There’s a big controversy/debate over what determines who we are, Whether it’s Nature (our biological make up) or Nurture (our surrounding environment). Nature influences who we are, like our physical appearances and our personality. While Nurture is based on our environment including how were raised, where were raised and our childhood experiences. Many psychologists argue over what factors make up the kind of person we are, whether it’s biological or environmental. Some psychologists strongly believe that genetics have very little to do with people's personalities but rather it is our surroundings, culture, and traditions that shape who we are. While scientists and psychologists are on the nature side of this debate. Evolutionary psychologists believe that behaviour is the result of natural selection in the environment of evolutionary adaptation. For example “Interpersonal attraction therefore can be explained as a consequence of sexual selection - men and women select partners who enhance their …show more content…
For example a person’s behavior results from many different things. Although many people might say that behavior has many causes, scientist look to isolate a single cause which makes the scientific study of behavior that much harder. A person learns a lot of their behaviour through their surroundings. The reason why learning takes place is because people are always being given new tasks and problems that they need to overcome, this is another way that personalities are formed. For example a girl or boy that was raised in a nice and loving environment is most likely going to be compassionate and loving than a person born in a hostile and dangerous environment.”While a gene may increase the likelihood that you will behave in a particular way, it does not make people do things” (Scott, 1995). This is saying that we still have the power to choose who we will be, and who we want to
The nature-nurture debate has been around for decades. It is one of the oldest and most popular topics in the history of psychology asking what makes people who they become and how they behave and develop the way they do. What makes the debate more interesting is that now scientists are asking if personality traits and even sexual orientation can be determined by what is in already there from conception. Bodies are built up of chromosomes which contain genetic information. Many of these are inherited from parents and relatives. The nature side of the debate states the way people are is predominantly from inherited genetics and other biological factors not so much the environmental factors. The genes humans have in their bodies play a huge role to many aspects of who they are and who they become. For example, hair colour, eye colour and height are all predetermined by genes. Unchangeable. This is natures way. The argument stands to decide whether most attributes do stem from nature, genes, or if they can be affected by the environment and the way people are nurtured as they have grown. The nurture side of the argument believes although humans do have the genes and traits with which they are born, most personality traits are being made up of environmental factors. For example, being loved and cared for as children, if parents or carers were positive role models and if those people were taught in ways which provided them with discipline and respect for others. Where nature
For many years psychologist, sociologists, novelist, students, people in general have debated over which side, nature or nurture makes us who we are. Each side of the debate has compelling arguments and facts to support their claims, however it is foolish to say one has a greater impact than the other. I believe that humans are the product of society and biology, and that they come hand in hand. That both nature and nurture make us human because there are too many facts from each side of the argument to say that one is more influential than the other. Our biology is what differentiates males and females, and our sense of self develops from the interaction with other humans and society.
There has been extensive debate between scholars in the field of psychology surrounding the Nature vs. Nurture issue. Both nature and nurture determine who we are and neither is solely independent of the other. “As the area of a rectangle is determined by its length and its width, so do biology and experience together create us.”(Myers, 2008, p. 8) Carl Gustav Jung, and leading thinker and creator of analytical psychology, believes: “Human behavior is influenced both by individual experience and also by an innate “collective unconscious” that vests all of us with certain proclivities and tendencies.”(Hayes, 2000, p. 7) From my personal life experience
Nature versus Nurture is the issue of the degree to which environment and heredity influence behavior and development. In this issue nature can be defined as, behaviors due to heredity. Which means behaviors are based on the genetic makeup of an individual and is an influence of the individuals' growth and development throughout life. On the other hand nurture are causes of behaviors that are environmental. Which means the influence is from, parents, siblings, family, friends and all other experiences to which the individual is exposed to.
I think that that both nature and nurture play an important role and the way a person turns out. It can either have a positive impact on the individual or a negative
The Kindness Gene Grace S. R. Canfield Columbia Christian 9/15/17 As long as humanity has existed, there have been debates. Some of them are heated, and some are calmer. Many debates are constantly enduring, but there is no one argument that is as integral to human life as Nature vs. Nurture. This argument provides the explanation for why we behave the way we do, and how we function in society. No matter what side you are on, you have to agree that it's important that you understand both so that you understand a little bit more about how yourself and others function.
There has been a lot of debate about whether nature or nurture plays the biggest role in who we become. This particular topic sparks interest in me. While I have many siblings only three of us grew up together full time. All three of us have different dads, so on the nature side of the argument we only share fifty percent of that. But, all of us grew up in the same household with the same love and discipline. We are all very different but we are also very alike. We might not be a good group to study considering we’re all nature and only half nature. While some say that your biological makeup is who you are and all you are, others will argue that biology is a key part of our development however, it is not the only factor in play. They say, the way we are raised and the environment around us plays a big role in the way we turn out. This paper will provide evidence to answer the question: does nature or nurture play a bigger role in our development?
Scientists still agree that biology does play a part in human behavior, however. Nature and nurture do not oppose each other in every manner. Today, social scientists hesitate to choose one or the other. As humans, life depends solely on the operating of the body. This is seen especially in children. It is obvious that children share their biological traits, such as hair or eye color, with that of their parents. Heredity also plays a part in their intelligence, how artistic they are, and their overall personality. We all have “potential” inheritances, in which their full development depends on how we are all raised. Both sides
Scientists and psychologists everywhere study twins. The argument most commonly studied is nature versus nurture. The focus of this essay, however, is whether or not to separate twins in schools. Some believe the separation is demeaning and traumatic to the twins. The side about to be proved however that is this separation is a necessary step in the individualization of twins. Often, separation sparks the path to individualization.
1) Use the example of feral children to construct an argument in the nature versus nurture debate.
Nature vs. nurture has been discussed by philosophers in the past and by scientists more recently. Philosophers such as Plato argued that all knowledge was inherited from your parents and when you were told something you didn’t learn it you were just reminded of it. Aristotle however argued that all humans were born with a blank slate and built on it with influence from there environment. In the 1700’s the empiricists and the internalists took over the argument. They fought through letters explaining there point of views and denouncing the others. This leads to Pavlov coming up with the idea of behaviorism in the early 1900‘s. Behaviorism became the new wave of Psychology and influenced a lean towards the nurture side. It was not
Human characters and traits can be shaped by heredity or environmental factors; in other words, it can be the result of genes and or the result of life experiences. Genes play a big role in determining our physical appearances like heights and colors, but the important question is: do the same genes that determine our genotype, tendencies toward traits such as humor, violence, likes and dislikes, hyperactivity and homosexuality. This debate has been One of the biggest debates in psychology; It’s The nature-nurture controversy; heredity vs. environment. In mental development science, there is a solid suggestion that nature and nurture interact to produce every specific trait; no characteristic develops as an exclusive response to either nature
“You inherit your environment just as much as your genes.” (Rich, 2015) In 1869, the phrase “nature vs. nurture was coined by an English polymath named Francis Galton. There are two sides to this debate, each with their own pros and con’s. Nature is the side that argues that the DNA and genotype humans are born with determines who they are and what personality and traits they will have throughout their lifetime. Whereas the nurture side of the debate argues that humans are born with sponges as minds, and through interactions and experiences while we grow, the knowledge and understanding of life is gained and this is how our personalities are sculpted. Many people have studied this debate through multiple schools of thoughts; each with their own arguments to which side they believe prevails. Yet, to this day, there is no proof to say which side of the debate if correct. Based on the psychological, sociological, and epigenetic schools of though, it can be validated that when it comes to the nature vs. nurture debate, nurture will always prevail and remain most relevant.
“Cut from the same cloth”, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”, “A chip off the old block”; most of us have heard these types of idioms at one point or another, ways of likening us to our parents. Sometimes they are right, while other times it couldn’t be farther from the truth; leaving us to wonder, “what is it that makes us who we are?” Are we simply the product of our environments, a collective sum of our interactions and experiences? Or, do our genetics pre-determine who we are, complex variations in our DNA that dictate our individual personalities? Some scientists argue on behalf of the nurture theory, that our personalities are continually changing and growing, influenced by the world and people around us. Others believe that we are pre-wired by genetics alone, that while external factors may magnify or diminish some aspects of that wiring, everything we are is already programmed into us from the moment of conception. So, who is right?
Human development has been regarded as one of the most highly controversial topics in the world of psychology. This debate is labeled nature vs. nurture. The controversy centers on the premise that our personality, behavior, intelligence, and feelings are either genetically inherited, or environmentally earned; that we are innate creatures born with our personalities, or that they are learned by experience and time. We are born with our personalities, but our behaviors are learned through experience and shaped thru time.