Adoption and Nature vs Nurture
Babe Ruth is arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. Bill Clinton held the highest office in the free world, President of the United States. J.R.R. Tolkein authored one of the most successful fiction book series ever in the Lord of the Rings. Steve Jobs created on of the most successful computer businesses in the world, in Apple Co. What do these men have in common? They were all adopted. Adoption plays a large role in the development of an individual. Adoption plays a role in the long time psychological debate of “nature vs. nurture”. This paper will address the nature vs. nurture debate, how adoptions plays a role in the debate, give a history of adoption, and tell the story of a personal friend who was adopted and overcame the tragedy of his nature and was able to triumph through his solid nurturing.
The nature vs. nurture debate is one of the longest in the field of psychology. It is concerned with the importance of individual’s inborn qualities, their nature, versus their personal experience or their “nurture”(Ceci & Williams, 2000). Many psychologists disagree as to which plays a more important role on an individual. Psychologist Donald Hebb is said to have answered the question of which contributed more to the personality of a person with the response, “which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width? (Ceci & Williams, 2000)”
One of the major issues that a researcher of nature vs. nurture dilemma encounters is determining how much influence genes and environment have on traits (Santrock, 2009). It is somewhat difficult to determine whether a trait is formed through heredity or from the environment (Ceci & Williams, 2000). One way in which researchers go about the process is by studying twins. Researchers study the behavioral similarities between identical twins and that of fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are no more genetically alike than regular brothers and sisters while identical twins are
The nature vs. nurture debate is one of the longest in the field of psychology. It is concerned with the importance of individual’s inborn qualities, their nature, versus their personal experience or their “nurture”(Ceci & Williams, 2000). Many psychologists disagree as to which plays a more important role on an individual. Psychologist Donald Hebb is said to have answered the question of which contributed more to the personality of a person with the response, “which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width? (Ceci & Williams, 2000)”
One of the major issues that a researcher of nature vs. nurture dilemma encounters is determining how much influence genes and environment have on traits (Santrock, 2009). It is somewhat difficult to determine whether a trait is formed through heredity or from the environment (Ceci & Williams, 2000). One way in which researchers go about the process is by studying twins. Researchers study the behavioral similarities between identical twins and that of fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are no more genetically alike than regular brothers and sisters while identical twins are
Bibliography: Ceci, J. & Williams, W. (2000) The Nature-Nurture Debate: The Essential Readings. New York. Wiley-Blackwell. Melosh, B. (2006) Strangers and Kin: The American Way of Adoption. Boston. Harvard University Press. Santrock, J. (2009) Life-Span Development. New York. McGraw-Hill.