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Throughout the years, it has been debated whether people are born the way they will be forever or if the society they grow in creates all of their attributes. This nature versus nurture debate affects many aspects of life, including the treatment of serial killers and psychopaths, and recognition of emotional and mental disorders, the acceptance of homosexuality, and even video game regulation. The nature theory states that only a person’s genes develop their personality, while the nurture theory states that personality is developed only because of the impact of society (human). This debate has been a controversial issue since the beginning of sociology, the study of society and its impact on the humans that live in it (Stolley), and it will remain controversial due to the inability of humans to know the origins of life. Some believe that without authoritative controls, people are inherently evil and savage because of human nature and evolution, while others believe people are only products of their environment and society. If the belief that people are inherently savage and evil is correct, then it must also be true that a person’s genes are the sole component in their personalities. An example of this theory is evidence supporting the idea that serial killers are inherently evil, according to scientific studies. In a study by Dr. Richard Davidson, people with violent tendencies showed to have different brain activity than people with normal tendencies. The subjects in the study had been convicted of murder and aggressive or antisocial disorders, and showed significantly different activity than is considered normal. Areas of the brain controlling “negative and violent emotions… the impulse of emot... ... middle of paper ... ... be concluded that the most important factor in human personality and actions is the society and environment in which it is placed. Works Cited Begley, Sharon. “The Anatomy of Violence.” sirs. SIRS Knowledge Source, 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. http://sks.sirs.com/bin . “human nature.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. http://www.britannica.com/ Powell, Kimberly, and James Trefil. “How Much of Human Behavior Depends on Genes?” SIRS Knowledge Source. sirs, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. http://sks.sirs.com/ Stolley, Kathy S. The Basics of Sociology. N.p.: Gale Virtual Reference Library, 2005. N. pag. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gps/ . “Video Games and Violence.” Facts on File Issues and Controversies. Facts on file, 8 Dec. 2006. Web.
In a study conducted in 1983, researchers studied more than 350 pairs of twins in order to research if human personality traits were largely inherited or learned. Daniel Goleman, author of “Major Personality Study Finds that Traits are Mostly Inherited,” shares with his audience the parameters and results of this elaborate twin study. Goleman introduces his reader to Auke Tellegen, a psychologist and principal researcher on the long-term study, performed at the University of Minnesota, discovered that the human traits most strongly determined by heredity were leadership, obedience to authority, and even traditionalism. He would surely argue that heredity, more than influence of experience, is more responsible for development in human traits. Tellegen may have substantiating facts that nature is more predominant in a mere handful of traits, but what about the several other traits he failed to test? It is possible for a person who shows leadership and obedience during one part of their life to have an experience in which their obedience and leadership is thwarted. The study Tellegen conducted could not have been without environmental influence. Every single one of the participants, whether a twin or not, had environmental experiences separate from the others. Since every person experiences and responds to environmental stimuli differently, how can several prior years of experience be measured in order to present an unbiased result in this study? Unquestionably, it is impossible. Just as this particular study failed to take into consideration a persons’ prior experiences, it also failed to consider the probability of future environmental factors that could affect the traits Tellegen focused on in his study. Although difficu...
Meaning, their true nature will be exposed. That nature is surely savage. For example, when you watch little kids, you tend to notice that if one has a toy, the other will start a fight just to get a toy. Since the kids don’t know the difference between right and wrong, they’re just expressing themselves naturally, which happens to be savagery. Here is a quote from Golding from chapter 4 of his book that proves that rules are the basis of civilization.
This thesis is shown by John Hick in his article Evil and Soul-Making. As Hick explains, humans already exist in God’s image but have “not yet been formed into the finite likeness of God . . . Man is in the process of becoming the perfected being whom God is seeking to create. However, this is not taking place – it is important to add – by a natural and inevitable evolution, but through a hazardous adventure in individual freedom . . . this involves an accumulation of evil as well as good” (Hick 1-2). In other words, humanity is slowly progressing toward a world in which evil does not exist, as implied by the term “finite likeness of God,” but in order to reach that state, we must first deal with acts of evil, in order to learn what good truly is. On a personal level, this is known as soul-builder
What makes us who we are? Does the answer lie in our genes, our environment, or in the way we are raised? For years, there has been an on-going debate between nature and nurture. T.H. White, author of The Once and Future King, explores the debate through many of the book’s characters. The issue clearly appears in the relationship of Queen Morgause and her sons, the Orkney brothers. The debate caused people to pick a side, to pick nature over nurture, or nurture over nature. However, it does not have to be one or the other. Nature and nurture work together to determine who we are.
I will persuade my point that evil is not inherent from the sources that depicts the claim of evil. An evil society can change or influence a person’s way of thinking. For example, the informative article “What Made This Man? Mengele” by Robert Jay Lifton influences the claim on the evil being inherent. The speaker tries to find answers to the reasons on why Mengele did his inhuman experiments.
In the well-received novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Mark Twain skillfully addresses the ancient argument about the origin of one’s character and whether it’s derived from his nature or his surroundings. We can best see this battle between nature versus nurture by inspecting the plot lines that follow the characters Thomas a Becket Driscoll, Valet de Chambre, and Roxana the slave. Thomas was born into a wealthy white family while Roxy birthed Chambers into a life of slavery. It seemed as though each would have gone their separate ways into opposite walks of life, but Roxy secretly swapped the children, which destined each to their counterintuitive fates. Through their words and actions, Tom, Chambers, and Roxy have proven the idea that one’s behaviors and desires are a result of his upbringings and the environment he lives in rather than by his innate nature.
For this first analytical essay, I have decided to have a go at analyzing the Nature Vs. Nurture using my own viewpoint as a sibling. No doubt this is a topic that has been debated to mental death already, but I think it is something I will benefit from thinking about. Also, at the end of my main topic, I will quickly address a topic brushed on in the book.
Abstract The paper covers the debate of nature versus nurture. Within the paper there is an introduction in which the hypothesis is given and a literature review that provides the reader with previous studies done with nature versus nurture. The methods, results, discussion and recommendations from the research study are also provided within the paper. Introduction and literature review The research question is: When comparing Nature verses Nurture in children which one is stronger than the other?
The quote from the famous psychologist John B. Watson essentially sums up behaviourism. Behaviourism refers to the school of psychology founded by Watson, established on the fact that behaviours can be measured and observed (Watson, 1993). In behaviourism, there is a strong emphasis that the acquisition of learning, or permanent change in behaviour, is by external manifestation. Thus, any individual differences in behaviours observed was more likely due to experiences, and not by the working of genes. As the quote suggest, any individuals can be potentially trained to perform any tasks through the right conditioning. There are two major types of conditioning, classical and operant conditioning (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2012).
When we look at the world around us today, we are struck by the amazing diversity that we see in people. There is a vast diversity in the characteristics of people that are immediately obvious: short, tall; fat, thin; Asian, Caucasian; and many other characteristics. Each person as an individual is unique, be it in physical outlook or character. How is it that of the 6 billion people on Earth, there are no 2 individuals who are exactly alike? Every persons physical and psychological characteristics are determined by many factors, and these can be divided into 2 main groups: our genes and our environment, or nature and nurture.
Through the progression of William Golding's Lord of the Flies and the article, “Are Humans Good or Evil” by Clancy Martin and Alan Strudler, a multitude of undeniable evidence is provided to prove that humans are in fact inherently wicked. In Lord of the Flies, a human being’s savage nature and primal instincts are effectively portrayed through the development of Jack, the lead hunter in a group that gets meat for the boys. Little Jack Merridew, who seems to be nothing but a naive and obnoxious chorister, becomes one of the most malicious and violent boys on the island. Jack's wilder side shows itself the most when he goes hunting. Making one his first kills brought such exhilaration, satisfaction, and pure bloodlust, that it drove him to insane limits,
Are humans born savages? Yes, humans are born savages; and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies proves this. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the kids’ return to their natural state of savagery as they drift further and further away from civilization. In reality, civilization is just a facade and inside each human, there is the basic instinct of survival, and that drives the savagery within. Everyone is capable of stabbing, shooting, or murdering someone, however, everyone has their own trigger… for some, it might be jealousy or envy... while for others, it could be pure anger, revenge or vengeance. Since humans are born savages everyone has an evil lying within, therefore when something happens that triggers that evil, the human
The term development refers to how people grow, adapt, and change over the course of their lifetimes, through physical development, personality development, socioemotional development, cognitive development (thinking), and language development. This chapter presents several major theories of human development including Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive and moral development, Lev Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development, Erik Erikson's theory of personal and social development, and Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning.
Nature vs Nurture is a very long living debate that has been on the minds of many who study motor development. This can be a very difficult topic to choose a side to argue for because both Nature and Nurture have very strong points which prove they influence the development of a person. Nature refers to the genetic makeup and genetic relations an individual has linked to their birth parents. Nature is strictly about the genetics and the way these genetics make up and influence the way a person develops, behaves and lives their life. Nature refers to heredity and the traits an individual will obtain from their parents that have been passed down from generation to generation. Nurture refers to the environment one lives in and the experiences
“We have been very conditioned by the cultures that we come from and are usually very identified with the particular gender that we happen to be a member of.” This quote by Andrew Cohen explains partially how gender identity develops, through the conditioning of our environments. The most influential factor of gender development, however, is still a very controversial issue. An analysis of the gender identification process reveals two main arguments in what factor most greatly contributes to gender development: biology differences (nature) or the environment (nurture).