The blank slate‚ written by Steven Pinker; an experimental psychologist and cognitive scientist‚ examines the ideas behind the ongoing debate regarding human nature and the theories of nature and nurture. The book begins with and in depth outline of the three doctrines of the nurture debate‚ the first being “The blank slate” which asserts that individuals are “born void of all characters without any ideas” as stated by John Locke (1632-1704) and that behavior is learnt from society and those around
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This brings up the concepts of personal knowledge and shared knowledge. Personal knowledge depends on the experiences of a particular individual because everyone is living life differently. On the other hand‚ shared knowledge is the product of more than one individual as it binds different ideas together. Shared knowledge is pretty much a collection of personal knowledge. For example‚ my personal knowledge is that Taylor Swift is the best singer of all time‚ but a shared knowledge would be Taylor
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Nieto-Gomez explains combinatorial evolution as a series of innovations‚ accelerated by the rate of technological advancements that produce infinite combinations of possibilities on society that can and are unpredictable (p. 2). These combinations or recombinations can have positive‚ as well as negative impacts. On the darker side of combinatorial evolution are horrific events such as the Oklahoma City bombing attack of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19‚ 1995. Convicted for the
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Discuss the evolutionary explanations of functions of sleep. (24 marks) The evolutionary theories suggest sleep has evolved because it gives an animal a greater chance of survival when in a dangerous environment. They also suggest that sleep has evolved because it conserves energy and coincides with their eating habits. The evolutionary explanation (also referred to as the ecological approach) is based on the observation of animals in their natural environment. The evolutionary approach to
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major perspectives in Psychology are biological‚ cognitive and humanistic. The biological approach states that all behaviours‚ thoughts and feelings are caused by biological factors such as hormone production and genetics (McLeod 2007). For example the production of the hormone serotonin causes an individual to feel happiness‚ while genetics have evolved over the years so that human bodies and behaviour adapt to their environment‚ meaning that most behaviour we display today has an evolutionary purpose
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Continental drift has helped create the diversity we see present in modern day plants and animals. Through a process of speciation‚ the movement of the continents has had a generous role throughout evolution‚ effecting and distributing flora and fauna. The Earth’s continents were once one‚ a large supercontinent called Pangea that later separated into two smaller ones known as Gondwana and Laurasia. The separation and collision of continents has not only created some of the valleys and mountain ranges
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Nature vs. Nurture It is a matter of concern whether human behaviors and characteristics are determined by nature or nurture. If a person’s behavior is inherited directly from the genes of his/her parents or other biological factors‚ then it is the nature that determines his character. But if the environment that a person grew up in‚ affects his behavior‚ then it is the nurture that determines his/her character. It became a great matter of controversy among scientists‚ psychologists and sociologists
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Biology 301 12/3/2012 The Effects of Relative Fitness of Drosophila Melanogaster on Evolution Abstract This experiment was conducted to study the relative fitness of two phenotypes of the Drosophila melanogaster and how fitness can affect evolution in the population. The phenotypes were placed in two different environments‚ one in which contained a predator and another with no predator. Results of the experiment would show how the fitness of each phenotype is affected by providing a mechanism
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The Blank Slate Theory Many things we know about science today derived from scientific theories. However‚ not all scientific theories made were correct. Take for example Spontaneous Generation‚ or the scientific theory of “Bad Air”‚ or in this case‚ Tabula Rasa‚ or The Blank Slate theory. We all want to believe that we create our own personality with the choices we make‚ but are there traits in our personality inherited? Firstly‚ from the book “The Blank Slate Theory: The modern Denial of
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Nature V. Nurture Nature versus nurture has been one of the most commonly argued topics ever since the dawn of time. Several great philosophers have argued that certain qualities of human behavior are inborn‚ which means that these qualities are a part of our genes. This is called nature. Others believe in the ideology that several environmental factors‚ primarily education and parenting‚ affect the human behavior. This is nurture. So which way of thinking is
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