Genes Or Nurture: Does Culture Influence Parental Learning?

Nature versus Nurture is a common topic when discussing one’s personal development while growing up. Children are often affected by how their families treat them and teach them their values and judgements. This sometimes changes the children’s personalities and manners. Because of that the way they’re brought up can also often impact the choices they make in their future lives. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates how children are influenced by their families using the Finch and the Ewell families. Personally, my family has also greatly impacted my life and personality growing up.

While both styles of parenting have their benefits and weaknesses, the educational system of the United States is built predominantly on middle class values and Concerted Cultivation. Consequently, this may negatively affect how children who aren’t familiar with this upbringing navigate their already complex academic and home lives. This imbalance within the student population can put some students farther ahead and at the same time neglect students who don’t have the resources they need to keep up with their peers. Lareau refers to this as “transmission of differential advantages to children”. She states the benefits the advantages that middle-class homes typically offer:

Vygotsky proposed that children’s development is affected by their culture and social interaction. He also suggested that children are not born with knowledge but they gain it through their social interactions with peers and adults; he does not rule out the importance of biological processes but proposes an interdependent relationship between biological development alongside social activity and cultural interaction.

Both normative and nonnormative influences and nature and nurture influences both shed light on human development over childhood and adolescence. The nature and nurture debate refers to whether particular aspects of development are a result of inherited characteristics (nature) or obtained characteristics (nurture). The answer to what characteristics were obtained by which source is a difficult task as there is still much to learn about the way genetic markers work and how their patterning influence organisms. Instead nature and nurture should be looked at as a intricate ecology (Claiborne, Drewery, Paki, & Peters, 2014). This is where characteristics are not considered to have only a single source but can linked to a contribution of our genetic

Human behavior is affected both by genetic inheritance and by experience. The ways in which people develop are shaped by social experience and circumstances within the context of their inherited genetic potential. Each person is born into a social and cultural setting – family, community, social class, language, religion, and eventually develops many social connections. The class into which people are born affects what language, diet, tastes, and interests the will have as children and therefore

When examining human development, the universal idea of conflict between nature and nurture often arises. The argument presented by the “Nature vs Nurture” debate is extremely controversial and has been discussed and critiqued for decades. “Nurture” is cited as being a combination of elements from one’s environment and experiences that shapes a person and their life, whereas “Nature” is cited as being a combination of genetic and hereditary aspects that dictates who a person is and will become. The controversy surrounding the argument most directly stems from the differences of views on whether or not nature or nurture affects a person’s life more. Historians, scientists, psychologists, and everyday philosophers have all studied this uncertainty, and many of whom have developed countless theories. Among these is the

One of the main, and most controversial topics discussed in a child’s development is, nature vs. nurture. Nature pertains to genetic influences that a child has inherited from their parents, such as traits, abilities, and capacities. For instance, what color eyes the child may have, how athletic they may be, and even their brain development. Whereas nurture, refers to the environment the child is raised in and how this shapes their behaviors. Such factors can include, the family’s socio-economic status, schooling, parental discipline, as well as whether the child is provided with enough resources. When it comes to nature or nurture having a stronger influence then the other, the answer is both, nature and nurture, influence the outcome of the child. This idea that both nature and nurture, play a part in how the child will develop, is known as the nature-nurture continuum.

In psychology, it has long been debated whether nature or nurture influence human behaviours more extensively. This has captured the interest of many psychologists as determining an answer can improve society. For instance, if it is proven that nurture significantly impacts human development greater than nature, we can nurture children to abstain from violence and drugs, resulting in a decrease of crime in society. Nurture refers to the environmental factors and thus the experiences and upbringing of people were studied to see how it affected their development. For example, the Zimbardo Prison Study, Harlow’s Monkey Experiments, and Genie are all exceptional examples of how nurture affects cognitive development and behaviors. Conversely, nature refers to the genetic factors that affect human development. To support this argument that genetics play a more significant role in human behaviours and development, psychologists focused on studying siblings and children. More specifically, The Boy With No Penis, the Jim siblings, and Sandra Scarr’s observations were studied to further understand the heritability of certain behavioral traits and the undeterring quality of nature. By examining these experiments and studies, a possible answer can be reached.

When we look at the science of human development, the main consideration is how people change over time. In the age old question of nature versus nurture, there are some that believe the characteristics and traits within us are innate, meaning we are born with them. Still others feel that nurturing, our environmental influences like friends, community, schools, media and even parents affect who we are. This is a false dichotomy, it is not which-but how much of each because both play crucial roles in our development (Berger 2015).

This paper is going to discuss the Nature vs Nurture debate. There will be history of the debate, where it is presently and where it may go in the future. We will look at the beginning of the debate, the battle that started with Descartes and was pushed further by BF Skinner, Bandura and Piaget. We will further look at Bandura and Piaget and look at Social learning theory verses biology. Interviews with a sibling set of sisters, one adopted and one biological separated by 4 months in age will show us how being raised in the same environment will over shadow biological beginnings. The Nature vs Nurture debate will be discussed in

Through history, the idea of nature vs. nurture has been a hotly debated issue. Nature, or genetics is often believed to be the most important aspect of a persons’ upbringing, as nature is something intrinsic to any one person. However, many debate that nurture, or the care and encouragement of any human life, trumps nature. The earliest evidence and rebuttals of these theories have been honed and developed over time by specific psychologists and educational theorists – all who hoped to prove their own ideas as fact at one time in history.

It seems that humans are born with a natural instinct to be selfish, enjoy those who have similarities to them and favor kindness. Nurture of parents, religion,and culture can cause a change of morals. Since babies are born knowing what is wright and wrong they still don't coprehend the concept between the two. Also with the nurture of parents and the surrounding environment they begin having more of a open mind, adapting to new things in life. Just like in America, some people are more open to trying new foods because there is more variety of cultures mixing compared to other countries. As babaies we are born knowing what is wright and wrong, we are also aware of justice and injustice and we still do not care for unfamilarities. As children

Childhood development encompasses the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional changes from birth until the end of adolescence (White, Hayes & Livesey, 2013). Throughout childhood, environment and genetics promote or discourage growth and development. This essay will analyse the cognitive, physical, social, moral and emotional domains in relativity to my own development from the prenatal stage until adolescence. Psychological and environmental theories are used to develop the understanding and connection between each domain and stage of development. Lastly, this essay will address the controversial nature verses nurture debate and its relevance to my childhood development.

This paper will discuss how a child’s development is influenced by environmental and cultural influences as well as parenting styles and education. This will be argued through four topics including

It has been a very heated debate as to whether nature or nurture has a greater effect on the development of children. I believe that a nurturing environment has a stronger influence on a child’s personality than the role of nature. This class has provided me with more support and in agreement with my claim and it has given me a new perspective as to which parenting class I will use when I have my own family.