In today’s society children are faced with many factors that can influence their behaviour within a care or educational setting. These factors can sometimes enhance a child’s behaviour and in some cases impair or damage how a child learns behaviour.
When looking at the factors that influence children’s behaviour is important to take into consideration the nature versus nurture debate, MacLeod-Brudenell (2008) informs the reader that the term “nurture-nature debate” is to indicate two different perspectives; some propose views that genetic inheritance also known as nature influence children more that contextual factors or nurture. The influences of the debate can we widely seen as some people believe that all children are born with the ability to talk or walk as this is inbuilt knowledge. McDevitt and Ormrod (2010) reinforces this “All children have a set of universal human genes that permit them to develop as reasonably capable human beings.” The other side of this debate is nurture some believe that through children being loved they will develop to be person who can contribute to society, this however is not always the case as some children grow up in neglectful situations and are not always given the same love.
The study into “Genie” allows us to get a better understanding of the importance of nurture in a child’s life, she was confined to a small room and not discovered until she was aged 13 up until this point in her life she did not experience many social interactions. Cherry (Unknown) tells us through her inability to speak or communicate she was hard to assess her mental ability but on tests she scored around the level of a one year old. From her life scientists were able to look more deeply into the nature vs nurture deb...
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...evelopment, About.com [online] Available from www.about.com Accessed on 4th April 2014
McDevitt, T and Ormrod, J (2010) Nature and Nurture, Education.com [online] Available from www.education.com Accessed on 4th April 2014
Video
BBC(2009) ‘The Secret Life of Twins’ BBC: London, Viewed on 3rd February 2014
Channel 4 (2006) ‘Mindshock: Feral Children’ Channel 4: London, Viewed On 10th February 2014
Channel 4 (2009) ‘Britain’s Challenging Children’ Channel 4: London, Viewed On 24th March 2014
Publications
Kids Matter: Australian Primary Schools Imitative (2012) How temperament affects feelings, Australia: Australian Government Department of Health and Aging
The British Medical Association (2006) Understanding Children’s Behaviour, Dorset: The British Medical Association
Pact’s Point of View (2009) Interpreting Regression in Children, Oakland: Pact’s Point of View
...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.
On October 9, 1968, a set of twins were born, but separated at birth and ultimately, put up for adoption. The decision to separate the twins came from the adoption agency who wanted to conduct a nature versus nurture experiment; however, the experiment was conducted in secret. However, for unknown reasons, the experiment never developed to fruition. Unaware the child they adopted was a twin; both sets of parents raised a singular child. Thirty-five years later, one twin began a search for her biological mother through the adoption agency, only to find out that she was born a twin. Upon learning her identity, she reached out to her twin and they began the journey of getting to know one another by comparing characteristics that appeared similar such as temperament and mannerism. They even discovered that they both held positions as a film critic and enjoyed almost identical movies.
Let 's start off with some of the Feral children. For example Oxana. Oxana was abandoned at a very young age and was found by dogs and was raised by dogs! When she was discovered, she acted just like all of the dogs around her. She walked on all four legs, and always scratched her ears and just always seemed to be just like a dog. Another example of Feral children is Jeanie. Jeanie was raised harsh by her father, and she was beaten up by her father a lot. When Genie was discovered she didn 't really know how to talk at all and she didn 't know how to read or write. So this study is a great conclusion of how Nurture over rules Nature.
Davies, Kevin. "Nature vs. Nurture Revisited." PBS. 17 Apr. 2001. PBS. 28 Mar. 2012 .
How does one person develop into the human that he or she is? Do his or her characteristics depend on the qualities he or she was born with? Or does his or her upbringing mold them into the person he or she becomes? The debate between nature and nurture is one that can be difficult to conclude and thus has been argued for centuries. Sheri S. Tepper explores this issue in her acclaimed novel The Gate to Women’s Country. The narrator of the work, Stavia, lives in a woman-dominated, post-apocalyptic country, where the women’s goal is to breed out the violent and murderous qualities that men are believed to possess. These women have an preconceived ideal people who are “CAPABLE of violence and ruthlessness, but very much in control of their tempers
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.
“The term “nature versus nurture” is used to refer to a long-running scientific debate. The source of debate is the question of which has a greater influence on development: someone's innate characteristics provided by genetics, or someone's environment. In fact, the nature versus nurture debate has been largely termed obsolete by many researchers, because both innate characteristics and environment play a huge role in development, and they often intersect”. (Smith, 2010 p. 1)
Noted psychologist Jerome Kagan once said "Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form" (Moore 165). The debate on nature versus nurture has been a mystery for years, constantly begging the question of whether human behavior, ideas, and feelings are innate or learned over time. Nature, or genetic influences, are formed before birth and finely-tuned through early experiences. Genes are viewed as long and complicated chains that are present throughout life and develop over time. Nature supporters believe that genes form a child's conscience and determine one's approach to life, contrasting with nature is the idea that children are born “blank slates,” only to be formed by experience, or nurture. Nurture is constituted of the influence of millions of complex environmental factors that form a child's character. Advocators of nature do not believe that character is predetermined by genes, but formed over time. Although often separated, nature and nurture work together in human development. The human conscience is neither innate from birth or entirely shaped through experience, instead, genetics and environmental influences combine to form human behaviorism, character, and personality traits that constantly change and develop throughout life.
Nature versus nurture is an argument in psychology over whether a person’s innate qualities and behaviors are caused from their environment or if they’re born with it. Vygotsky places more emphasis on the social factors that contribute to cognitive development, in other words he is in favor of the nurture argument. He believes that everyone learns from their culture, environment, and social interactions. He talks about a few of his theories like the zone of proximal development, and a more knowledgeable other. He also expresses his thoughts on developmental tools and the importance of language to cognitive development. All of these factors together support his idea that children’s behavior is learned.
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.
In this paper I am going to be talking about social and emotional development in my niece Loren. Social Development involves learning the values, knowledge and skills that enable children to relate to others effectively and to contribute in positive ways to family, school and the community (https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/families/about-friendship/social-development/social-development-children’s-social-development). I will also be talking about her emotional development. Emotional development is the emergence of a child 's experience, expression, understanding, and regulation of emotions from birth through late adolescence. It also comprises how growth and changes in these processes concerning emotions occur (http://www.education.com/reference/article/emotional-development/).
Development across the lifespan is one of the most interesting areas of psychology. The word development refers to human development which can be defined as “the scientific study of changes that occur in people as they age from conception until death.” (Ciccarelli, & White, 2009)Psychologists study this developmental change over time through several different methods. The book highlights three: Longitudinal design, cross-sectional design and cross-sequential design. Longitudinal design is a research design “in which one participant or group of participants is studied over a long period of time.” Cross sectional design differs from longitudinal design because cross-sectional designed research studies “several different age-groups of participants are studied at one particular time.” (Ciccarelli, & White)Cross-sequential designed research is a combination of the other two types; the cross-sequential research design studies participants by means of a cross-sequential design but they are also followed and assessed for a period of time no more than six years. A controversial topic associated with development across the lifespan is the theory of “Nature versus Nurture”. Nature versus nurture refers to the relationship between development and heredity and environmental factors. The answer lies on a spectrum between environmental factors and heredity. Psychologists on the environmental side are called empiricists. Empiricists believe that human development is fully influenced by a person’s environment. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the nativists. Nativists are psychologists that believe a person’s development is based completely on genetic factors. The facts are divided in relation to the two theor...
Child growth and development is a process that consists of some building blocks, which are components that combine in an infinite number of ways (Cherry, n.d.). As a result of the variations of building blocks in a child’s development, educators, psychologists, and philosophers have been constantly engaged in the debate of nature versus nurture debate. Many researchers agree that child development is a complex interaction between his/her genetic background (nature) and his/her environment (nurture). In essence, some developmental aspects are strongly affected by biology whereas other aspects are influenced by environmental factors. From the onset of an individu...
In the study of child development, nature and nurture are two essential concepts that immensely influence future abilities and characteristics of developing children. Nature refers to the genetically obtained characteristics and abilities that influence development while nurture refers to the surrounding environmental conditions that influence development. Without one or the other, a child may not develop some important skills, such as communication and walking. The roles of physiological and psychological needs in a person’s life are also crucial for developing children. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that humans don’t only aim towards survival, but also aim towards self-actualization (Rathus, P. 94).
Developmental Psychology is an area which studies how we as humans change over the period of our life span. The majority of the focus is broken into three categories: cognitive, physical and social change. The creation of who we are today comes down to the everlasting debate of nature versus nurture. This ongoing debate of what makes us who we are and which one is the driving force in development may be so simple that it’s complex. Rather than it being a conflict of nature “versus” nurture, it is very well possible both play an equal part in the development of us as humans. In the beginning, we start off as single cell in the form of a zygote. In that moment, where the DNA begin to form and the first seconds of life take place, the zygote is already experiencing interaction with the womb. In the process of determining why we are who are it is better to look more at the interactions of nature and nurture, analyzing how both have shaped us.