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Nature vs nurture on intelligence
Nature vs nurture on intelligence
Nature vs nurture conflict in intelligence
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Have you ever wondered how certain individuals have an outrageous IQ score? Do you believe someone’s intelligence comes from their cultural back ground or do you believe that intelligence is inherited? This is a controversial topic that has been going on for years. This issue has been looked upon by philosophers in the past and is currently by scientists today. Some individual’s think that intelligence comes from your parents whereas others think intelligence comes from the environment in which you are surrounded in. Intelligence is a skill that allows you to apply and interpret information. Intelligence is important because you will have good comprehension skills and you will also be able to analyze different things. According to the dictionary, intelligence is the ability of acquiring and applying knowledge and skills. However, it’s not that simple, since intelligence is something that is often misunderstood. Some people believe …show more content…
nurture debate over the last forty years has reached an agreement that they both influence the development of human behavior. In the 1960s, researchers from both theories began to study the interaction of the genes and the environment (Devlin, 1997). Dr. Ann Barnet explains, "Even in an unborn baby, genes and environment interact almost from the moment of conception"(Barnet, 1998). The statements of Dr. Fausto-Sterling and Dr. Evan Balaban can sum up the interaction between nature and nurture. Fausto-Sterling states, "People want simple explanations for hard-core problems. If there was an anti-testosterone drug that we could use to inject to make young boys nice...it would be easier and cheaper than transforming schools...or whatever is at the heart of the problem" (Barnet, 1998). However, Balaban replies, "...don 't hold your breath if you think looking for genes to help you understand violence. I would put my money on some clever environmental manipulations, because in the end you 're going there anyway" (Barnet,
...s may never agree on a conclusive degree to which both nature and nurture play roles in human development, but over the years, more improved studies have shown that both are crucial aspects. With all the knowledge we are gaining from these studies, it would be quite limiting to believe that a criminal and his actions are the sole result of heredity. Even in people who do not commit crimes, genes themselves are affected by the prenatal environment. Undoubtedly, the fetus experiences changes in environment, forcing possible changes in heredity and reactionary response. We are likely to never find the answer to how much or how little either, nature or nurture, impacts our lives, but at least we can agree that they both do, in fact, have major roles. Our development is not the culmination of heredity alone, but of a tangled web of experiences and genetics entwined.
The nature vs. nurture controversy has been one of the oldest and most incessant debates throughout history. The disputation of this debate has generated numerous hypotheses, and explorations by various researchers, however, it has not been clearly determined as to whether a person is biologically determined or whether they are shaped by the environment. Nature’s theory holds that a person’s mental ability is sustained by what he or she is born with genetically. Conversely, the argument that a person’s environment plays a large role in his or her mental aptitude is nurture. Despite the numerous and overwhelming experiments that have been fulfilled by theorists who support the nature theory, I strongly believe that the environment around a person, on the other hand, is ever-changing and offers more opportunities for growth and variation.
Nature versus nurture is a commonly debated topic in the scientific world. For example were all child molesters abused as children themselves or are their genes or other factors to blame for their bad decisions? Genes seem to determine much about children, such as eye color and height, but do they also determine behavior and overall health, or is the environment the children were raised in to blame? For example, when a child is misbehaving, is it the parents responsibility to take the blame for their offspring's behavior due to how they have chosen to raise their son or daughter, or is the child's genetic makeup to blame for their faults? Can a child's environment override the genes a child is born with?
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?
Intelligence tests have been developed by scientists as a tool to categorize army recruits or analyze school children. But still discussing what intelligence is, academics have a difficult time defining what intelligence tests should measure. According to the American researcher Thorndike, intelligence is only that what intelligence tests claim it is (Comer, Gould, & Furnham, 2013). Thus, depending on what is being researched in the test and depending on the scientist’s definition of intelligence the meaning of the word intelligence may vary a lot. This essay will discuss what intelligence is in order to be able to understand the intelligence theories and aims of intelligence tests.
chimps, infants, and twins. Nurture theories claim that it comes from experience and that it is
One of the most intriguing science-and-culture debates of the twentieth century is that of the origin of behavior. The issue that has its roots in biology and psychology is popularly framed as the "nature versus nurture" debate. At different points in time, consensus has swung from one to the other as the supposed cause of our actions. These changes are not only the result of an internal dynamic but were subject (as they are today) to external influences, most notably politics and developments in other academic disciplines. The oversimplified polarities in this case-study illustrate an important characteristic of the larger scientific process. In search of a more refined theory, these are the necessary stepping stones in the attempt to get it 'less wrong'.
Intelligence is a function of how well the brain works, and it's well established that our brains are designed by genes so it's not entirely surprising that some deem this as proof that our genes play a part in deciding a person’s intelligence. However, this is not a widely accepted fact and many scholars would argue intelligence is indeed not fixed by ones genes but instead manipulated by other factors.
When it comes to the debate of Nature vs. Nurture I consider myself to be the middle man. I feel that our behavior, physical development and our identity is not only the result of our genealogical makeup but our interactions, and decisions that we encounter on a daily basis as well as our family structure. First I would like to give a brief summary of the two topics.
The true impact of the way people have seen and learned is sometimes genetics or environmental (where we live). The impact of both is huge but the way of thinking is always changing. In Nurture Vs. Nature, nurture is our environment. Our ever changing environment is seen in violent video games where players think that people won’t actually die and will get back up, a possible solutions, and movies which could create copycat killers.
The Battle of Nature vs. Nurture In Nancy Kress' "In Memoriam", the philosophical issue of identity becomes apparent. As a son pleads to his mother to take part in a medical procedure, which wipes your mind clear of memories, the question of "what makes me'me'?" arises. Set in the future, the mother is faced with a decision: whether or not she wants to die as a result of having too many memories, or as a result of having none at all. The son, Aaron, takes quite a different approach however as he feels that it is not a question of death, rather a question of life.
Webster’s dictionary defines intelligence as, “The ability to learn and understand.”[1] This is a very broad definition and allows for as much interpretation as the concept we are trying to define. Furthermore, this definition fails to account for the full range of cognition that the human brain is capable of. Webster’s definition does not account for the critical aspects of emotion, free will and personality.
Intelligence by definition is “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). However, many psychologists argue that there is no standard definition of ‘intelligence’, and there have been many different theories over time as psychologists try to find better ways to define this concept (Boundless 2013). While some believe in a single, general intelligence, others believe that intelligence involves multiple abilities and skills. Another largely debated concept is whether intelligence is genetically determined and fixed, or whether is it open to change, through learning and environmental influence. This is commonly known as the nature vs. nurture debate.
The ongoing debate on whether nature or nurture is responsible for intelligence seems to be a never-ending argument. There will probably be no definite answer to this argument any time soon, but answers such as Dr. Bigot's prove how intolerant of other opinions people can be. To say intelligence is entirely based on genetics, or one's environment, for that matter, is utterly extremist. An interaction of both nature and nurture is responsible for intelligence.
The Oxford Dictionary defines intelligence as “the ability acquire and apply knowledge and skills.” Many people are born naturally intelligent, able to grasp and understand concepts easily, with little work. In children, it is easy to separate those born with higher intellectual ability from the rest, because they easily excel in learning. This skill is often lost by those born with it, and through a great deal of work others attain it. In order for an individual to have true intelligence into her adult years, she must foster what gifts she is given, and strive to better her self academically. Even as early as elementary school, many who are born with natural talent begin to fall behind intellectually. These students are often not