Analysis Of 10 Psychological Experiments / Beliefs

One of the oldest debates in the history of Psychology is about Nature versus Nurture. Today, we know that both play a significant role in human’s life. Some people believe that it is genes which affects our way of life and some people believes that it is none other but our environment that greatly influences our lifestyle and some believe that both has tremendous impact on one’s way of life. Indeed in certain cases both our nature (our genes) and our environment roughly play an equal role in human life.

Throughout the history of human existence, there have always been many questions that have plagued man for centuries. Some of these questions are “what is the meaning of life” or “which came first, the chicken or the egg.” Within the last 400 years a new question has surfaced and has caused an enormous controversy which takes our minds to much further levels. The controversy is whether inherited genes or the environment influences and affects our personality, intelligence, behavior, development and abilities. This controversy is most often recognized as the “Nature vs. Nurture” conflict. Some people believe that it is strictly genes that affect our ways of live and how we are, while others believe that it is the environment that affects

The question of whether we are more heavily influenced by our surroundings and/or our upbringing as opposed to what comes naturally to us is a very controversial ongoing debate. This examination can be seen in the 1965 experiment known as “The John/Joan Case”, intended to test the theory of “Nature vs Nurture”. This dispute within psychology is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited or acquired characteristics. “Nature is all that a man brings with himself into the world; nurture is every influence without that affects him after his birth.” (Galton)

The nature vs nurture issue has been a controversial argument among psychologist for decades. This argument exposes two different views. One of them emphasizes that our personality depends solely on genetics (nature). On the other hand, the second view suggests that humans “develop through experience” (Myers 2013, SG 6) (nurture).

Almost all human beings agree that everyone is different and that there is a need to experiment to better understand the differences within the human race. The role of scientific experiments in psychology is an attempt to better understand the mental process of humans and the possible discovery of something in human makeup that has not been noticed by past scientists and psychologists. Experiments can change the permanent thinking of psychologists and scientists. If one psychologist theorized an idea and every other generation agreed with that view, no one voicing an opposition to the idea, then psychologists would get nowhere in understanding the human mind, failing the innate purpose of psychology- to study and answer questions about actions, thoughts, and emotions. Thus, to fulfil the need of psychology, psychologists experiment and refer back to past psychologists for ways to expand.

Theoretical Propositions: The question of why people are who they are and why they behave the in the way that they do was asked. The researchers wanted to understand if people develop into who they are primarily from factors in the environment or because of there genetic makeup. In the second half of the 20th century most psychologists agreed in the theory of behaviorism, human behavior is caused only by factors in the environment. This study would answer the common “nurture vs nature” question that many people still ask today.

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 on whether or not children develop their psychological attributes based on genetics (nature) or the way in which they have been raised (nurture) has pondered the minds of psychologists for years. Through thorough experiments, studies, and discussions however, it is easy to see that nurture is far more important in the development of a human than nature.

As a relatively new student to psychology, there is a lot I don’t know about. However, one idea that has already been pounded into my head is that of nature vs. nurture. The debate over whether a person’s actions and mental processes are decided by their environment or their genetics. As an older brother, I have pondered such ideas many times. What is it that leads my brother and I to be so different. Where we raised differently or are we inherently different. One thing that is obviously true though, is that we are different.

Nature Vs. Nurture could possibly be one of the world’s grandest debates. Is it possible that who were are and how we interact with the world are predetermined factors already ingrained within our DNA or do we learn and are molded by our surroundings into who our identities? This debate has been at the center of many of arguments throughout my life, I can be on either side of the metaphorical fence depending on the topic at hand but overall I don’t have a particular side, I very much like to straddle the fence in that nature and nurture are both defining factors upon who we are as individuals.

Scientist and Psychologist have long debated which of the two, nature or nurture, plays a bigger role in human development. My opinion is that neither is more influential than the other. Rather, there is evidence that states both are equally important in forming who we are as a person.

Genes are segments of DNA passed down from parents to offspring. Genes are responsible for the development of behavioural characteristics. When genetics and the environment contribute to individual variations in human behaviour, the premise is that the inheritance of DNA influences behaviour of genetics. Genes are not only responsible for the behaviour, but it is also the building block so genetics alone does not affect behaviour. With other factors environmental factors also influence the development of an organism. Nature versus nurture is one of the biggest ongoing debates within the world of psychology, however the series of correlational studies show the relationship between the the effect of genetics and/or environment. While many psychologists theorize that genetics somewhat influence human behaviour due to the genes and environmental factor.

There were 38 participants in the study, all of which were aged between 18 and 45, who have not studied Psychology before. All participants were from the Plymouth area and were recruited by using a sample of convenience, asking family and friends if they were willing to participate in the study, who had not previously participated in an experiment like or ever heard of the experiment/ general phenomena.

Over this last semester in I have learned about psychology and the different things involved with it. In our class we covered nine different chapters ranging from research about psychology to who we are as a person. Are you may be wondering what psychology exactly is? Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. Psychology is a science. Like other scientists, psychologists seek to explain and control behavior and mental processes and test their ideas through research methods. In this paper I will cover the three topics I found the most interesting to me. The three most interesting topics I am going to reflect on are: how the environment shaped who I am today, what motivates me to do things, and the things that cause stress in my life.

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development.

The influence of one’s environment versus the influence of one’s parents and home life may not seem to be much of importance to the average individual. Prior to learning more about human psychological development, I too was guilty of not seeing the importance behind the influences effecting an individual. Both nature and nurture seem to have some relevance of importance; however, when taking a step back and looking at the entire picture, one seems to outweigh the other.