Essay Draft: Phase Four For many years scientists have had this question, “Nature or Nurture?” It is an unsolved argument but there have been many studies and new information that explain just how and why each of these are important in personality development. After researching about this topic it is clear that when it comes to personality development, new studies have proven that while Nature does have some affect on one’s disposition, Nurture by far has a greater effect on the development of one’s personality. While many believe that personality is already developed before birth, this statement is proven to be false. “Experience untimely rewrites 90 percent of a child’s personality traits, leaving an adult with only one tenth of his inborn temperament” (Peyser and Underwood par. 14). Environment is very important to personality development. Humans love to observe and learn from others, usually someone superior that is admirable and a good example to look up to. Many kids follow their parent’s behavior and become somewhat alike to their mom or dad. Friends also play a big role when it comes to personality development and finding out who They really are or who they would like to become. In fact, friends play one of the most extreme roles because kids want to be like their friends. Children want to fit in with their peers, they do this by repeating the same phrases, wearing the same styles, and listening to the same music. People love the sense of belonging, especially in
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.
The nature vs nurture issue has been a controversial argument among psychologist for decades. This argument exposes two different views. One of them emphasizes that our personality depends solely on genetics (nature). On the other hand, the second view suggests that humans “develop through experience” (Myers 2013, SG 6) (nurture).
The controversy on whether children develop their intellectual attributes based on their genetics or the environment they have been raised in has been a topic of debate over the past years between psychologists. It is known as “Nature versus Nurture” and has lead people to question how a child’s development is influenced. Research has shown that signs of nurture is more evident in the development of a person than nature is. The way we are raised and brought up can greatly be influenced by our environment and surroundings within our childhood and the personality and behaviours we develop.
The article was written by Sharon Begley, who is a science writer. It published on December 1, 2008, and it has been illustrated by Harry Campbell for Newsweek. We always think our personality is related to our genes, which is stable or cannot be changed. However, Begley assume we can change our personality as we grow up. It depends on environment and our parents. They both play a great role in shaping our personality.
1) Use the example of feral children to construct an argument in the nature versus nurture debate.
As many people have begun to pay attention to formation of personality, the debate over nature vs. nurture has raged for a long time and this issue is still controversial. However, as shown the
Have you ever noticed that you might act like your parents? Or maybe that your personality has changed over your lifetime? People have been debating about the nature versus nurture debate for a long time, and some think nature or genetics plays the bigger role in shaping personality, but some say nurture or society does. Nature and nurture both play a big part in determining what our personality will be. Identical twins have many differences. Your personality can change through your life because of the way you were raised. Studies show that nurture is much more dominant than nature is. Nurture is much more dominant in shaping personality than nature.
In the article “What is nature vs nurture?” by Kendra Cherry it mentions, “... Tabula, which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate… everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experiences”. A man does not grow up hating everyone and everything but is innocent; changed by society and it’s ways. As children we don’t have our own mindset but more of “a blank slate”. Man begins to follow and take over the habits of what they grew up seeing, both good and bad. Society has it’s ways in getting to people and pushing them to their limit and as a child we are exposed to how others react to those limits being passed. The more man is exposed to hatred the more man begins to grow hate towards what they
Nature v.s. Nurture is one of the strongest debates that raises strong arguments from different viewpoints. In this essay i will describe whether nature or nurture had an impact on who i am today in this society .
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
In the study ‘Neural Reactivity to Rewards and Loses in Offspring of Mothers and Fathers With Histories of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders’, researches Autumn Kujawa, Greg Hajack Proudfit, and Daniel N. Klein preformed an experiment in order to see the correlation between a child’s feedback to monetary rewards and loses, and their parents history of depressive and anxiety disorders. An abnormality in ones neural reactions towards rewards and loses suggest that they are at risk for depression, which often complies with anxiety. The researchers believe that “abnormalities in neural reward circuitry may be a key feature underlying depressive disorders” (Kujawa, Proudfit & Klein, 2004, p.287). This study aims to study a child’s neural reaction
A question that many psychologists ponder is “What determines your personality and behavior: nature or nurture?” There have been countless studies and experiments that attempt to prove one side or the other. From twin studies to evidence of breaking the cycle of abuse, it can be seen that personality and behavior are due to nurture, not nature.
The nature vs. nurture debate is one that has persisted throughout generations of scientists and neuroscientists. Some believe that all aspects of human behavior and human functioning are strictly hereditary, passed down from the parents through genetics. Others believe that the environment has a much greater impact, and can determine one’s personality and intelligence. However, this issue is not as black and white as it might appear. While genetics might have more power than the environment, it is my belief that both are equally important in the shaping of one’s personality and behavior.
Nature combines with nurture to form our personalities. Our genes may predispose us for certain inheritable traits such as diseases like cystic fibrosis or even just irritability, similar to our relatives, but the environment we are raised in has quite a bit to do with how visible certain aspects of our personality become. If a child is always around an environment where there is constant arguing and yelling going on, the child may naturally feel that is the proper thing to do when things do not go as they would like. Likewise, genetics play a role in determining a person's body type, thus you could get your eye color from your mom, and your height from your dad.