We Are the Product of Nurture versus Nature

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?

Social psychology is an empirical science that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This field focuses on how individuals view and affect one another. Social psychology also produces the idea of construals which represent how a person perceives, comprehends or interprets the environment. Construals introduce the idea that people want to make themselves look good to others and they want to be seen as right. It is also said that the social setting in which people interact impacts behavior, which brings up the idea of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior is a function of the person and the environment.

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.

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

Nature versus nurture is a complicated subject to speak about. If one’s abilities or lack of are due to their environment or their genes. For example, a child is behaving negatively in class. Many individuals are quick to jump to the conclusion that “Oh, that kid’s parents don’t care, or just don’t know how to raise their child.” That could very well be a possibility, but most people never think that maybe they have a hereditary problem, such as ADHD, that was passed on to the child. This cannot be helped by the child, it is out of their control, but can be just as easily overcame than to just using their disorder or disability as a crutch. It is a very controversial topic in terms of which one is more important. Does the disorder or disability completely ruin the person’s life or can they overcome it? Which has the most effect on one’s life? The answer is, yes.

(Kenrick, 2007). Social psychology studies how people are influenced by specific situations, with attention focused on how people react to and affect one another. It is similar to other disciplines of psychology; sociology, organizational psychology and personality psychology (Myers, 2010). Unlike in these three disciplines, social psychology is much more focused on the behavior observed of one individual in a social setting, rather than the differences that may be observed between individuals in general. Additionally, social psychology does not specifically address behavior within the group, and only focuses on behavior of an individual in a small group of setting, instead of the behavior of this individual in the society as a whole. An individual’s behavior may be shifted based on his or her cultural background, social standing, and pressure to conform to certain social point of view. With this in mind, an individual may shift his or her point of view on certain aspects such as relationships, prejudices, attractions and views on intimacy. Social thinking may be a determining factor in how the individual sees him or herself, and people around him or

Our environment and our upbringing is a major role on how we behave in our life.

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

Mental illness has been a mystery seemingly unsolvable for thousands of years. Mental illness only became known as new brain imaging technologies were invented in the 20th century. In the present day depression and anxiety are commonplace, and they run rampant in our schools as adolescents face the challenges of becoming adults, working men and women put a smile on for innocent children while they internally panic at the thought of this week’s deadline, and the rich and famous can often be seen turning to drugs and alcohol only for the report to come out a week later, they have depression and anxiety, no one is surprised.

In society, not one person is alike. By saying this, many people believe that they strongly take after their parents. Meaning they think Nature is a big part in their life and why they are who they are. The genes in each cell in us humans determine the different traits that we have, more dominantly on the physical connections like eye color, hair color, ear size, height, and other traits. However, it is still not known whether the more abstract attributes like personality, intelligence, sexual orientation, likes and dislikes are gene-coded in our DNA. The nurture theory has experiments showing a child’s behavior with the environment as to adult behavior. In the Nature Vs Nurture debate, everyone has their own thoughts and ideas on each

Human behavior is determined by both biological and environmental factors. Psychologists are interested in learning which of these factors is a greater influence on human behavior and identity. Although psychologists today generally agree that both nature and nurture play a role in conditioning behavior, there is still disagreement about the part that each of the factors have in determining behavior. The nature versus nurture debate focuses around the extent of influence from each and the possibility that one of these factors has the ability to erase the other. This debate is the central theme in As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl, an account of the case of Brenda Reimer recounted by

Through interactions with others, individuals learn their values, behaviors, and

Nature is much different than nurture in many aspects. Nature is connected through your genes and is shown through your parents into you. Nurture is much different; the people that you hangout with or even are around all the time and shapes who you are is what nurture is. The debate on which is more of who you are is what everyone is talking about, but the decision should be easy. Nurture shows and makes who you are more than nature.

When one asks the question of nature versus nurture, this paper answers “both”. Every single being conceived in the image of God is given an upper limit of potential growth, it is a combination of environment and this inborn capacity that determines exactly where the individual will end of on the developmental scale. The experiences as a person develops through childhood and into adulthood play a large role in conscious versus unconscious motives, and also the individuals’ view of themself. Not all development can be confined to childhood and adolescence, most humans continue to develop and mature through out the entire lifespan, and will at times find themselves with evolving, and at times inconsistent or unclear,motivations. People also will find themselves dealing with identity crisis,which can have positive or negative impacts upon the personality of the individual, which could be a temporary condition, or result in long term changes to the overall personality.