What Is The Nature Or Nurture Debate

The historical debate regarding nature and nurture has been going on for years and is still unresolved. Many theorists believe what we have inherited and our genes, makes us the way we are and how we develop. Other theorists believe it is the way we are brought up and our experiences, that make us the way we are and how we develop.

The nature-nurture debate has been around for decades. It is one of the oldest and most popular topics in the history of psychology asking what makes people who they become and how they behave and develop the way they do. What makes the debate more interesting is that now scientists are asking if personality traits and even sexual orientation can be determined by what is in already there from conception. Bodies are built up of chromosomes which contain genetic information. Many of these are inherited from parents and relatives. The nature side of the debate states the way people are is predominantly from inherited genetics and other biological factors not so much the environmental factors. The genes humans have in their bodies play a huge role to many aspects of who they are and who they become. For example, hair colour, eye colour and height are all predetermined by genes. Unchangeable. This is natures way. The argument stands to decide whether most attributes do stem from nature, genes, or if they can be affected by the environment and the way people are nurtured as they have grown. The nurture side of the argument believes although humans do have the genes and traits with which they are born, most personality traits are being made up of environmental factors. For example, being loved and cared for as children, if parents or carers were positive role models and if those people were taught in ways which provided them with discipline and respect for others. Where nature

The idea of nature vs. nurture, looks into two opposite types of upbringing a child may experience that is a strong reason, as well as possible predictior, to how the child will turn out upon entering adulthood. Nature pertains to genetic influences that a child has inherited from their parents, such as traits, abilities, and capacities. For instance, what color eyes the child may have, how athletic they may be, and even their brain development. Whereas nurture, refers to the environment the child is raised in and how this shapes their behaviors. Such factors can include, the family’s socioeconomic status, schooling, parental discipline, as well as whether the child is provided with enough daily resources like food. When it comes to nature or nurture having a stronger influence than the other, the answer is that both hold an influence. This idea that both nature and nurture influence a child’s development of characteristics, is known as the nature-nurture continuum.

At first glance, nature and nurture may seem the same thing, but they both have very significant differences. Nature is the environment in which one grows as well as the genetic features they are born with; this has to do with their family and surroundings. Nurture is a concept that refers to the influences that allow a child to form a personality; this can be through experiences, decisions, or behaviors learned from others. When it comes to which of these has the most influence on an infant's sense of good versus evil, nurture takes precedence. Examples of this can be found in William Golding's Lord of the Flies and an article written by Lakshmi Sravanti entitled, Nurture the Nature.

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development.

In Nature vs. Nurture Debate by CommonLit Staff, the authors talks about the quarrels between nurture and nature, nurture being the development through “environmental influences”; meanwhile, nature being the traits passed down from biological parents to the child, and Huck’s nature side, in comparison, is more noticeable than his nurture side. Had Huck’s nurture side been more apparent than his nature side, he would be like just any other kids— one who follows the rules of society. Since his nature side is greater, even though readers do not know what his nature sides are, he is able to do whatever he wants. In Twain’s book, the Widow Douglas tries to civilize Huck, but he dislikes being civilized; therefore, his nature side is dominant which

One of the huge problems with the nature vs. nurture debate is that people often forget to include religion, beliefs, and God into the discussion. Religion, especially Christianity, plays a large role in the development of a person, being in part nature and nurture. Several people grow up believing God is real and He loves and nurtures everyone, and this can in turn give them an instinct to care and nurture others. But God also gives each person a natural instinct to love and protect others because He created mankind in His likeness, and His love is endless. The article Nature vs Nurture – Which Side is God On? makes the point that “God did not create us to be bad (it’s our nature). Nor does God provide an environment for us where we have to

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.

The concept of nature versus nurture is that human behaviour is influenced by genetic information inherited from our parents and also by environmental and social influences.

In the nurture side of the debate we believe that genes have nothing to do with the child's behaviour and it is all in the choices the kid makes. I was told of a specific case in the Nature versus Nurture debate, in the studies a set of twins with an alcoholic mother that could care less about her children and a father that was hardly around. One twin grew up to be an amazing mother and go on a completely different path then he was taught when he was younger, the other twin followed exactly in the footsteps of his mother. By gathering this research we can conclude that it is all in the child’s choices and how that child would like to live the rest of his or her life.

Many psychologists have been debating if the nature-nurture controversy contributes to intelligence. Some psychologists today approve that both genetic and environment plays a part in determining intelligence. Twin study method is studying identical and fraternal twins to discover the relative effects of inheritance and environment on a diversity of attributes. The best method to evaluate the relative contribution of heredity and environment is to examine identical twins who have been separated and raised apart. With the twin study method researchers, Bouchard have studied approximately 60 pairs of fraternal twins and 80 pairs of identical twins who were reared apart. Bouchard have found the heritability of IQ to be 0.60 to 0.70, which

Nature-nature debate is a very old one, dating back to Aristotle, who argued that we are born blank slates and everything we become is a product of the external world. While Greek philosopher Plato said intelligence and behavior were innate (Myers & DeWall, 2016, p.8). As psychology has progressed throughout the years, in general, it is believed that both nature and nurture influence behavior and development (Thinking Critically Lecture).

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,

The debate of Nature vs. Nurture is almost as old as humans themselves. Science that mysterious language that allows to understand the world around us still can't give us a clear picture into our DNA. Are our personalities somehow linked to the chemicals in our brains or do we take after those who raise us?

The biggest controversy in psychology today is whether genetics or one’s environment plays a role in the behavior of the individual. Psychologists have researched and developed different theories to explain the reason for the way humans think and behave. The behavior of individuals is either inherited or learned. In my opinion, I believe that nurture plays a big role in the individual’s behavior. Kendra Cherry states, “Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture” (1). People have become who there are because of the environment they were exposed to in their childhood years. The behavior of people is influenced be the environment that surrounds them and can changed many times through one’s lifetime. People have different personalities a person’s