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 .
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?
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.
Environmental Determinism Environmental determinism was described by Semple (1911, p.620) as ‘the influence of climate upon race temperament’. Although quite a simple thought, it formed the basis of a notion that sparked major debate in the 19th but especially the 20th century, as to whether or not human society and its activities are indeed controlled by the physical environment in which they take place (Goodwin, 2005). The seeds for this notion of environment determinism were sown back in the 19th century. Through developing the ideas of evolutionary biology, it can be seen as geography’s way of entering the realms of modern science (Peet, 1985). Scientific thinkers of the time, Larmarck and Darwin have been credited for inspiring this notion of the environment impacting the biology and subsequent behavior of beings.
According to Bernstein (2011) nurture refers to all environmental influence, after the birth of a child that affects development. Hence nurture can be called post natal factors that influence development of people. Lahey (2009) purports that genes and environment work together in a complex way to influence the psychological characteristics of children in what is known as gene environment correlation. Intelligence is an example of the relationship between genes and environment. Feldman (2009) believes that heredity defines people’s general level of intelligence setting an upper limit that regardless of the quality of environment, people cannot exceed.
There are many interesting cases of twins that have been raised in two separate environments but still have the same interest and live very parallel lives. Many scientists have devoted a lot of time to try and find out exactly where the line is drawn between nature and nurture and which one plays a bigger part in a person’s life. Both nature and nurture contribute to the interest, personality, ability, and goals of a person. However, twins have been separated and live very different lives still have the influence of their hereditary genes that guide the person they are and will become. Nature and Nurture help to make up a person, and help to determine what it means to be human.
As we discover the different approaches to psychology there is one controversy that has long been debated which is whether Nature which is the belief that our behaviors are a unitary result of genetics, and Nurture which embraces the idea that our characteristics are solely a product of our acquired experiences. Due to the fact that there have major psychological advances in recent years, however, there is a growing understanding that both Nature and Nurture contribute to our own unique behaviors. My long legs and high blood pressure are each examples of how Nature has had emphasis on my development. Both of my parents have suffered heart attacks, so I know it’s likely to affect me as well. I have always been cautious regarding types of food I eat and try to exercise regularly to keep my blood pressure at a normal level.
Introduction State what you are doing in the essay This response will attempt to uncover the assumptions and interrelationships of the evolutionary explanation for emotion, in particular, disgust. Define evolution Evolution is the changing in the inherited traits of a species over time. Describe the theory of evolution Evolutionary psychology is at the biological level of analysis and aims to explain all behaviour by evolutionary means. Charles Darwin – the father of evolutionary psychology – proposed the theory of evolution. He suggested those who adapt best to environmental challenges will have a greater chance of survival, reproduction, and passing on genes.
Environmental psychologist solves problems regarding human-environment interactions, whether globular or localized, and tries to predict the environmental conditions under which humans will act in a proper and constructive demeanor. Arousal theories dictate that an inverted-U relationship survive between operation and stimulation—meaning that the change of state increases so does functioning, but only up to a point (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). The arousal theory states that intermediate levels of arousal are best for neurological stimulation, noise levels, personal space, and physiological responses. Stimulus load theories examine the finite capacity of individuals to compute knowledge (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). A stimulus load theory proposes a theory of stance restriction to explain the fundamental phenomenon between stimuli and performance.
Environmental Determinism And Environmental Probabilism, Is The Environment Really Influencing Human society? The fundamental of environmental determinism based on to emphasized the role of physical geography, particularly about climate, and how this physical environment in structuring human activities. There are two determinisms that I am going to discuss. The first one is called “Biological determinism”, this determinism is emphasized on the claims that behaviors is the result of internal factors, which means we human have no control about it. For example, these include genetic make-up; biological needs and evolutionary pressures.