Even though there are several theories on what a newborn infant is capable of, and not capable of, one thing is for sure-they are dependent on their environment for nourishment (food and love). There is a bevy of evidence to support both nature and nurture play equally critical roles in infant development. Unit five exhibits this with the use of an analogy in which it states: “To use a construction analogy, nature provides the materials to build a house, but if the construction crew doesn't arrive, the house doesn't get built, and the materials lie about in disarray.” (Michael S. Swett) One such case that exemplifies this in our reading is when: “A 12 year old child discovered living in the woods of Aveyron, France, a wild child who had apparently never lived with humans”. (Michael S. Swett) The boy later named Victor is stated to have been taken in by a French scientist as a means to study the effects of nature versus nurture through the scientist’s attempts to educate, civilize, and assimilate him. His limited ability to learn developed adult tasks and skills reflects the detri...
As they explore around the woods, they must be in an area where they can see their guardian. It is a feeling of comfort for the infant. Similarly, human infants cannot leave their parent’s comfort zone. Baby infants cries when they do not see their parent around, which leave them to feel insecure. Infants do not feel insecure once they are out for birth. This is an example of nurture in which the infant's need someone to rely on for food and comfort.
Emotionally the infant will need love, warmth & care. The baby will need to feel safe and have healthy emotion responses. When the baby is hungry or tired, they cry to express themselves.
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
In the well-received novel “Pudd’nhead Wilson,” Mark Twain skillfully addresses the ancient argument about the origin of one’s character and whether it’s derived from his nature or his surroundings. We can best see this battle between nature versus nurture by inspecting the plot lines that follow the characters Thomas a Becket Driscoll, Valet de Chambre, and Roxana the slave. Thomas was born into a wealthy white family while Roxy birthed Chambers into a life of slavery. It seemed as though each would have gone their separate ways into opposite walks of life, but Roxy secretly swapped the children, which destined each to their counterintuitive fates. Through their words and actions, Tom, Chambers, and Roxy have proven the idea that one’s behaviors and desires are a result of his upbringings and the environment he lives in rather than by his innate nature.
The debate of Nature versus Nurture also denoted to as heredity versus environment or nativism versus empiricism is one of the most fundamental and age-old theoretical issues within psychology (Bee, 2000). Nature is understood to be the hereditary information established from parents at the time of conception – biological givens (Berk, 2010) and Nurture can be defined as “the complex forces of the physical and social world that influence our biological make-up and psychological experiences before and after birth (Berk, 2010 p.7). The main question essentially is whether a child’s development is directed by a pattern built in at birth or whether it is formed by experiences after birth. Historically this debate stood as Nature or Nurture, this was represented by Plato and René Descartes, both of whom alleged that thoughts and development are innate (Bee, 2000). Conflicting this argument was a philosopher John Locke, who insisted that at birth the mind is simply a clean slate – in Latin ‘a tabula rasa’ waiting to be written by experience, therefore Locke argued that given different experiences humans would have different characters (Hayes, 2011). S...
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.
nurture argument. Theorists have wondered how much of development is affected by genetics and the environment. Ultimately, nature and nurture intertwine to shape the lives of children. Nature may predispose children to certain behaviors if placed in specific environments, however the timing of the environmental exposure and the child’s natural tendencies also play a role. Theorists have also discussed the extent to which development is universal and how much of it is unique to individuals. There are consistencies that have been noted universally yet; theorists have observed variations in their competency in different tasks and way of life that may be contributed to genetics or the environment. Lastly, theorists debate about whether changes in development can be portrayed as qualitative where it involves dramatic changes or quantitative in which development is a steady progression. These debates have merits independently but require each other for a better understanding of child
The five environmental influences that I would use to publicize in a campaign to promote healthy prenatal development would be: the effects of the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, some medications, and diseases. These environmental influences are the most common problems that women who are pregnant face today. Most lack the knowledge of how and why these influences are harmful to their unborn child, and if needed how they can seek treatment.
The first two years of a infants development is crucial. They are dependent on their caregivers to provide them with enough nutrition, nurturing, attention, love, and experiences to not only learn about their surrounding world but how to interact with it. Without these experiences a babies brain isn’t given the chance to grow and develop the way that is was designed to. Unfortunately in many circumstances if these experiences don’t happen early on children suffer
...an infant is living in, and how he or she would get treat in the first three years, would get effect on his or her behavior. “ Babies’ brains are searching for clues about the world that they are entering, trying to predict what settings will best adapt them to the life ahead” (Patty 127). When the baby does not see any care, any kind of emotion in its life, they would grow up as an unemotional person, because the person’s brain did not process the steps of learning empathy in its life. “A baby is born with just one suite of genes. If they can produce only one pattern of responses, that pattern could turn out to be fatally maladaptive” (Patty 128). The baby is capable of learning whatever the environment is giving him to learn. Children may seem they don’t understand everything that goes around him or her, but it’s from that children will understand how to behave.
A child is born in to a fast paced world. The child is influenced in every way, in every place, by every person they come in contact with. From the ages 1-5 the child is like a sponge, taking in all their brain can hold. Forming what will become, who they are as an adult. A main factor in this process is nature and nurture. Nature referring to the genes he/she inherited from the parents, shapes what the child will look like, if they will have diseases, if the child will be a boy or a girl, and much more. Nurture referring to the social, economic, surroundings, and culture. This shapes the child in personality, beliefs, and actions. Nature and Nurture are very important to the development of a child. If the child was to lack one or even part of one, he/she would be deprived of developing normally.
Moore, David Scott. The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of Nature/nurture. New York: Times, 2002. Print.
The distinction between nature versus nurture or even environment versus heredity leads to the question of: does the direct environment or the nature surrounding an adolescent directly influence acts of delinquency, later progressing further into more radical crimes such as murder or psychotic manifestation, or is it directly linked to the hereditary traits and genes passed down from that individual adolescent’s biological parents? To answer this question one must first understand the difference between nature, nurture, environment, and heredity. Nurture, broken down further into environment, is defined as various external or environmental factors one is exposed to which can be more specifically broken down into social and physical aspects. Nature, itself broken down into heredity, is defined as the genetics and the individual characteristics in one’s personality or even human nature.
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.