Nature Vs Nurture : Assignment Written By Jessica Lovelock

One of the oldest debates in psychology is nature versus nurture. Nature is the inborn, innate character of an organism. (Spencer A. Rathus pg. 56) Nurture is the sum total of the environmental factors that affect an organism from conception onward. (Spencer A. Rathus pg. 56) Basically nature is what you have from heredity and nurture is you environmental influences.

Why do people act a certain way? Some people are aggressive and others aren’t. Nature and nurture play a role in this. Is it because of the genes passed down from their parents or is it because of the environment where they live in? The reason I picked this topic is because in some areas of my life and other people’s lives, environmental aspects plays a role which affects their behavior and actions, but genes play a role too. I am curious about the topic and why scientists have not found an answer to whether it is nature or nurture. How can a topic have evidence explaining why it is both environmentally and genes. Why isn’t there one answer? Do the aspects intelligence, aggressive behaviors and Mental disorders contribute to the environment where people live in and their genes pasted down?

The Nature and Nurture debate, one of the oldest debates in the history of psychology, questions whether or not criminal behaviour is a result of the nature of a person, meaning something that lies in their genes causing a person to act in a certain way, or nurture, the environment, therefore criminal behaviour as a result of a person’s life experiences (Sincero, 2012). This essay shall look in depth and answer to how the four areas of criminal behaviour, which are biological, sociological, psychological and environmental, as part of the nature and nurture debate, can explain criminality and deviance. This will be done by discussing a number of theories and experiments that have come to the surface over time. Researching the nature and nurture debate, it is shown that the debate continues to interest people today, mainly because of what is thought will be the outcome of these findings, which is preventing people turning to criminal behaviour by understanding people’s genetics, how they were born and avoid situations that lie in the environment to stop them interacting with criminal activities.

Whether people were born with a certain trait or them naturally having the ability to adapt to a certain condition , due to the environment they are living in. In these two articles the authors wrote the article with different points of view , often debating whether someone’s environment has to do with their own success and the way they end up in the future . If they are successful or if they end up in “bad” places due to the choices they make. In the article “The Science of Success” , in paragraph 3 its states “ With a bad environment and poor parenting , orchid children can end up depressed , drug addicted, or in jail - but with the right environment and good parenting they can grow up to be society's most creative, successful, and happy people “.

According to the article, What is Nature vs. Nurture?, nature is referred as “to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are—from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics” (Cherry, paragraph 1). For the nature side of the argument, mental disorders can be passed from generations. According to the article, Is Mental Illness Genetic? The Mental Disorders You’re Most Likely To Inherit, 40% of all sufferers, seems to identify at least one close family member with the same type of disorder. For example, my grandmother who was born in 1918, suffered over 40 years of severe depression to the point she had to take clonazepam pills to help with her sleeping and her depression. I was born in 1997, and I suffer

The issues pitting nature against nurture are exceptionally significant for the gamut of discoveries that attribute an increasing proportion of traits and behaviours to one's genetic makeup. The resulting variety of physical shortcomings and limitations in each person has, for centuries, been countered by endeavours to improve or interfere where necessary, and every individual is consequently the product of a delicate middle path of balance between the two.

In the world of psychology, there has been a long occurring debate over Nature v. Nurture, and the influence it has in people. One of the debates in nature v. nurture is if criminality is caused by genes (nature) or if it’s by the person’s environment (nurture). In an attempt to receive information, psychologist have observed twins and adopted children to try and see if shared genes or environmental changes show an explanation to this phenomenon.

From Dr. Money’s perspective, raising Bruce as a girl would allow him to live a “normal” life, if he were to live his life without a penis, he would be seen as an outsider and rejected from society. He also suggested to put Bruce on estrogen, but also surgically give him a cosmetic vagina. Dr. Money explained to Ron and Janet that Bruce/Brenda, would psychologically mature as a woman, and be attracted to men, as well as be able to have sexual intecourse, without a problem. According to Bruce’s parents, there was no reason “that it shouldn’t work” (50). However, they could have thought it out thoroughly, what if Brenda didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin? Would she feel as though something is wrong with her? This is where the topic of

What is a human being? There are many aspect that contribute in being a human being, both mental and physical. What makes a human look the way they look such as their height, weight, hair color, eye color, skin color, life expectancy and vulnerability to specific illnesses are correlated between genetically related individuals. This is what makes human beings on the outside, but a human being on the inside can lead to many different studies.

The theory of Nature vs Nurture is the controversial notion that people are born a certain way, as opposed to the concept that people are a result of the environments they have been molded by. I am wholeheartedly a result of the environment I was raised up in, however, I am also proudly a deviation of the ambiance of the Western Bronx. As I step out of my building, the obnoxious slam of Domino pieces hitting tables and Bachata music blasting from cars infiltrates the aura of Marble Hill. This was a typical day in 228th Street’s tightknit community. As a Dominican, we are constantly making the best out of the difficult cards we are dealt. We, Dominicans, come here for a better life, yet our success stops at minimum-wage jobs. You are faced with a dilemma when you come from a place like I do:

One after another they bounced from home to home across the world; San Francisco, Boston, and Shanghai, China. Depending on this situation it could alter many variables to the behavior of the children. The guardians could have certain rules that restrict the children, less rules that give them too much freedom, it could go on for awhile; it all comes down to two points however, was it their nature or the way they were nurtured?

Is one’s life set in stone right from birth? Or does an individual gain certain qualities through experiences in life? Nature versus nurture has always been a controversial debate, and there are many different theories and explanations that have been provided around the world, and although many of these statements are true, no one has come to an official conclusion that explains this psychological phenomenon. There have been hundreds of studies conducted in order to explain this topic, and the findings can help develop an understanding that can eventually define the truth. By analyzing certain cognitive traits in individuals it is possible to learn whether these certain traits are predisposed or if the environment one grows up in influence the appearance of the traits.

There are a plethora of ideas and theories regarding the developmental psychology behind why people metamorphosize into different personalities and habits later in life. Developmental psychologists have developed several ways to try and determine where the determining factors are in peoples’ lives that cause the differences. Several of the theories tend to have overlaps in parts of the ideas such as the ideas of “nature vs nurture” and that of “social context.” These theories share the overlapping ideas that there are outside influences on the way a person turns out in life. While “nature vs nurture” states that there are outside influences, there is also a counterargument that the genetic make-up of a person is the determining factor for how that person develops later. Even still, there are some who also believe that both arguments of “nature vs nurture” have even attributes on the lives of people.

Nature is like a trigger, where something that happens can change the outcome of someone’s life forever. Many reports have shown people having psychopathic brains, but never acted as one or became one. An evidence is from a quote "if you're raised in a very positive environment, that can have the effect of offsetting the negative effects of some of the other genes". This quote states that a environment can be the reason some traits that your gene possess will not show depending on the environment that you live in. This evidence supports Nurture because it claims that the evidence can change something in one’s genes and ultimately makes one’s destined future a false reality. Another quote is “20 percent of kids who are really susceptible and they may ultimately be triggered for abused or abandoned”, this quote states that Nature is like a trigger where one’s true gene appear when something negative impacts their life in a very large scale. So this supports Nature because it proves a point where a positive environment where negative scenes are not active can change someone’s psychological behavior or completely negate it. These are my reasons that Nurture is more dominant in people’s psychological

When it comes to the debate of whether counselors and born or made, I think that my stance falls more in the center of both extremes. I don't think that it is impossible to be a good counselor if you were not praised for your abilities to be easy to talk to at an early age, but I do think that there are some personalities that may be better suited for different types of counseling. I believe that counselors should approach the field and developed both, from scientific and intuition or feeling based skills. I think that over time even if you did not begin with a natural therapeutic way of being you can develop into a good counselor, if that it what you really want and strive for. I also don't that counseling should only be based off learning from experiences but should also partly rely on the scientific foundations and theories in which counseling was based upon.