Nature vs. Nurture

1. Some people have argued that the Johns Hopkins psychologist used this opportunity as an experiment to test his nurture theory of gender identity. What are the expected results of this experiment, assuming that the nurture theory is valid?

There have been a many number of theories on development and many of them will influence the way professionals work with children and young people. Psychologists have different views and theories about how children learn, some feel that a child’s ability is innate and others that it depends on the opportunities that are given. This is the ‘nature versus nature’ debate.

Nature or Nurture. Nature may be all of the genes and hereditary factors with which influence them to become who they are such as physical appearances and personality characteristics. Nurturing impacts people’s lives as well as how they are raised and all the environmental factors. In combination, these qualities can be the true identity of oneself. Many people may argue that nurture appears to a play huge factor in the two, but others may think otherwise. Not having both as a characteristic can have a negative effect on a person physically and mentally. The debate of nature versus nurture appears to be the oldest argument known to man, and it still remains to be unanswered. In the old-age argument nature versus nurture, nature may play a huge role in determining a person’s true identity.

The concepts of Nature vs Nurture, are major concepts in social science. Nature is the hereditary pattern of physical features in a human being 's development. These features include, but are not limited to, our personality, usual and unusual appearances and the general measurements of how humans hold the attributes of being sociable, hostile behavior, their emotions, and the usage of alcohol and drugs. On the other hand Nurture is slightly different. Nurture is the influence of the environment that plays upon the behavior and characteristics in a human. The idea of nurture is that humans will grow up to form their personality on the way they are raised and life experiences. Culture is defined by the people in the environment, however, the environment helps shape and form human personalities in order to forge a culture. Culture is created by religions/beliefs, clothing/foods, language/social habits as well as the humanistic discipline; such as music, paintings, literature, and many more. Culture is generated by humankind, because humans hold their belief systems and patterns that was passed down by generations; by humans passing down what they have learned from their families this begins to create a culture. Personality plays a central role in both nature vs nurture and culture. Furthermore, personality is stated “the total organization of inherited and acquired characteristics of an individual as evidenced by the individual 's behavior (Hunt 119). Personality is either

Erickson’s psychosocial theory adds perspective to why identical twins, Linda and Lydia, turned out differently (Feldman 2010). Linda was raised by a family in the rural west, while Lydia went to a family in the urban south. These are two very different situations filled with different socioeconomical environments (Feldman 2010). The differences in the girls’ social environment could have had huge influence on their cognitive development (Feldman 2010). We need to analyze what Erickson’s psychosocial theory says about the way our social interactions with other people can test and outline our development (Feldman 2010). We can also take a look at the

Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick, the famous identical twins from the movie The Parent Trap, were separated at a young age by their divorcing parents. Sharon grew up in Boston to a socialite mother while Susan grew up in California on her father’s ranch. Sharon had structure while Susan’s life was very laid back. They looked the same and liked many of the same things, yet their personalities were very different. What is responsible for these differences? Is it simply that they are two different people with different interests and preferences? Or did the environments that they grew up in play a part in making who they are? In the nature vs. nurture controversy, nature proclaims that our genetic make-up plays the primary role in human

The nature side of the argument is basically what we are born with, our heredity. The main idea of this is that we are born with predetermined traits that may or may not create psychopathic tendencies in us. Dr. Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin at Madison published a report in 2000 that compared brain scans of five

Cognitive and social learning also play a role in maintain unwanted behaviors (Morris & Maisto, p 174). Growing up with a father who was

“Money Changes the Way We Think” and “The Science of Success,” both explore the topic of nature and nurture. Nature is usualy seen as the beter gene to have since it gives you a ‘fight or flight’ instinct. While it's counterpart Nurture is seen as the weaker and less prefered gene to have since it's typically seen as a handicap. While these two might have some similarities, it's their differences that truly defines them.

Does the environment that one grows up in contribute to alcoholism or is alcoholism determined by genetics? It wasn’t until 1991 that alcoholism was considered both a medical and psychiatric disease by the American Medical Association. Alcoholism is defined in the dictionary as a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally. (dictionary.com). It is also defined as an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness

Many researchers argue whether genetics or the environment, play a greater factor in the future behaviors of children. Some articles did experiments which indicated nature is a strong possibility in children’s behaviors; while the opposing articles experiments showed that nurture is also a strong determinant. The goal for this paper is to show how genetics and environment both affect a child’s behaviors.

Pulling from the biological perspective, genetics is the study of heredity. Through these means, this paper explores the role that biological factors play in sex differences in mental health. In order to understand the effects of genes on an individual, the mediated effects of the environment are also taken into consideration. A major argument in the field of genetics is the nature vs. nurture debate regarding the role of genes and the environment that constitute the fate of an individual. Some research has found support for sex differences in depression accounted by differences in inheritance of depression, a benefit from twin studies (Rice, Harold, & Thapar, 2002). If depression runs in the biological family, then the chances of developing depression are much higher in that individual, regardless of sex.

The Nature vs. Nurture has been a long never ending debate for some time now. Nature vs Nurture has been so profoundly debated, that now it’s unclear whether what makes us who we are and what we do, nature or nurture. For purposes of this essay Nature is going to be defined as characteristics we acquire through our genetic and biological factors, while that Nurture is going to be defined characteristics we acquire through our interactions and influences with the environment. There are endless ways of taking an approach to the Nature vs Nurture conflict, thus the reason that it’s truly unclear if its Nature or Nurture or even both what makes us who and what we are.

Aim: To calculate meta-analytic estimates of heritability in liability and shared an individual – specific environmental effects from the pooled twin data.

Genes and the environment influence behaviour, as there is constantly an interaction between the two. Genes, via their influences on morphology and physiology, create a framework within which the environment acts to shape the behaviour of an individual. The environment can affect morphological and physiological development; therefore behaviour develops as a result of ones interactions with the environment. Genes create the scaffold for