Nature v Nurture

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

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NATURE V NURTURE
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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NATURE V NURTURE
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