Nature Vs. Nurture Essay

One of the most enduring debates in the field of psychology is the controversial idea of nature vs. nurture. Throughout the endless history of the debate, no clear conclusion has been met, only hypotheses have been formed. At the center of the debate, human behaviors, ideas, and feelings are being determined, whether they are learned or inherited. Determining physical traits, such as eye color or hair color, are simple because they are hereditary traits. The idea of having a certain personality, intelligence, or ability is under discussion because scientists cannot determine if these traits are learned, or predetermined by genes.

Throughout my nineteen years of living I have gone through many events and have had many influences, both good and bad. Only a few of these events I would consider significant. I believe that both nature and nurture played a role in these significant events. Nurture had the biggest impact in my life and how I am today.

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.

In today's society, one will find that there are many different factors that go into the development of a criminal mind, and it is impossible to single out one particular cause of criminal behavior. Criminal behavior often stems from both biological and environmental factors. In many cases criminals share similar physical traits which the general population do not usually have. For example criminals have smaller brains than properly adjusted individuals. However biological reasons cannot solely be the cause of criminal behavior. Therefore, one must look to other sources as to how a criminal mind is developed. Social and environmental factors also are at fault for developing

1) Use the example of feral children to construct an argument in the nature versus nurture debate.

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 “.

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

As the dubious history of the debate on nature vs nurture continues to be a controversy, more and more psychologists start to rise from both sides of the argument. The earliest evidence can be traced back to the time of John Locke, who believes that our minds are blank slates and only experience can write override it. Despite the main focus of the issue being how environment transact to influence development, psychologists today continue to argue on the issue of nature vs nurture. Intelligence is more of a concept rather than a specific measure of something. To be able to argue for nature or nurture, one needs to understand what intelligence really means. By definition, it refers to our "mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. This concept covers the fields of many different aspects of the obstacles we meet in life, and what we are trying to figure out is which side of the argument can support and explain how the idea of intelligence is actually produced. Although some correlational studies show that nature corresponds greatly with peoples ' intelligence levels, it does not prove causation unless the correlation level is extremely high (somewhere around +0.8-+1.0). However, many factors and ideas can be used to prove that nurture has a bigger impact on peoples intelligence levels. Through the parenting, education, and social economic and cultural background, it is evident that nurture is

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.

Nature vs. nurture has been an on going argument since the dawn of time. Many people have different opinions on which is greater but here is the one that seems most convincing. Nurture is more important than nature because it's more influential and it's more deliberate.

Most of us have an intuition that, although our genes provide advantages and constraints, we retain great control over our lives. However, we are developing a second, competing intuition that, like it or not, our genes determine our abilities, our preferences, and our emotions. We would like to think we are much more than the sum of our genes, but scientists have apparently demonstrated that our genes determine some of our most complex behavioral and cognitive characteristics.

Esteemed philosopher and writer G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell.”

Is cultural discrimination an inherent characteristic or is it cultivated by the world surrounding someone? The debate over nature versus nurture is a long and drawn out one with many different facets to such a complex issue. Scientists have gone back and forth over what characteristics are innate and what is learned, offering different perspectives on the subject, but it is still an ongoing discussion. It is believed that the great debate began with Hippocrates. The people who support the side of nature believe that the characteristics of all humans are programmed into their genetic code before they ever leave their mother’s womb. People are born with certain