Individual Programmatic Assessment: Personality Development Paper Tony Lopez PSYCH 645 August 3, 2015 Individual Programmatic Assessment: Personality Development Paper The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader of Individual personality development in terms of nature v. nurture and examines the effect on twins and on the influences that trait theory and biology, such as temperament have on personality development. Cultural factors have an effect on personality expression in terms of gender roles and group cultures such as collectivist and individualist cultures. Three personality models: 1. Biological-model 2. Five factor trait theory, and 3.
The nature-nurture debate is all about whether genetics (nature) or our environment (nurture) is responsible for our behaviour and development. Early theorists believed that our personality, intellect, behaviour and gender role were determined by our genes and therefore could not be changed. But an increasing amount of evidence has proved these theorists wrong, and our development as an individual is learnt through the environment we live in. One developmental stage of an individual that psychologists have the nature-nurture debate about is the intelligence stage. The nature side of that intelligence is present at birth and we already have a set amount of intelligence.
M1 :Discuss the nature-nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual In this assignment I will be discussing the nature- nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual. The nature- nurture debate has been around for many centuries which argues about the role of heredity and environment in human development. The nature – nurture debate is concerned with particular aspects of behaviour which are believed to be either a product of inherited or learned characteristics. Some philosophers and theorists have argued that we are just born to be the way we are. 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.
According to Nevid (2008) in his book, Psychology: Concepts and Applications, the biggest argument related to gender identity is the nature versus nurture, the role played by hereditary and environmental factors as well as their relationship to gender identity. In addition, there is evidence that hormones have an effect, and plays a pivotal role in determining one’s gender. This paper will discuss gender identity, the interaction of hormones and behavior and examine the biological, psychological and environmental aspects and influences on sexual differentiation. ** Hormones are the chemical messengers that produced in different glands and are in general responsible for the body to function on the proper chemical level. As needed hormones are secreted to the site of action to allow certain biological activity to take
Socio- biologists argue that biology, meaning our genetic make up; shapes the behavior of the individual and in turn also determines social in-equalities such as gender inequalities present in society. Socio- biologists believe that the sex a person is born, categorizes them into the way society will perceive and treat them, this theory is known as biological determinism(O’ Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2006). Socio- constructionists believe however that ‘gender is a social distinction between men and women (Germov & Poole, 2007) and you are not born a woman or a man but rather female or male and develop into either a woman or a man due to society and its structures .Social ideologies such as gender hierarchy, culture, order and institutions are said to contribute to gender inequality, not the sex of the person as thought by socio-biologists. Prior to the feminist movement in Australia in the 1970’s, the word ‘gender’ did not exist; there was very much a socio-biologists view present in society at this time. This meant there was great masses of gender inequality present in Australia, males and females role’s in society were given to them based on a whole range of other differences: ‘bodily strength and speed, physical skills (men have mechanical skills and women are good at homemaking work i.e.
What is the great debate over nature vs. nurture? The goal of this essay is to convince the readers that human nature is more relevant than nurture through a series of articles, quotes and sources to support this argument. Exploring the correlation between nature and nurture and the conclusion of this essay all the elements will be tied together. Nature is a scientific, and is the hereditary traits found in our genes, which make us who we are. We as humans learn something every day it is in our nature.
Essay: describe and explain (from the video) how nature (inherited instinct biology/genes) and nurture (environment or upbringing (how are you treated/taught)) can affect a child’s development. In order to answer the focus question, we would need to understand the terms used. Nature describes the basic skills that are “hardwired” into our brains such as what a baby can do when it is born. A deeper understanding of the term would lead to a debate on the theory of evolution as, if a creature could be born knowing certain things such as speech already without being taught, that would have to be a form of evolution and then nurture would become nature. The term nurture refers to the way a child or adult was raised and the effect it had on their personality, such as a person’s language.
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.
With the right environment, nurture, and determination I’m sure one can excel to their full capacity in traits such as intelligence or athleticism. I may be incorrect and I even might have my own bias but that is what I truly think and believe. Before we tackle on this longly debated predicament, we must understand that there are many different perspectives on the nature versus nurture topic. A biological psychologist might approach the problem focusing on genetic, hormonal, and neurochemical explanations of behavior, leaning more towards
Cross Cultural Studies of Gender Roles Cross cultural studies are important as they help us to explain the nature / nurture debate. The nature side of the gender argument focuses on the biological explanations of gender roles stating that gender differences result from innate differences between males and females. The nurture side of the argument, on the other hand, focuses on social explanations stating gender differences result from our life experiences as we grow up. There is also an interactionist approach which is often more realistic as it takes both of these factors into account stating that gender differences are caused by innate tendencies which are modified by environmental factors, e.g. The biosocial theory.