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Environmental influences that affect children and young people's development
Environmental influences that affect children and young people's development
The effect of genes on human development
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A Perfect Match
“ We’re not ever going to believe it, but we’re going to have to act as if we do,” are the words of David Reiss. This M.D. is referring to what recent studies on child development have revealed. The shocking conclusion is that parents appear to have little effect on how their children turn out. Genetic influences are largely responsible and even predict things such as how well a kid will do in school, get along with friends, and whether a kid will become involved in dangerous activities. Although sometimes hard to believe, genes have a great impact on our personalities and how a child turns out.
Behavioral geneticists believe that heredity reveals itself through complex interactions with the environment. How a person acts, due to their inherited make-up, tends to affect how others will treat or respond to them. If parents are aware of this, then they should try and act to benefit the child and have the child’s best interest at heart.
Next, there is the concept of “goodness of fit”. That phrase refers to the convenient fact that traits are passed on from parents to their children (the child is likely to share qualities or abilities with their parents) and can be brought out by providing the necessary environment. Unfortunately problems arise when the child’s tendencies clash with that of the parents or do not live up to the parent’s expectations. Also, if the child is not provided with an environment that promotes their inborn traits, then there is a poor person-to-environment match. This could lead to many roadblocks later in life.
Moving on, siblings share a remarkable fifty percent of their genes. Still their genotypes lead them to ask different questions and receive different answers even from the same environment. Parents of more than one child treat their children differently. Siblings each require a unique response due to differences already present between them. As Robert Plomin states, “ It’s the experiences that siblings don’t share that matter, not the ones they do.”
As far as raising kids, it’s how a parent reacts to a child’s inborn characteristics that counts. If the child’s genotype is matched to a corresponding environment, then the parent has succeeded. The child already has everything but it’s the parents’ job to bring it out. Parents should give a child many opportunities to work with, see what the child prefers, and build on that.
The comparison between siblings has become a universal problem over the past several decades, as implied in Peg Kehret’s elementary monologue, I’m NOT My Brother; I’m Me. Through Jonathan, Kehret expresses the valuable message to never judge people based on the characteristics of their siblings. As the oldest child in my family, I support Kehret’s message and additionally believe that every individual is different and hence, should not be judged or compared with their siblings, family members or friends.
Beyond genetics, parents have an extremely significant impact on the emotional, moral, and social development of their children. This is understandable, as many children interact solely with their parents until they reach school-age. Parents have the ability to determine a child’s temperament, their social abilities, how well-behaved or in control of their emotions they are, how mature and ambitious the child will be, and so forth. (Sharpe) Furthermore, parents have both ideals for their children as well as ideals for themselves, and how they raise their children is deeply influenced by this.
Many people believe that who we are is directly related to where we come from, genetically speaking. Studies show that many things that are common among one's parents is more likely to be the case with the children. Issues such as addiction, depression, and even poverty is more likely to happen among one's children. How does genetics play a part in issues such as poverty and addiction is a difficult question for some to ponder. However, one can somehow genetically equate one's lack of self control, or the ability to cope well with problems and this can then perpetuate cycles such as addiction or poverty.
Have you ever wondered why you and your siblings never get along, or why you are so different? I wondered the same thing until I read an article about birth orders effects on personality. This had to be why she had never spent an hour away from my parents and I haven’t willingly been within thirty feet of them since I was six, Why I love to read well above my grade level and my sister, a sixth grader, reads mainly Captain Underpants books when not glued to the T.V. and why we are a similar as oil and water.
As an adolescent, there were countless times that I disagreed with my parents. Ninety-Nine percent of the time I argued with my parents, just for the sake of an argument. I know that after almost every argument I can remember muttering to myself, that I will never treat my kids as my parents did. To fulfill this teenage fantasy I will need to overcome two giant hurdles. First, my nature or genetic makeup comes from my parents. Also, the environment that I’m raised in or nurtured in is solely with my parents. In the following, I will discuss my views on how nature and nurture both contribute to who I am.
A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.
Many people have different beliefs about how a child develops. Some people believe that children are born to be able to do the things they do however others could argue that children develop different due to the different opportunities they are given.
As a mother, I am shocked and dismayed by the general acceptance of the myth of genetic determinism. One's environment, including people one interacts with, has an undeniable influence on how one develops. Nonetheless, many scientists disregard the impact of environment on one's intelligence. I do not deny that one's biology is a crucial part of one's identity. Inheritance of physical traits is obvious. Children often look "just like" their father or mother, or another relative. One's genes determine eye and hair color, height and body build. I believe, however, that what makes us human is not something that can be found in...
One of the oldest arguments in psychology is the nature versus nurture debate. This debate focuses on if the contributions of genetic inheritance or the environment plays a role in human development. As always, there are two sides of every debate. In this case, there are the nativists, who believe human development is determined by genetics, and there are the empiricists, who believe that development is the result of learning and the person’s environment. Philosophers from centuries ago, such as Plato, suggested that certain aspects of human life are innate or that they occur because of someone’s environment. However on the contrary, John Locke believed in the “blank slate” on the nurture side of the debate. According to Locke, humans are determined and molded into the people they are by their experiences or learning. There have been countless of twin studies, showing that genetics does play a role in human development, but on the empiricist’s behalf, there have also been many cases, like Oxana Malaya, who was practically raised by dogs because of her parent’s abandonment and started...
Scientists make a good point about genes but I believe physical aspects come through genetics, but that personality development is shaped based solely on how a person has been nurtured through their lives. All children are bad at one time in their lives; consider this, a 4 year old girl throws a book at her brother, and is punished she is put in the corner.
An observation on the characteristics of an individuals’ personality suggests the causality in why they behave in the way that they do. Studies have shown that first-born individuals are more extraverted, conscientious, and neurotic than later born individuals (Herrera & Zajonc, 2003). First-born children tend to be more extraverted (Sulloway, 1999) and are more likely to boss and dominate their younger (Sulloway, 1999). The first-born subject pool is also more conscientious compared to subsequently birthed siblings. The pool is often more successful in academics, organized, responsible, and determined (Sulloway, 1999). The head of the present generations gene pool will sometimes look for the approval of their parents by acting as a “stand-in” parent toward their younger siblings (Sulloway, 1999). They have a tendency to be parent-identified, conscientious, and respectful of authority (Sulloway, 1999). Lastly, the group is shown to be more neurotic than the later born individual, in the sense of being temperamental and a...
Someone can physically look like their parents, siblings or even ancestors from the third generation. When a baby is born, it is common to learn in a natural way. No one teaches a baby how to crawl or how to react when he and she is hungry. However, talents, qualities and personalities are developed through experiences. The environment in which people grew up can have a lasting effect or influence on the way they talk, behave and respond to things around. According to Steven Pinker, Behavioral genetics has shown that temperament emerges early in life and remains fairly constant throughout the life span, that much of the variation among people within a culture comes from differences in genes, and that in some cases particular genes can be tied to aspects of cognition, language, and personality (2). Researchers believe that the origin of behaviors occur in genes in the DNA or even animal instincts which this concept is known as nature of human behavior. Other researchers believe that people are they were they are because they are taught to do so. This concept is well known as nurture in human behavior. In society, there will always be the doubt between Do we born in this way or do we behave according to life experiences? I strongly believe that nurture plays an important role in the upbringing of a child and the decisions that one makes in the future. Firstly, humans learn from their environment and other’s behaviors. Secondly, culture is a huge remark in people’s life. Finally,
Undoubtedly, humans are unique and intricate creatures and their development is a complex process. It is this process that leads people to question, is a child’s development influenced by genetics or their environment? This long debate has been at the forefront of psychology for countless decades now and is better known as “Nature versus Nurture”. The continuous controversy over whether or not children develop their psychological attributes based on genetics (nature) or the way in which they have been raised (nurture) has occupied the minds of psychologists for years. Through thorough reading of experiments, studies, and discussions however, it is easy to be convinced that nurture does play a far more important in the development of a human than nature.
The Biological approach to personality places emphasis on the genetic influences related to the development of an individual’s personality. Some may believe that children and their parents can have very similar personalities, for example a young boy having his father’s anger (Stelmack, 1990). Though this approach has often been questioned by psychologists, it is not disregarded all together. Some believe that genetics do have a role in an individual’s personality development; however environments, as well as personal experiences all work in forming personality.
It was discovered that genetics tend to be more of a basis of what people execute while making decisions, or living life experiences (Kandler, Bleidorn, Reimann, Angleitner, & Spinath, 2011). However, our upbringing is a component with the influences based on the individual and their learned behaviors (Kandler et al., 2011). This was investigated in a longitudinal study of 338 adult twin pairs, which analyzed and collected data about genomic and upbringing influences (Kandler et al., 2011). They looked at the reasons