Nature Vs Nurture Research Paper
Psych 111 030 Paper #1 Elliot Schaja
Dr. Grayson 2/14/2011
Nature vs. Nurture A personal characteristic that fits well into the nature vs. nurture debate is my Arithmetic ability. While this attribute can be defined as my actual math ability, measured by my high school and college grade-point-average in Math courses as well as my SAT scores on the Math section, I am also referring to the advantages assimilated with “being good at math.” This includes being able to think in an analytical way to solve puzzles and being able to estimate certain calculations with greater proximity such as tipping a waitress. After analyzing how my math skills have developed throughout my life, I have noticed the incredible …show more content…
The development of my math ability to a much higher level than that of before also suggests that it was nurture contributing. I began demonstrating qualities that suggest further interest in math such as, the ability to quickly solve a Sudoku puzzle or a Rubik’s cube. These are two activities I may never have even learned of had I not seen my father, sister and her friends practicing them regularly. While my evidence supporting the role of nurture in my math ability is based solely on personal experiences and is consequently weak, had I been conducting this analysis on a broader scale I would have conducted a thorough experiment or case study. I would analyze a group of individuals who have families with strong mathematical backgrounds and genes, but observe their personal math abilities in environments of both high and low mathematical exposures. If the students with “math genes” continue to strive in environments with low math exposure then we know nature plays a significant role in shaping one’s math abilities. On the contrary, if the students living in environments with high nurturing for math are more successful than the others, we can conclude that nurture plays the more significant role in forming one’s math skills. In general it is difficult to observe whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on human actions and behavior however, in my case, through interviews with my parents and an analysis of my past experiences, I have observed that my arithmetic ability is mostly comprised of environmental components rather than biological
Dr. Grayson 2/14/2011
Nature vs. Nurture A personal characteristic that fits well into the nature vs. nurture debate is my Arithmetic ability. While this attribute can be defined as my actual math ability, measured by my high school and college grade-point-average in Math courses as well as my SAT scores on the Math section, I am also referring to the advantages assimilated with “being good at math.” This includes being able to think in an analytical way to solve puzzles and being able to estimate certain calculations with greater proximity such as tipping a waitress. After analyzing how my math skills have developed throughout my life, I have noticed the incredible …show more content…
The development of my math ability to a much higher level than that of before also suggests that it was nurture contributing. I began demonstrating qualities that suggest further interest in math such as, the ability to quickly solve a Sudoku puzzle or a Rubik’s cube. These are two activities I may never have even learned of had I not seen my father, sister and her friends practicing them regularly. While my evidence supporting the role of nurture in my math ability is based solely on personal experiences and is consequently weak, had I been conducting this analysis on a broader scale I would have conducted a thorough experiment or case study. I would analyze a group of individuals who have families with strong mathematical backgrounds and genes, but observe their personal math abilities in environments of both high and low mathematical exposures. If the students with “math genes” continue to strive in environments with low math exposure then we know nature plays a significant role in shaping one’s math abilities. On the contrary, if the students living in environments with high nurturing for math are more successful than the others, we can conclude that nurture plays the more significant role in forming one’s math skills. In general it is difficult to observe whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on human actions and behavior however, in my case, through interviews with my parents and an analysis of my past experiences, I have observed that my arithmetic ability is mostly comprised of environmental components rather than biological