Nature v Nurture

This report analyzes the balance between nature and nurture in human behavior and development. It explores the interplay between genetics and environmental factors and the impact on cognition, temperament, and psychological aspects. The discussion highlights the importance of considering both nature and nurture in understanding human growth and development.

Running head: NATURE V NURTURE
Nature v nurture
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The aim of the report is to analyze the issue of balance between nature and nurture. As
quotes Meany, that it is not a tussle between the two forces of nature or nurture, it is the balance
between the two. There is nothing that can be studied in isolation of the environment and this is
important to understand that phenotype also emerges only after the interaction between gene
and environment.
Debate and discussion
In psychology, the debate of nature v nurture is has been part of the academic research
for long. The idea of nature of refers to the aspects of behavior is not inherited, it is genetic. The
idea of nature is influenced by the genetic inheritance of behavior while the idea of nurture is
based on the learned behavior or the external factors (Akers et al., 2015). The notion of nurture is
product of exposure that is learnt through the life experiences. However what is interesting here
is to note the interrelation between the two forces of nature and nurture. The aim of understand
the nuances of this issue is to find out the contribution these two factors make in influencing
human behavior, cognition, temperament and the psychological aspects of human being.
In case of the physical growth of the individual, this has been argued that it is genetically
imbedded and there is no contribution of the impact of nurture. For example, the development of
color of eyes, hair, and pigmentation of skin is genetically inherited (Bateson, 2015). On the
other hand, the development of psychological aspects of one individual is based in the external
attributes. The development of one’s own personality, psychology is not wired in before they are
born. However those who have undertaken one of the extreme understandings of the issue are

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called the “nativits” (Bateson, 2015). One of the examples of this extreme nativist position is
Chomsky(1965) where he mentions that the development of language among children is the
result of an innate system of device called the language acquisition. Even Freud mentions that
the aspect of aggression in human being is the result of an innate drive that is genetically
impacted (Britto et al., 2017). However to consider the other aspects of the same spectrum, it is
to be mentioned that the extreme nurture position as held by few known as the “ empiricist”
refers to the point that birth of the individual is basically a state of “ tabula rasa” or the black
state and everything is learnt through the process of external learning (Cervone et al., 2015).
This is the result of the learning that happens through the process of behavioral changes. This is
to be argued that this model of understanding the issue is parochial and narrow since it is only
considers one aspects of the problem. As mentions Bandura, the learning of psychological
characteristics like the issue of aggression happens through the process of social learning and it
is note that the process of preservation and initiation is the catalyst of change in human behavior
(Sasaki et al., 2017). Even Freud has mentioned that the development of childhood results in
certain kinds of behavioral traits in future. Even the development of child is impacted by the
nourishment and nurture of the parents. This is also interesting to note that child grows in and
within the context of the family, they are the sole responsible unit of development of children
since most of the experiences are learnt in this unit (Montag et al., 2017). In addition, this has
also been mentioned that nurture is the only common theme that makes the difference in child.
However to consider one side of the debate is futile and it is important to understand the
interaction of both the factors.
The important question here is to understand the there are number of arguments on both
the sides that reflects the impact of interaction between nature and nurture. In reference to what

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Galton mentions it has been observed that the development of psychological characteristics
within an individual is the result of their genetic inheritance (Pingault et al., 2012) . This has
been questioned by number of psychologist on the ground of multiple researches conducted that
the social and political conditionality’s of one’s own life is the reasons for development of some
and underdevelopment of other . This has been argued that child of a white parent and a black
parent have tended to scoreless in comparison to the former due to the fact that they are not
offered similar life chances (Montag et al., 2017). This is important to consider that intellectual
abilities which are marked as the point of difference between people is the result of social and
historical inequalities. The behavioral genetics researchers have argued that development of
psychological traits are the product of their DNA and the social learning (Rice, 2016). This is
true that the systematic source of difference in the psychological characteristics are the result of
the genes however there is also an unstable contribution of the environment in developing one
kind of behavuiour (Black et al., 2017). As argued by the behavioural genetics researches that
learning of one type of behavior is the result of polygenic inheritance. This has been argued that
instead of contributing the presence of single gene in determining the factors that contributes to
the development of personality, it is required to notice that contribution of polygenic factors is
higher, for example, the trait of depression has contribution of over 1000 genes (Kidd et al.,
2018). The importance of understanding interaction of nature and nurture is crucial form the
point of the fact that considering the issue from the nativist or the empiricist point of view will
provide one sided understanding of the issue.
Taking the example of Chomsky’s idea of language acquisition device, it can be said that
children are born with certain capacity that is important for the learning of new languages. This
might be contributed to the genetic inheritance, while on the other hand , it is crucial to note the

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fact that environmental influences like parenting styles of learning where the children to say
different words. If a child has grown up being aggressive, it is essential note that the nurturing
pattern of the child must have been done on the same line. Hence it can be clearly demarcated
that the development of languages in a child is completely inherited through the genetics. The
development of language takes place within the context of observation of their parents talk in
certain way (Newman et al., 2017). In consideration to the Bobo Doll experiment of Bandura, it
can be said that the learning of aggressive behaviour is the result of observing other behaving
the same way. This is the contribution of biopsychology and social psychology that impacts the
learning process of the child. This is not an isolated impact of one of the factors that makes the
desired changes in a child’s behavior (Sindermann et al., 2017). In case of height of an
individual, there is an instance of nature and nurture interaction since it has been observed that
the if a child in born in a family with everyone else having taller stature, it is completely
accepted that she or he would develop a tall stature however it is not to deny the fact that of the
same child is grown and nourished in a poor environment and the proper nourishment has not
taken place, the development of taller statures will be hampered. This is also interesting to note
the case of development of pitch in an individual (Seesjärvi et al., 2016). This has been argued
that the detection of pitch happened due to the genetic contribution of the same however it is also
considered that the child is given musical training for the purpose of developing a musical tone
(Kong et al., 2017). Hence it can be argued that genetically impacted factors do not single
handedly contribute to the development of path breaking singers. This is the integration of both
the factors that contribute to the development of the individual.

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Concluding remarks
There are numbers of researches that are raising the issue of nature and nurture however
the question is not about the contribution of one of the other or the interaction of both. The right
approach lies in the recognition of the multiplicity of factors that are impacting the process of
growth and development of one individual. The question would be to look into the extent of
genes making contribution to the development of one type of characteristics and change. among
all the other theories pg psychology, this paper is an analysis of the biological aspects and the
behavioral aspect of the issue, this discussion should largely focus in the balance between the
two approaches of biology and the environment in order to consider the fact that it is interacting
of gene and the external factors that is making it different. Hence it is to be noted that it is not the
tussle between the two, it is the interaction of the two that is required in every process of
development.

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