Nature Vs Nurture Debate Case Study

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.

What determines who you are or what you will become? The debate between nature versus nurture is trying to figure this out. According to “Essentials of Psychology”, Jeffrey S. Nevid (2012) Nature versus nurture is the debate about how genetics and nature determine our behavior. In other words, have your attitude, behavior and health problems developed because of how you were raised or who you came from. It is a debate that has stumped psychologists for centuries. The study of twins, both identical and fraternal, have made it easier for psychologists to figure out this debate. So what is the answer to this age old debate; Nature or Nurture?

“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.

At 8 months of age, Bruce and his twin Brian went for a routine circumcision. Bruce's penis was accidentally destroyed during his operation. John Money was a well-known psychologist and a sexologist at the time. Money suggested that Bruce should have a sex change, as plastic surgery was not advanced enough. Unknown to Bruce's parents, Money had an ulterior motive. Money had been working on a theory - that any boy could be raised as a girl. He believed that Nurture was more important than Nature when it came to gender roles. The Reimer twins provided Money with a perfect sample, two twin boys raised by the same people in the same way. This allowed Money to experiment on Bruce while using Brian as a control. Bruce underwent surgery and was raised as Brenda, a girl. Brenda behaved exactly as a little girl; playing with dolls, baking cookies, wearing dresses etc. Money published his works, stating that he had evidence to

Three things that I find interesting were nature verses nurture controversy because we as a human being always look at one side and make a huge deal of the stuff for example, negative behavior often credit to neighborhoods and environment. We do not see the nature affects the nurture and nurture affects the nature. Another one was genetic links because we do inherit certain gene from our parent for example, my mom is allergic to beef meat so as I and therefore, I’m unable to digest too. Next is outdoor play because playing has nothing to with vision especially when people believe watching TV constantly can dim our vision because many children in developing countries do not have access to television or internet and still got problems with

For years, the nature vs. nurture debate has always been a topic that biologists and psychologists cannot come to an agreement on. There have been many controversies that suggest that criminals are born and not made. Some biologists believe that it can be predicted whether or not a baby will grow up to have aggressive behavior by conducting research on them before they are born. In the early 20th century, biologists who supported the nature side of the debate were the same ones who believed traits such as learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and criminality were a drain on public resources . As a result, researchers believed they could ultimately control which human genes were passed on by using forced sterilization on women. However,

Human development is known as the most highly controversial topics in the world of psychology. The debate is known as nature vs. nurture. The controversy on nature vs. Nurture centers on the personality, behavior, intelligence, and feelings. This debate is over are they genetically inherited or environmentally earned. We are all known as innate creatures born

The nature versus nurture debate is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behavior, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Within the field of psychology, this so-called nature-nurture debate, is very often associated with the issue of intellectual quotient, better known as IQ. In the past psychologists have argued that the way in which a child developed was based solely on nature, genetic or hormone-based behaviors, or nurture, environment and experience. Nevertheless, this extreme way of thinking is now long outdated, and it is clear that both nature and nurture have great effect on our intellectual development. The question now lies in just how much impact each has on an

On November 15, 1959, four members of the prosperous Clutter family were murdered for seemingly no reason. This led many people to come up with their own ideas of what happened that night. This debate may be answered by psychology. One question that psychologists have is whether people are controlled more by their nature-genetics-or nurture-how they were raised (Mcleod 1). This debate can be used to discuss the motive of murderers, and argue for or against the death penalty in their case. Richard ¨Dick¨ Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, the ¨Clutter Killers,¨ are a perfect example of the nature vs. nurture debate. Perry was more influenced by nurture, while Dick was more influenced by nature.

Nature against nurture – that’s one of the most popular questions ever studied in psychology. Even today no one knows for sure what’s more valuable for our human development – nurture or nature. Many researches, experiments and discussions have been conducted to answer this question, but positive results are still unavailable. In this nature vs nurture essay you’ll find a brief history, significant characteristics of the nature versus nurture problem and fresh original thoughts on the

Nurture- Social, economic and environmental influences. The nature-nurture debate is an argument based on peoples view about the genetics and inherited genes from parents. Others believe that people believe in things and see things in their way because they are surrounded by people from different cultural backgrounds, the way society is, the things we are taught and the way we observe everything around us. Others believe that the way we act and the things we do are inherited from our parents the same way our hair colour may be from the mother and the eyes from the father.

This was the first topic I was exposed to from this course and knowledge was immediately gained on human development. I learned that there are three fundamental issues of development which are the nature-nurture controversy, continuity versus discontinuity and universal versus context specific development (Demendonca, 2016). I also learned that there are four basic forces that can impact development, which are the biological forces, psychological forces, socio cultural forces and life cycle forces (Demendonca, 2016).

About 20% of teens in the 21st century experience depression before reaching adulthood. Are these teens depressed because one or both of their parents had depression when they were teens, or is it because of their social environment? Traits such as eye color and weight have been scientifically proven to be caused because of genetics. What about mental disorders and an individual’s personality? That’s where the nature vs. nurture debate comes in.

The case of Marta and her exceptionally advanced athletic abilities relates to the concepts of physical development and the nature versus nurture debate. The nature vs nurture debate is a controversial area in psychology (Rutter, 2005) as it is difficult to determine whether a person’s development is due to their nature: their genetic makeup that they have inherited from their parents, or their nurture: external factors that constitute their experiences and learning. (O'Donnell, et al., 2016) The nature of a person will determine the physical characteristics possessed by that person, such as gender, height, hair and eye colour, susceptibility to disease and blood type. Quintessentially, they can be considered building blocks. However, environmental factors have a considerable influence. (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2016) For example, Woolfolk (2016) have stated that a person’s growth is strongly influenced by their genetics however, environmental factors such as sleep, exposure to drugs, nutrition and even emotional wellbeing have a strong impact on

Goffman was the first to introduce the topic of dramaturgy in his work. Dramaturgy is his idea that life is a play. The people are actors and the every day world around us is our stage. (1959, p.13) He uses the image of a theatre performance to express the behaviour of people in everyday social interactions. Although not always aware of it, every individual in a social situation is assigned a role in the performance. Every individual obtains a role in social interaction and the audience observes and reacts to the performance. Goffman discussed the three different regions of performance as the front stage, the back stage and off stage. Each region has a particular impact on one’s performance.