Whereas other theorists have argued that is is the way we are brought up and influenced by our surroundings that makes an individual the way they are. Nature means the genetic and biological influences that affect our growth and development. The nature side of the debate believes that it is inherited factors which have more impact on your life and development. For example, the colour or type of your hair, your eye colour, the pigmentation of your skin, and also genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis are all the result of the genes we inherit. These biological factors are said to determine an individual’s development and characteristics .
The debate over nature versus nurture has been argued since the early years of psychology, perhaps even earlier when Aristotle proposed that humans have “four different types of causation, formal causes, material causes, efficient causes, and final causes,” (Moore, 21) that can explain the adaptation of certain characteristics in individuals over time . Psychologists today are still debating whether human behavioral traits are acquired through learning (Nurture) or if we have a predisposition to behave a certain way because of genetics (Nature). The nature versus nurture debate has since been branched off into many other psychological aspects of human characteristics. Traits such as intelligence, athleticism, and even our own individual personalities are just some of the topics researched by psychologist. So are our behavioral traits and characteristics learned and capable of change?
M1: Discuss the nature-nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual. The definition of learning through ‘nature’ is that things that we know which are innate. These things are biologically caused and genetically inherited. The definition of ‘nurture’ is the effect of the environment has on our learning. The nature-nurture debate is all about whether genetics (nature) or our environment (nurture) is responsible for our behaviour and development.
The evolutionary approach argues that gender role division is a consequence of the adaptation to the challenges and circumstances faced by our ancestors. This suggests that the role differences we observe are more a product of our biological inheritance and evolution than social factors acting on our behavior. As evolutionary theory is a biological approach to gender development, it suggests that our genes have coded aspects of human behavior because they were or are adaptive. However a debate to this approach is the nature vs. nurture approach, nature supporting the evolutionary approach being that we have evolved through survival and adaptation to the situations and therefore passing on the adaptive genes of the survivors. Nurture on the other hand is a view, is a view proposed by the social approach suggesting that behavior is affected by socialization and environment.
Nature and Nurture help to make up a person, and help to determine what it means to be human. Nature or nurture, which one has major influence on our personality and development? This issue has been widely debated in our society from ancient time till now. Some people maintain that it is concluded by the characteristic people born with, whereas others are confident that it defers to the experiences people have had in the life. I also believe nurture education plays the significant role in a person’s characteristics.
The Biological approach is the belief that our nervous and endocrine systems, as well as genetics are what define our behavior and personalities. Hormones and neurotransmitters are another factor of what effects our behavior, our hormone and nervous system and what cause us to react to disorders and situations such as anxiety, which is a trait passed down within the genetic coding. DNA is made up of many traits which are all relatively stable and cause people to act in certain ways, such as cheerful, imaginative, or even bold, this is decided by the combination of traits someone possesses, which makes every individual unique in their own way. The biological psychologists also believed in maturation, which is that children grow from birth to adult in stages, which includes a predetermined age at which an average child should reach certain life events at a given age, these are
Abstract Nature and nurture debate has become a big issue tackled since long decades up to present times because of many factors contributed to human development either through inherited genes or environment influences. In fact, after many researches and studies all conclude that we as human being are the product of not only of genes inheritance but by our environment factors as well. In the article "nature, nurture: not mutually exclusive” the psychologist, Robert Plomin, demonstrates that most human behaviors are directed by nature and nurture, he considers them to be two sides of one coin , and added that each participates a partial role in designing human behaviors and experiences. Accordingly, in his book Psychology, David G. Meyers states " our genetic predisposition help explain both our shared human nature and human diversity.” Besides, genes influence not only the behavior but the environment as well as , Thomas Bouchard in the article “Nature, nurture: not mutually exclusive” Says “twins and adoption studies have established that most traits and behaviors are partially influenced by genes”. He wanted to clarify that a solid interaction is cemented between nature and nurture when genetic factors affect the person's behavior, attitudes, experience and his life expectations as well.
A stimulus load theory proposes a theory of stance restriction to explain the fundamental phenomenon between stimuli and performance. Research is important in the field of environmental psychology because it brings about homeostatic balance between humans and nature by gathering facts from correlational studies, field experimentation, and laboratory experimentations (Stewart, 2007). Theoretical Approaches Environmental psychologist theories of individual psychology help to understand the fundamental interaction between behavior, experience, and environment. To that end, the theories that underlie the principles of EP borrow from the fields of psychology, anthropology, sociology,
Nature vs. Nurture Over the years, there has been a lot of controversy on whether or not genes that we inherit affect us and how we live, or if it is the environment that we have been raised in. There are many different reasons for why one is more correct than that other. But, all of the reasons can be backed up with very good evidence and reasoning. Personality, development, intelligence, behavior and ability to do certain things make us the individuals that we are. But what influences those things?
Feldman (2009) defines the nature nurture debate as the issue of the degree to which environment and hereditary factors influence the behaviour. According to Flanagan (2002) nature refers to behavioural or physical traits found in a developing child that are due to genetic factors. Feldman (2009:39) says “nature refers to hereditary factors, characteristics and tendencies that influence development.” Thus nature can be defined as inborn characteristics such as generic diseases evident in a developing child. Santrock (2004) defines nurture as environmental factors that have an influence on the development of a human being. According to Bernstein (2011) nurture refers to all environmental influence, after the birth of a child that affects development.