Essay Number 1
Psychology is a science that has different fields and subfields. It’s also an evolving science that keeps changing and many fields are added to constantly. What holds these fields and unifies them is something called “the five enduring issues.” The five Enduring issues are the backbone that holds psychology together. These issues are shared by all psychologists as a common interest and overlap in all fields and subfields of psychology. The first issue is “Person – Situation.” This issue deals with wither behavior is caused by internal traits such as thoughts, emotions, motives, attitudes, and personality or external situations such as behavior of others and social expectations. An example of this is anger. What makes certain people get angry faster than others? Is it internal problems that causes that or just particular situations. The second enduring issue is “Nature – Nurture.” It raises the question of wither a person was raised to be the product he is or is it just that person’s nature? Does upbringing affect the way we end up acting or is it just a product of innate. An example of this debate applies for a serial killer. Does he kill because it's in his genes? Does it mean that no matter what his parents did to raise him, he would still be a violent person? Or did his environment shape him to be a serial killer? Like his parent's didn't pay him enough attention, or he was abused as a child. The third enduring issue is “Stability – Change.” This issue deals with how much of one's behavior is consistent and how much is changeable over a lifespan. There is debate whether a person has the same character throughout his life, no matter what his personal experiences and behaviors are or if he is easily affected by them. Developmental psychologists are interested in this issue. For example; does a behavior or trait such as shyness stay stable in its expression over time? Or