Preview

Nature vs Nurture

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2136 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nature vs Nurture
Nature vs. Nurture 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.
Height, hair color, eye color and sex are just a few examples of ways our DNA has shaped us. But could it be possible that our DNA also effects the way we behave in society. It is possible that genetics effect us is more ways that we may have imagined. Dr. Peter B. Neubaur believes that shyness, eating disorders, obsessive behavior and psychological illness can all be traced back to our genetics. Sexual orientation is also believed to be derived from genes in our body which determine what sexual preference we prefer. Violence and other types of crimes can be linked back throughout a person 's lineage to witness that other family members have been committed similar crimes without ever meeting one and other.
Throughout our lives we have all been influenced by our environment and other outside forces. Our environment may change the way we think, act and behave in life. Since we are all products of our environment, it comes to no surprise that we, as humans, tend to behave in a society the same way others around us behave but at the same time we strive to find who we really are (Schaefer 73). Since birth, humans have always analyzed the world around them. With each day that passes, humans take in more and more information



Cited: Haensly, Patricia. "The Ongoing Riddle of Which Nurture is Best for What Nature" Gifted Child Today, 2004: 2000- McClearn, Gerald E. Nature, Nurture, & Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1993. Neubauer, Peter B., Alexander Neubauer. Nature 's Thumbprint. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1990. Steen, R. Grant. DNA and Destiny. New York: Plenum Press, 1996.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Nature vs. Nurture

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Athleticism, otherwise know as an active interest in sports or an obsessive participation in physical activity seems to engulf my life. This characteristic resembles active, but includes the athletic and a physical activity associated with engaging in an action. Although being athletic seems as simple as tossing a ball around the backyard, it’s difficult to measure the amount fitness and effort required for a completive competition such as a marathon. It’s also important to consider calculating the athletic statistics and achievements of an individual throughout a game or even an entire career. Athleticism can be evaluated be observing an athlete’s performance levels during multiple stages of a football or soccer match.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Question: It is generally believed that some people are born with certain talents; for instance for sport or music, and others not. However, it is sometimes claimed that any child can be taught to become a good sport person or musician.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Please address all correspondence to: Jonathan Grush, 511 S. Elson Apt. 1, Kirksville, MO 63501, (314) 640-1760, jmg6242@truman.edu…

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nature Vs Nurture

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Do individuals become criminals as a result of heredity or genetics or is it their environment that is in fact at play? This question has left Criminologists in debate for the better part of our modern era. In order to help answer this question we must first take a closer look at the concept of Nature vs. Nurture, a popular psychological term initially created by Darwin and other positivists. "Nature vs. Nurture" refers to internal and external factors that play a role in behaviour, in this case in reference to criminals. "Nature" is paired up with the biological explanation known as internal factors. "Supporters of the biological perspective argue that we must identify the role of heredity and the importance of biophysical, as well as biosocial…

    • 1945 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hannibal Lecter was a young boy that grew up during a horrible time period; World War II. Everyone around him died, and was left by himself with his little sister Mischa. During this time there was people pretending to be "help" but in reality they were robbers. These people took over the cabin where the Lecter family was hiding. They take hostage Hannibal and Mischa. Over a few weeks food starts getting harder and harder to find, they are struggling to find food to eat and they must do whatever they can to survive. This is the first time that Hannibal encounters a moment in his childhood where he sees a little girl younger than him be killed and eaten; cannibalism. For many years he had to watch these men, eat things raw, with feathers coming out of their mouths and their faces full of blood. Things like these in a kids childhood are very dramatic. For over a few years Hannibal never spoke to anyone, only during his sleep when he would be calling for his sister. He was mistreated and abused at the orphanage he was in, which was his own castle.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    nature vs nurture

    • 6588 Words
    • 19 Pages

    A pair of identical twin girls were surrendered to an adoption agency in New York City in the late 1960s. The twins, who are known in psychological literature as Amy and Beth, might have gone through life in obscurity had they not come to the attention of Dr. Peter Neubauer, a prominent psychiatrist at New York University's Psychoanalytic Institute and a director of the Freud Archives. Neubauer believed at the time that twins posed such a burden to parents, and to themselves in the form of certain developmental hazards, that adopted twins were better off being raised separately, with no knowledge of their twinship.…

    • 6588 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 969 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the past twenty years, it has been discovered that there is a genetic component to every human trait and behavior. However, genetic influence on traits and behavior is partial because genetics can account, on average, for half of the variation of most traits. Researchers are finding that the balance between genetic and environmental influences for certain traits change as people get older. Also, people may react to us in a certain way because of a genetically influenced personality and, we may choose certain experiences because they fit best with our instinctive preferences. This means that our experiences may be influenced by our genetic tendencies. One way researchers study the development of traits and behaviors is by measuring the influence of genetics throughout ones’ life span, and it is found to be that the genetic influence on certain traits increase as people age. Some studies was done to…

    • 969 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Being yourself, being who you are. When you hear those two lines you may think they mean the same thing but do they? Think about…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nature Vs Nurture

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages

    can clearly see the gap between men and women narrowing due to the change in…

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the largest disagreements in behavioral science is the question of nature versus nurture. Dating back to Locke’s idea of Tabula Rasa, scientists have argued over the source of personality. The nature approach believes that personality is a result of our DNA; the nurture approach believes that our personality is shaped by our experiences. Those who support nature point to heritable mental illnesses, evolved behaviors, and common behaviors across generations as evidence for their side. The supporters of nurture, on the other hand, point to sexual orientation, studies of IQ, acquired mental illnesses, and difference in identical twins as evidence for their argument. Both sides have widespread support from the public, scientists, and research.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nature vs Nurture

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The natural characteristics of a person can either be quite similar or quite different to the unnatural characteristics of a person. The natural characteristics of a person are the traits that come from their parents; the ones that people are born with which are genetical. These traits are developed biologically. The unnatural characteristics of a person, or the nurtured characteristics, are the traits that people develop themselves after they are born. The environment of a person’s life greatly determines their personality. The traits a person has that they weren’t born with are the traits that the environment has influenced on them.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nature Vs Nurture

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages

    What are the forces that govern or drive the processes, characteristics, and behaviors that develop across childhood? Basically, these forces are a combination of nature and nurture. The term nature refers to the biological forces that govern development. To a certain extent our development is programmed by the genetic codes we inherit. This biological program unfolds throughout childhood. In some respects, child development can be compared to the blossoming of a flower: A seed sprouts, grows into a fragile seedling, and eventually becomes a mature flowering plant. Nature provides the genetic program contained in the seed—and…

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Are Criminals Born or Made

    • 1796 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Social scientists have argued the nature-nurture debate for many years, both in the popular press and professional literature. Nature proponents argue that biological factors and genetic composition explain much of human behavior. Nurture proponents contend that environmental factors, such as family, school, church and community, are paramount in the development of behavior patterns. Besides, some traits, such as human intelligence, depend upon a complex combination of both hereditary and environmental influences. According to Pollak, that there is a new way of looking at these different experiences that turn different genes on or off (Pollak S. 2002). New research reveals that life experiences can alter the biochemistry of many genes- our moral development later in life changes our genes and is this could be hereditary.…

    • 1796 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every human being is a product of biology and society and personal experiences – that is, of heredity and environment or, in even more basic terms “nature” and “nurture.” How much of our development can be explained by socialization? How much by our genetic heritage? There is hardly a behaviour that is not influenced socially. Social environment probably has a greater effect than heredity on the way we develop and the way we act. However, heredity does provide the basic material from which other people mould an individual’s human experiences.…

    • 5214 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nature Vs Nurture

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many socialization processes that contribute to our development. Some of the concepts that mold us into the people we are is nature vs. nurture, gender socialization, family, peer groups, mass media, and school. Therefore, we will take a look at how each of these have contributed to making me the person I am today.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays