he or she has their own personality. Each person also deals with life differently than the next. If everyone was the same, then we would be like one giant colony of ants.
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.
Have you ever thought about whether the way you are is based on your genetic makeup? Do you believe our environment shapes us into who we are, instead? In the psychology debate of nature versus nurture, I believe that nurture plays a big role in who
In the 21st century, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (a screening test used to determine if genetic or chromosomal disorders are present in embryos) can easily be achieve at a high price. This had help doctors predicted and prevented many babies with special features. As a kid, we learned in school that our genes define who we are as a person and without them, we all would look very alike and would act in the very same way. However, does our genetic served more than defining our personalities, likes, or dislikes? What if people were to look at your genes under a microscope, will they be able to tell beyond your cosmetic appearance and see things such as your goals and ambition? Gattaca did a pretty good job of proving this point of view
Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick, the famous identical twins from the movie The Parent Trap, were separated at a young age by their divorcing parents. Sharon grew up in Boston to a socialite mother while Susan grew up in California on her father’s ranch. Sharon had structure while Susan’s life was very laid back. They looked the same and liked many of the same things, yet their personalities were very different. What is responsible for these differences? Is it simply that they are two different people with different interests and preferences? Or did the environments that they grew up in play a part in making who they are? In the nature vs. nurture controversy, nature proclaims that our genetic make-up plays the primary role in human development, while nurture declares that our environment dictates our development.
She worked 2 years in a cannery and then went to Heal College for 2 years to
In a study conducted in 1983, researchers studied more than 350 pairs of twins in order to research if human personality traits were largely inherited or learned. Daniel Goleman, author of “Major Personality Study Finds that Traits are Mostly Inherited,” shares with his audience the parameters and results of this elaborate twin study. Goleman introduces his reader to Auke Tellegen, a psychologist and principal researcher on the long-term study, performed at the University of Minnesota, discovered that the human traits most strongly determined by heredity were leadership, obedience to authority, and even traditionalism. He would surely argue that heredity, more than influence of experience, is more responsible for development in human traits. Tellegen may have substantiating facts that nature is more predominant in a mere handful of traits, but what about the several other traits he failed to test? It is possible for a person who shows leadership and obedience during one part of their life to have an experience in which their obedience and leadership is thwarted. The study Tellegen conducted could not have been without environmental influence. Every single one of the participants, whether a twin or not, had environmental experiences separate from the others. Since every person experiences and responds to environmental stimuli differently, how can several prior years of experience be measured in order to present an unbiased result in this study? Unquestionably, it is impossible. Just as this particular study failed to take into consideration a persons’ prior experiences, it also failed to consider the probability of future environmental factors that could affect the traits Tellegen focused on in his study. Although difficu...
Not everything lies in nature; nurture also plays a big role in our behavior. Craig Venter, an American biologist quoted in Ridley’s article, says that “the wonderful diversity of ...
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).
GMOs, or genetically modified organisms created in a lab by altering an organism’s DNA, are in almost everything we eat (Chevat and Pollan). In fact, 75% of all supermarket food contains some form of a GMO (Caldwell). They can be engineered to resist disease, pesticides, and herbicides, which has many environmental and human repercussions. Although genetically modified food is cheap for consumers, it is harmful to the environment and it is dangerous for humans to ingest, and therefore needs to be eliminated from our food supply.
Nature. Children inherit many physical features from their parents as expected such as hair color and height. But how do personality traits and behavior—qualities that go past physical appearance—influence children through genetics?
People are different in more ways than one, but one of the most obvious examples lies in personalities. An individual’s personality consists of a combination of their psychological character, making them unique in almost every other aspect. Their psychological differences are what causes specific reactions to things and the reasons interactions and communication are set in environments. Each personality has its own set of traits originated in genetics that come together to make a combination of features that form the ways each person feels, acts, and thinks.
One pro of GMOs is that when they are genetically modified, they become resistant to insects and reduce pesticide use. This helps the crop become healthier and reduce crop failure. Biotechnology eliminates seeds and increases shelf life. There are environmental benefits that come with GMOs as well. For example, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion are significantly reduced because GMOs require limited chemicals, time, machinery, and land. GMOs are more nutritious because biotechnology can increase nutrients in crops. In a process called “pharming”, researchers are able to produce vaccines and proteins from these modified
Throughout our lives we have all been influenced by our environment and other outside forces. Our environment may change the way we think, act and behave in life. Since we are all products of our environment, it comes to no surprise that we, as humans, tend to behave in a society the same way others around us behave but at the same time we strive to find who we really are (Schaefer 73). Since birth, humans have always analyzed the world around them. With each day that passes, humans take in more and more information from the outside world. The information which humans obtain through their environment subconsciously influences the decisions people make throughout their daily life (Neubauer 16). On the other hand, our genetics also play a vital role in determining what type of person we are and what will we become.
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.