Human Development: Nature Or Nurture

In studying the psychology of human development, numerous theories and studies have generated inordinate deliberations on whether an individual’s genetics or environment contribute to their development. This is the well-known debate of Nature or Nurture. I will argue that human development is predisposed by nature, specifically; that human personality traits and behaviors are genetically passed down from ancestors and parents. Contrary to the opposition’s argument that human development is based on the individual’s environment, research has proven that biological factors such as genetics and heredity institute human development.

Specifically, the study of the evolutional theory explains that factors such as, natural selection, reproductive

Moreover, it is believed that infants are born with a blank canvas so to speak, and throughout the course of one’s life through learning. As a result, they acquire individual traits, morals, values, and behaviors, which construct the individual. A theory that supports the belief that human development is a result of one’s environment is Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. This theory suggests that children learn and develop through observational learning from models rewarded behaviors and imitation or modeling behaviors combined with positive and negative reinforcements associated with each

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests that combination of nature and nurture attribute to the development of person. Specifically, during infancy the foundation of cognition is a result of biological capacities, such as knowledge based upon action versus learned behaviors. Piaget suggested that learning is a biological function that results from actions of the individual and how it is learned is result of genetic epistemology. The theory consists of four stages of development starting with cognitive reasoning ability of