Nature vs. Nurture Essay - 2118 Words

Nature vs. Nurture Throughout the history of human existence, there have always been questions that have plagued man for centuries. Some of these questions are â€Å"what is the meaning of life† and â€Å"which came first, the chicken or the egg†. Within the past 400 years a new question has surfaced which takes our minds to much further levels. The question asked is whether nature or nurture has more of an impact on the growing development of people. It is a fact that a combination of nature and nurture play important roles in how humans behave socially. However, I believe that nature has a more domineering role in the development of how people behave in society with regards to sexual orientation, crimes and violence and mental disorders.†¦show more content†¦Even the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that sexual orientation was derived from nurture. Freud developed a theory which explains that at birth till the age of four every child is bisexual. Wh en the child reaches the age of around four, he/she begins to learn to withhold their feeling for members of the same sex and start expressing those sexual feeling to members of the opposite sex. Freud proposed the idea that male homosexuality originates when this crucial developmental stage is hindered by some outside force also known as nurture. According to Freud, this can occur when either a chided is raised in a fatherless household or with a domineering mother figure. However, when this idea was actually tested, it did not fall through as many would expect it would (Steen 185). Since many years after Freud’s passing, it has become apparent that nature holds a strong role in the development of sexual orientation of humans. If nurture isn’t the cause for sexual orientation then nature must be. According to Grant Steen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, a large study was recently conducted which gathered gay males who have either identical or fraternal twins or adopted brothers. The goal of the study would be to see if genetics played a role in twins. At the end of the survey more than half of the identical twins of gay men were also found to me homosexuals. At the same time only about 22% of the fraternal twins were found toShow MoreRelatedNature vs. nurture Essay1322 Words   |  6 PagesNature 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 sociologistsRead MoreNature Vs. Nurture Essay1612 Words   |  7 PagesNature vs. Nurture Essay Throughout many years, scientists have been debating about whether nature or nurture is the driving force that shapes a person’s cognitive abilities and personal traits. Before the ongoing debate can be explained, it is necessary to understand what nature and nurture actually are. Nature is loosely defined as the genetics one inherits and tendencies that influence development. Many things in an individual are hereditary, for instance; gender, disease, height, eye color,Read More Nature vs Nurture Essay804 Words   |  4 PagesNature vs Nurture In his book, the universally acclaimed and bestseller The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins presents his viewpoint that living organisms are but survival machines, that the individual [is a] selfish machine, programmed to do whatever is best for its gene as a whole. In fact, this is the central concept in his book that he brings across. An individuals behaviour and actions are 100% determined by its genes and the individual behaves in accordance to ensure the best persistenceRead More Nature vs Nurture Essay1585 Words   |  7 Pages Nature or Nurture? The Determination of Human Behaviour The nature versus nurture debate has spanned over decades, and is becoming more heated in the recent years. Following the mapping of the human genome, scientists are pursuing the possibility of controlling human behaviour such as homicidal tendencies or insanity through the manipulation of genes. Is this possible for us to ensure that humans behave in certain ways under certain circumstances in future? This is highly doubtful, as the determinationRead More Nature vs Nurture Essay570 Words   |  3 Pages Nature vs Nurture The issues pitting nature against nurture are exceptionally significant for the gamut of discoveries that attribute an increasing proportion of traits and behaviours to ones genetic makeup. The resulting variety of physical shortcomings and limitations in each person has, for centuries, been countered by endeavours to improve or interfere where necessary, and every individual is consequently the product of a delicate middle path of balance between the two. The importanceRead MoreNature vs. Nurture Essay794 Words   |  4 Pages Nature vs. Nurturenbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Through time, psychologists have argued over whether only our genes control our behaviors in life or if the environment and the people surrounding us have any effect in our lives. This is called nature versus nurture. We do not know what dictates our behavior, or if it is a combination of both. One question is, if genes control our behavior, are we really responsible for our actions? I think that if we can make choicesRead MoreNature Vs Nurture Essay882 Words   |  4 PagesNature vs Nurture The discussion about nature and nurture can be considered one of the oldest problems in psychology, the main question of which is: Are human traits present at birth or are they developing through experience? (Meyers, 2013). The natural side of the discussion asserts that the facial features and the way of their development strictly through DNA and genetics are transmitted by parents and grandparents. The nurture side of the debate argues that we are born with a clean list andRead MoreNature vs. Nurture Essay1250 Words   |  5 PagesNature vs Nurture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For the past five weeks we have studied three different but influential people in our perspective on human nature class. They are Freud, Plato and Tzu. The main discussion between all of them is nature versus nurture. I will discuss the difference between nature and nurture and then I’ll apply to each of these philosophers and how they react to it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When looked up in the dictionary the term nature means the universe and its phenomena or one’s own character and temperamentRead More Nature vs Nurture Essay778 Words   |  4 PagesNature vs Nurture Most of us have an intuition that, although our genes provide advantages and constraints, we retain great control over our lives. However, we are developing a second, competing intuition that, like it or not, our genes determine our abilities, our preferences, and our emotions. We would like to think we are much more than the sum of our genes, but scientists have apparently demonstrated that our genes determine some of our most complex behavioral and cognitive characteristicsRead MoreEssay on Nature vs Nurture1052 Words   |  5 PagesNature vs. Nurture M. B. Liberty University Psychology 101 Nature vs. Nurture There has been extensive debate between scholars in the field of psychology surrounding the Nature vs. Nurture issue. Both nature and nurture determine who we are and neither is solely independent of the other. â€Å"As the area of a rectangle is determined by its length and its width, so do biology and experience together create us.†(Myers, 2008, p. 8) Carl Gustav Jung, and leading thinker and creator of analytical