DEFINITION OF NATURE
AND NURTURE-
Nature refers to heredity at the genetic makeup or
“ genotypes ” (i.e., information encoded in DNA ) an individual carries from the
time of conception to the time to death .Heredity may range from genetic
predispositions that are specific to certain groups and that therefore account
for group differences in related characteristics and to those that are
theorized to be shared by all humans and are generally thought to set humans
apart from other species (e.g. the language acquisition device in humans). The
notion of nature therefore refers to the biologically prescribed tendencies and
capabilities individuals possess, which may unfold themselves throughout the
course of life.
Nurture, by contrast , refers to various external or
environmental factors to which an individual is exposed from conception to
death .These environment factors involve several dimensions. For example, they
include both physical environments (e.g., secondhand smoking and prenatal
nutrition) and social environments (e.g., the media and peer pressure).Also,
environmental factors vary in their immediacy to the individual ; they involve multiple layer of forces ,
ranging from most immediate (e.g.,
families , friends and neighborhoods ) to large contexts ( e.g. school systems
and local governments ) to macro factors ( e.g. , international politics and
global warming ) . To complicate matters even further, the factors in each of
these layers influence and are influenced by elements within and outside of
these layers . For example, the kind of peers a child is exposed to may depend
on his parents’ view of what ideal playmates are like , the local government’s
housing policies, and the history of race relations.
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT-
Many aspect of human characteristics (such as height and eye
color ) are largely genetically determined . Psychology researchers, however ,
tend to be interested in dimensions that are relatively less determined by
genetics- traits that subject more to environmental influences, such as how a
person feels , acts and thinks . Given that the degree of genetic determination
appears to vary from one dimension to another ( e.g. , skills versus language acquisition)
, how can one determine the relative influences of hereditary and environment
for various human characteristics , and how can one understand the complex
relationship between them? The field of behavioral genetics aims at understanding
the observable differences in a wide variety of human characteristics typically by analyzing the contributions made
by heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) in the development of the
characteristics in questions. Although the research behavioral genetics is
ideologically and methodologically diverse , it is fair to state that it often
helps one theorize how much heredity (nature) and environment (nurture)
contribute to an observed outcome , and how various factors may interact with
each other to create a particular outcome.
informative !
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