The Nature versus Nurture debate has been ongoing for centuries. People have tried to gain power through knowledge in determining what causes the human “mind to tick.” For centuries leaders and scientists have performed unethical and immoral studies to determine why two people with similar genetic composition can come from similar backgrounds and turn out so differently. I have witnessed a person raised in a poor home by parents with drug addictions become a thriving contributable member of society. Unfortunately, I have also witnessed a person raised in a Christian home with a Father as a minister who ended up in prison. As we learn about the psychological and biological composition of human beings and the affecting environment, I am compelled to ask the following questions:
1. What is the history of Nature vs. Nurture?
2. What are the most essential characteristics of this issue?
3. What does the Bible say about Nature vs. Nurture?
This review of the literature on Nature vs. Nurture focuses on these three questions.
What is the history of Nature vs. Nurture?
As I mentioned in my opening, government leaders and scientists have been conducting experiments through the centuries trying to determine why people turn out the way they do. We learned in school how Hitler conducted experiments on the Jews throughout the war in an attempt to create the ultimate “super race”. Frederick the Eleventh, King of Germany tried to conduct an experiment on children by taking babies from their mothers and placing them with foster mothers. He directed the foster mothers to suckle the children, bathe and wash them, but not to speak to the children. King Frederick intended to determine if a child’s surroundings determined the langua...
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...will to be God’s will and that is why we turned out differently. That is the answer to this debate. Not nature versus nurture, but God versus free will.
Works Cited
Kimble, G. (1993). Evolution of the nature–nurture issue in the history of psychology. Nature, nurture & psychology (pp. 3-25). Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10131-001.
Life Application Study Bible (New International Version). (1973). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Meyers, D.G. (2008). Nature, Nurture, and Human Diversity. In C. Brune & N. Fleming (Eds.), Psychology: Ninth Edition (pp. 133-169). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Voland, E. (2000). Nature or nurture?--the debate of the century, a category error, and the illuminating impact of evolutionary psychology. European Psychologist, 5(3), 196-199. doi:10.1027//1016-9040.5.3.196.
...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 and nurture debate has been studied for many years. Years ago many people thought that human behavior was “instinctive, simply our nature” (Macionis, 2008). Are people born with a predetermined plot of what their life will hold? Many researchers have done numerous studies that have proven that human behavior comes from how a person was nurtured after birth. Biology and nature mean the same thing, and we are biologically programmed at birth to do certain things. For example, at birth a person’s heart beats on its own, and a baby knows how to suck instantly. This shows the nature side of humans. How a child was nurtured at birth has a direct bearing on his or her future.
Have you ever thought about whether the way you are is based on your genetic makeup? Do you believe our environment shapes us into who we are, instead? In the psychology debate of nature versus nurture, I believe that nurture plays a big role in who
Not everything lies in nature; nurture also plays a big role in our behavior. Craig Venter, an American biologist quoted in Ridley’s article, says that “the wonderful diversity of ...
The nature vs. nurture debate: the nature side, are those such as biologists, psychologists and others in the natural sciences, argue that behavioral traits can be explained by genetics. Those taking the nurture side are sociologists and others in the social sciences, they argue that human behavior is learned and shaped through social interaction. This argument should be dismissed because you don’t have to look far to see that both genetics and our environment, plays a role in who we are and our behaviors. (Glass). The point is there is a complex relationship between nature and nurture, either one alone is insufficient to explain what makes us human. (Colt). Our heredity gives us a basic potential,...
defends the argument that humans are not solely defined by their nature or nurture, but by both. The
Steen, R. Grant. DNA and Destiny: Nurture and Nature in Human Behavior. New York: Plenum Press, 1996.
The nature vs. nurture controversy is an age old question in the scientific and psychological world with both camps having evidence to support their theories. The controversy lies in which is more influential in the development of human beings. While there is no definitive answer for this, it is interesting to look at each of them separately.
The argument of nature vs. nurture is a long-standing one in the psychological and social worlds. It is the argument about whether we are ruled by our genes or our upbringing. It is my thought that neither is true. It is nature working with nurture which determines our personality and our lifestyle.
“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)
The debate on nature versus nurture has existed for thousands of years. Ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle formed the argument through conflicting beliefs on the basics of human knowledge. Plato felt wisdom was innate, that all people were born with knowledge, and their experiences only helped to remind them of what they once knew. Aristotle challenged this through his belief of obtaining information through experiences. He viewe...
For centuries people have debated whether an individual’s development is the result of his or her genetics or the result of learned behavior. This debate is particularly important when it comes to approaches in psychology used to understand an individual’s development. On one hand, nativists, tend to side with the position that development is linked to genetics; whereas empiricists tend to take the position that development is connected to environmental factors often referencing that the mind is a tubula rasa or “blank slate.” Understanding both positions is essential in order to synthesize how the environment and one’s experiences interact and influence human behavior.
The nature versus nurture debate is an old issue within the field of psychology. “The nature-nurture issue is a perennial one that has resurfaced in current psychiatry as a series of debates on the role that genes (DNA) and environments play in the etiology and pathophysiology of mental disorders” (Schaffner) The debate is essentially about what is inherited (nature) and what is experienced by environmental factors (nurture) and how they affect human development. Naturally, the nature versus nurture debate relates to many controversies such as intelligence, gender identities, violent behaviors, and sexual orientation. There are countless studies on whether intelligence is an inherited trait or if it is influenced by environmental factors.
In 1874, Francis Galton said, “Nature is all that a man brings with him into the world; nurture is every influence that affects him after his birth”. The human body contains millions upon millions of cells and each of these cells contains hereditary information and DNA. However, there is no proof that the information carried in these genes predetermines the way in which we behave. I believe it is our life experiences and what we see and are told that shape the way in which we behave. Therefore, it appears to me that nurturing plays a far more governing and dominant role in a human being’s development rather than nature.
Throughout the history of human existence, there have always been questions that have plagued man for centuries. Some of these questions are “what is the meaning of life” and “which came first, the chicken or the egg”. Within the past 400 years a new question has surfaced which takes our minds to much further levels. The question asked is whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on the growing development of people. It is a fact that a combination of nature and nurture play important roles in how humans behave socially. However, I believe that nature has a more domineering role in the development of how people behave in society with regards to sexual orientation, crimes and violence and mental disorders.