IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

8/9/2019 IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

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BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE

ASSIGNMENT

IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE

IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

SUBMITTED TO

Ms. Payal Chandel

SUBMITTED BY

Ahana Muhe!"ee

B.A!#h VII Se$es%e!

IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT


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The On&'(n& De)a%e

The question of how nature versus nurture influences human development has

been an ongoing debate for a very long time and at present there is no clear

winner, as both nature (genes) and nurture (environmental factors) seem to play

a vital and important role in human development.

Before this issue can be fully explained, it is important to understand what

nature and nurture actually are. Nature can be loosely defined as genetic

inheritance or the genetic maeup (the information encoded in your genes)

which a person inherits from both parents at the time of conception and carries

throughout life.

!everal things in an individual are genetically inherited, ranging from gender,eye colour, riss for certain diseases and exceptional talents to height. The

concept of nature thus refers to biologically inherited tendencies and abilities

that people have and which may get revealed later on as they grow up.

"n contrast, nurture can be defined as the different environmental factors to

which a person is sub#ected from birth to death.

$nvironmental factors involve many dimensions. They include both physicalenvironments (a good example is prenatal nutrition) and social environments

(such as the neighbourhood, media and peer pressure.) %lso, environmental

factors have different levels of impact on human development as they involve

multiple layers of action, ranging from most immediate (families, friends, and

neighbourhoods) to bigger societal contexts (school systems and local

governments) as well as macro factors such as politics on the international level

or say global warming. These layers are also impacted by other factors outside

them. &or example, teenagers are exposed to not #ust peer pressure from theirpeers but also to parental ideals, community standards or ethnic views.


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"t has long been nown that certain physical characteristics are biologically

determined by genetic inheritance. 'olour of eyes, straight or curly hair,

pigmentation of the sin and certain diseases (such as untingdons chorea) are

all a function of the genes we inherit. *ther physical characteristics, if not

determined, appear to be at least strongly influenced by the genetic mae+up ofour biological parents.

eight, weight, hair loss (in men), life expectancy and vulnerability to specific

illnesses (e.g. breast cancer in women) are positively correlated between

genetically related individuals. These facts have led many to speculate as to

whether psychological characteristics such as behavioural tendencies,

personality attributes and mental abilities are also wired in- before we are even

born.

Those who adopt an extreme heredity position are nown as nativists. Their

basic assumption is that the characteristics of the human species as a whole are

a product of evolution and that individual differences are due to each persons

unique genetic code. "n general, the earlier a particular ability appears, the more

liely it is to be under the influence of genetic factors.

'haracteristics and differences that are not observable at birth, but which

emerge later in life, are regarded as the product of maturation. That is to say we

all have an inner biological cloc- which switches on (or off) types ofbehaviour in a pre+programmed way. The classic example of the way this affects

our physical development are the bodily changes that occur in early adolescence

at puberty. owever nativists also argue that maturation governs the emergence

of attachment in infancy, language acquisition and even cognitive

development as a whole.

%t the other end of the spectrum are the environmentalists also nown

as empiricists (not to be confused with the other empirical / scientific

approach). Their basic assumption is that at birth the human mind is a tabula

rasa (a blan slate) and that this is gradually filled- as a result of experience

(e.g. behaviourism).

&rom this point of view psychological characteristics and behavioural

differences that emerge through infancy and childhood are the result of

learning. "t is how you are brought up (nurture) that governs the

psychologically significant aspects of child development and the concept of

maturation applies only to the biological.

&or example, when an infant forms an attachment it is responding to the loveand attention it has received, language comes from imitating the speech of


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others and cognitive development depends on the degree of stimulation in the

environment and, more broadly, on the civili0ation within which the child is

reared.

"n practice hardly anyone today accepts either of the extreme positions. Thereare simply too many facts- on both sides of the argument which are

inconsistent with an all or nothing- view. !o instead of asing whether child

development is down to nature or nurture the question has been reformulated as

ow much1- That is to say, given that heredity and environment both

influence the person we become, which is the more important1

This question was first framed by &rancis 2alton in the late 34th century.

2alton (himself a relative of 'harles 5arwin) was convinced that intellectual

ability was largely inherited and that the tendency for genius- to run in familieswas the outcome of a natural superiority.

The storm of controversy that developed around 6ensons claims was not mainly

due to logical and empirical weanesses in his argument. "t was more to do

with the social and political implications that are often drawn from research that

claims to demonstrate natural inequalities between social groups.

&or many environmentalists there is a barely disguised right wing agenda

behind the wor of the behavioural geneticists. "n their view part of the

difference in the ".7. scores of different ethnic groups is due to in built biases in

the methods of testing. 8ore fundamentally they believe that differences in

intellectual ability are a product of social inequalities in access to material

resources and opportunities. To put it simply children brought up in the ghetto

tend to score lower on tests because they are denied the same life chances as

more privileged members of society.

Now we can see why the nature+nurture debate has become such a hotly

contested issue. 9hat begins as an attempt to understand the causes of

behavioural differences often develops into a politically motivated dispute aboutdistributive #ustice and power in society. 9hats more this doesnt only apply to

the debate over ".7. "t is equally relevant to the psychology of sex and gender

where the question of how much of the (alleged) differences in male and female

behaviour is due to biology and how much to culture is #ust as controversial.

owever in recent years there has been a growing reali0ation that the question

of how much- behaviour is due to heredity and how much- to environment

may itself be the wrong question. Tae intelligence as an example. :ie almost

all types of human behaviour it is a complex, many+sided phenomenon whichreveals itself (or not;) in a great variety of ways. The how much- question


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assumes that the variables can all be expressed numerically and that the issue

can be resolved in a quantitative manner. The reality is that nature and culture

interact in a host of qualitatively different ways.

"f these advances are not to be abused then there will need to be a more generalunderstanding of the fact that biology interacts with both the cultural context

and the personal choices that people mae about how they want to live their

lives. There is no neat and simple way of unravelling these qualitatively

different and reciprocal influences on human behaviour.

The Infuences o Nature and Nurture on Human

Development

Nature is responsible for the growth of a person from the foetus level until

development into a normal adult. The genetic maeup of a human being is

responsible for their sex, sin colour, colour of their eyes and hair as well as

distinguishing features which are inherited.

Nature can only assist in the growth of a foetus into a normal well+developed

adult who may have inherited some special talents. Thus it can be concluded

that nature uses the genetic coding to help in physical development and does

impart some positive or negative traits to an individual. owever, it is nurture

which can be utili0ed to improve positive traits and diminish the effect of

negative traits in a child.

"t is indeed important to recogni0e that nature in the form of inherited traits does

exist but a persons overall behaviour is influenced a great deal by nurture or

upbringing and the environmental factors involved in this upbringing. !everal

recent studies carried out on infant and child behaviour have shown that there is

significant evidence to support the fact that nurture strongly influences humandevelopment especially in the early years.

"n traditional society most parents encourage their ids to tae part in

extracurricular activities lie learning music, dance or sports in accordance with

the childs talents and interests. The talents have been given by nature but they

can only be developed into sills through the hard wor of nurture.


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Which Plays the Greater Role?

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IMPORTANCE OF NATURE AND NURTURE IN PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT