This essay will outline the influences of nature and nurture on early human development through the different aspects. It can be argued that nature influences early human development. According to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, he emphasized that human development is inherited and genetically programmed. For example, infants always first learn how to walk and then how to run. When infants’ neurological system could reach to a certain level of development, they could utter their first words.
Bowlby believed that attachments are natural and adaptive. He also believed that we are all born with an inherited need to form attachments and this is to help us survive. This can also line up with Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which explains that any behaviour that helps us to survive to maturity and reproduce will be maintained in the gene pool. For example; a baby relies on its mother for food and care etc and without the mother the baby would be helpless. Babies have social releaser which unlocks the innate tendency for adults to care for them; these are both physical and behavioural social releasers.
This side of the nature-nurture debate suggests that we are a certain way because of the way we were bought up and our life experiences. Biological programming - this comes down to your genes. Biological programming suggests that you will have similar medical conditions to your parents supporting the idea of natural selection and genetics. Maturation theory - this theory sees child development as being controlled by evolution and that genetically there is a series of events that will occur automatically. It is believed the development has a biological process and this can be predicted over time.
This means that this theory is much more valid and so can be applied to real life situations such as ensuring that a baby is immediately given to the mother after birth to ensure that they become attached. Having said this, this theory lacks historical validity. This is because it is sexist as it was put forward before the feminist movement in which women gained much more independence and no longer remained the primary caregiver. In the modern day there are many fathers who stay at home to take care of the infant while the mother goes out to work, these children do not always go on to form emotional problems. This shows that this theory needs to be altered slightly so as to apply to the modern day.
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 .
Elizabeth Thomas / Mastery Problem Set 1 / ECE 330 Infant Development (MW) 1. ✩Biosocial- this domain is based around the growth and development of the body and the brain, such as your physical looks, overall health, which are affected by nature/nurture factors. In the event that a mother may not take proper care of herself while pregnant or may not have proper health care, this may have a huge affect on the growth of the prenate. ✩Psychosocial- this domain is covering the interaction someone has with the people around them and also how a person may handle their emotions in different types of situations, which is also known as social skills. Parents will be able to help increase their child's ability by developing a strong bond with their child
Nature vs. Nurture Controversy Dawn D. Elkins Psychology 101 Liberty University What are my thoughts on the Nature vs. Nurture Argument? Nature, defined refers to the genes that people inherit, as in, the color of our eyes, the shape of our faces, and the coarseness of our hair. Nurture, defined refers to all the environmental influences, beginning with the mother’s health and diet during prenatal development and continuing lifelong, including the individual experiences with family, school, community, and society (Berger, K. Pg. 667). I believe that we are a beautifully crafted puzzle of genetic inheritance; however, I also believe that nurture plays a major role in a person life.
Generally it is widely accepted across the board that early gender socialisation is one of the most important issues in early childhood, as it is affecting both boys and girls. The foundations for stereotypes in gender roles are laid through early gender socialization (Yelland 1998). It must be noted that, early gender socialisation starts at birth and the process is one of learning cultural roles in accordance with one's sex. Many studies have shown that parents treat daughter’s and son’s differently (Jacklin, DiPietro, & Maccoby; Woolett, White, & Lyon; and Parke & O'Leary, in Hargreaves & Colley, 1986; Snow, Jacklin, & Maccoby, 1983; Power, 1981). One study indicates that parents have differential expectations of sons and daughters as early as 24 hours after birth (Rubin, Provenzano, & Luria, 1974).
Evaluation of: Facial Diversity and Infant Preferences for Attractive Faces. By Judith H. Langlois , Jean M. Ritter, Lorri A. Roggman and Lesley S. Vaughn Background: * Other recent studies have reported that infants visually discriminate among adult female faces based on the adult-judged attractiveness. They also show that infants exhibit both visual and behavioural preferences for attractive over unattractive female faces. (Langlois et al., 1987; Langlois, Roggman, & Rieser-Danner, 1990) * These results were considered surprising because infants were not expected to able to distinguish what is attractive and what is unattractive. * In addition, the most common assumption made about preferences for attractiveness is that it is learned gradually through exposure to the culture, media and the standards of attractiveness prevalent in the society.
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.