Nature Vs Nurture Debate
Nature vs Nurture
Jennifer Lail
WGU
Nature vs Nurture
The debate on Nature vs Nurture is one of great controversy that has been studied for over 130 years. I would like to discuss and focus on the basic elements of the Nature vs Nurture controversy, this debate centers around the importance of a persons inherited qualities versus personal experience in determining a person’s differences in behavioral and physical traits.
Nature refers to a person’s innate characteristics. Ones genetics are considered nature. A persons physical and personality traits will ultimately always remain the same. Nurture refers to one’s personal experiences, the experiences they have absorbed since birth from their environment. A persons traits are predetermined …show more content…
by their genetics but life experiences are what shape a person, this is the main controversy. (Cherry, n.d.).
Nature theory can further be examined to say that more abstract traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are also encoded in our DNA.
In contrast to the nature theory, supporters of the nurture theory debate and believe that genetic tendencies don’t exist.
They believe that our behavioral aspects originate only from the environmental factors of our upbringing. Studies in infant and child temperament have revealed the most crucial evidence for the nurture theory. (Eisenberg, 2005).
The first study I’d like to discuss is called “The little Albert experiment”. This experiment was conducted by behaviorist John B. Watson. The participant in the experiment was a child called “Albert B”. Around the age of 9 months the child was exposed to a series of stimuli including a white rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, and a burning newspaper. After exposer to the above stimuli the observers noted the boy’s reactions. Initially the boy showed no fear of any of the above objects.
The next time Albert was exposed to the rat, Watson made a loud noise by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer. Albert began to cry with the addition of the loud noise. Over time the boy began to cry at just the site of the rat and would try to crawl away. This is what is called classic conditioning. Classic conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. (Cherry, …show more content…
nd).
Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with our environment. Unconditioned stimulus is one that naturally and automatically triggers a response (the loud noise). Unconditioned response is a learned behavior that that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus (fear). Conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, will eventually start to trigger a conditioned response (The white rabbit). Conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus (fear). This study is a classic example of how nurture or environment can have a tremendous impact on one’s development. (Cherry, nd).
The next study the observers studies the responses of monozygotic and dizygotic twins to five “far side” cartoons. The origins of humor have been the source of speculation and had never been subject to the examination in a twin study. According to Cherry this information was used to quantify the relative importance of genetic, shared environment, and unique environmental effects and how one would respond to this type of humor.
There were 127 pairs of female twins that were selected at random. There was a mixture of MZ and DZ female twin pairs. The five cartoons that were selected had been selected from a group of 15 cartoon that had been shown during a pilot study that involved a different group of twins and which created the broadest range of responses. The cartoon were all images that had an accompanying caption.
Bothe members of a twin pair were given a questionnaire and asked to score the cartoons on a scale of 0-10. 0 was bad and 10 meant it was the funniest cartoon they had ever seen. The twins were shown the same cartoon at the same time in adjoining rooms. They were unable to communicate or see each others responses. They were given 5 minutes for each task.
The responses to each cartoon were scored as categorical variables and tetrachonic correlations were derived of pairwise MZ and DZ twin similarities for these responses using PRELIS, in order to separate genetic from environmental effects.
The results for the DZ twin pairs showed considerable similarities in their responses to all 5 cartoons. There was a lack of correlation in MZ twins compared to DZ twin pairs indicated that shared environment which may include family environment, education, peer influence rather than genetic influence were the biggest contributors to the similarities in the Reponses to the cartoons. (Cherry, nd).
The results confirmed that without genetic factors and with shared and unique environment only provided the best explanation of the data with in each of the multivariate models tested. Genetic factors offered no significant contribution to the conclusion of the study results. This study is similar in the fact that nurture or environment has the biggest impact on ones development in all aspects of life.
In the “Little Albert” study when exposed to stimuli that caused a fear response to the white rat. This exposure created a deep rooted fear of rats where the subject would otherwise not be fearful if the exposure had never occurred. This proves that our environment can have a tremendous impact on our
development.
In the Twin study the fact of common environmental stimulus between DZ twin pairs compared to MZ twin pairs also shows that environmental factors play the biggest role in in a person’s development as a whole.
References
Cherry, K. (). The little albert experiment (a closer look)-psychology. Retrieved from psychology.about.com
Cherry, K. (). What is nature vs nurture? Retrieved from psychology.about.com/od/nindexlg/nature_nurture.html
Eisenberg (2007). Genetic predisposition-handbookof child psychology-eisenberg. Retrieved from onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.../full.eisenberg...
Jennifer Lail
WGU
Nature vs Nurture
The debate on Nature vs Nurture is one of great controversy that has been studied for over 130 years. I would like to discuss and focus on the basic elements of the Nature vs Nurture controversy, this debate centers around the importance of a persons inherited qualities versus personal experience in determining a person’s differences in behavioral and physical traits.
Nature refers to a person’s innate characteristics. Ones genetics are considered nature. A persons physical and personality traits will ultimately always remain the same. Nurture refers to one’s personal experiences, the experiences they have absorbed since birth from their environment. A persons traits are predetermined …show more content…
by their genetics but life experiences are what shape a person, this is the main controversy. (Cherry, n.d.).
Nature theory can further be examined to say that more abstract traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are also encoded in our DNA.
In contrast to the nature theory, supporters of the nurture theory debate and believe that genetic tendencies don’t exist.
They believe that our behavioral aspects originate only from the environmental factors of our upbringing. Studies in infant and child temperament have revealed the most crucial evidence for the nurture theory. (Eisenberg, 2005).
The first study I’d like to discuss is called “The little Albert experiment”. This experiment was conducted by behaviorist John B. Watson. The participant in the experiment was a child called “Albert B”. Around the age of 9 months the child was exposed to a series of stimuli including a white rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, and a burning newspaper. After exposer to the above stimuli the observers noted the boy’s reactions. Initially the boy showed no fear of any of the above objects.
The next time Albert was exposed to the rat, Watson made a loud noise by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer. Albert began to cry with the addition of the loud noise. Over time the boy began to cry at just the site of the rat and would try to crawl away. This is what is called classic conditioning. Classic conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. (Cherry, …show more content…
nd).
Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with our environment. Unconditioned stimulus is one that naturally and automatically triggers a response (the loud noise). Unconditioned response is a learned behavior that that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus (fear). Conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, will eventually start to trigger a conditioned response (The white rabbit). Conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus (fear). This study is a classic example of how nurture or environment can have a tremendous impact on one’s development. (Cherry, nd).
The next study the observers studies the responses of monozygotic and dizygotic twins to five “far side” cartoons. The origins of humor have been the source of speculation and had never been subject to the examination in a twin study. According to Cherry this information was used to quantify the relative importance of genetic, shared environment, and unique environmental effects and how one would respond to this type of humor.
There were 127 pairs of female twins that were selected at random. There was a mixture of MZ and DZ female twin pairs. The five cartoons that were selected had been selected from a group of 15 cartoon that had been shown during a pilot study that involved a different group of twins and which created the broadest range of responses. The cartoon were all images that had an accompanying caption.
Bothe members of a twin pair were given a questionnaire and asked to score the cartoons on a scale of 0-10. 0 was bad and 10 meant it was the funniest cartoon they had ever seen. The twins were shown the same cartoon at the same time in adjoining rooms. They were unable to communicate or see each others responses. They were given 5 minutes for each task.
The responses to each cartoon were scored as categorical variables and tetrachonic correlations were derived of pairwise MZ and DZ twin similarities for these responses using PRELIS, in order to separate genetic from environmental effects.
The results for the DZ twin pairs showed considerable similarities in their responses to all 5 cartoons. There was a lack of correlation in MZ twins compared to DZ twin pairs indicated that shared environment which may include family environment, education, peer influence rather than genetic influence were the biggest contributors to the similarities in the Reponses to the cartoons. (Cherry, nd).
The results confirmed that without genetic factors and with shared and unique environment only provided the best explanation of the data with in each of the multivariate models tested. Genetic factors offered no significant contribution to the conclusion of the study results. This study is similar in the fact that nurture or environment has the biggest impact on ones development in all aspects of life.
In the “Little Albert” study when exposed to stimuli that caused a fear response to the white rat. This exposure created a deep rooted fear of rats where the subject would otherwise not be fearful if the exposure had never occurred. This proves that our environment can have a tremendous impact on our
development.
In the Twin study the fact of common environmental stimulus between DZ twin pairs compared to MZ twin pairs also shows that environmental factors play the biggest role in in a person’s development as a whole.
References
Cherry, K. (). The little albert experiment (a closer look)-psychology. Retrieved from psychology.about.com
Cherry, K. (). What is nature vs nurture? Retrieved from psychology.about.com/od/nindexlg/nature_nurture.html
Eisenberg (2007). Genetic predisposition-handbookof child psychology-eisenberg. Retrieved from onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.../full.eisenberg...