Developmental psychologists study how we change from the cradle to the grave. When psychology was a new science, there was a great debate. This is called the nature vs nurture debate. Some psychologists believe that we were born a blank slate, or the Latin term Tabula Rasa. This means that our environment completely dictates who we are.
The environment is everything with nurture. And then some psychologists believe that it's nature. Or as they like to say, the world within the skin. So, on the nature side, it's everything that we're born with, like our genetics that determine who we are.
However, today we know that who we are is a function of both nature and nurture. It's a really complex interplay of these two things, and we can rarely separate the two when trying to explain different aspects of development.
As an admirer of psychology, we tend to assume that there are reasons for behavior and we tend to sort those reasons or causal factors into two categories. On the one hand is biology also known as nature. We act the way we do because of our genetic makeup and other biological processes.
On the other side there are arguments that our behavior is shaped by the experiences that we have during a lifetime this is known as nurture. But very few psychologists think that behaviors are entirely nature or
entirely nurture. In reality it's a combination of both.
This debate is for any given behavioral pattern exactly how much was that particular behavior influenced by
behaviors that are due to the influence of nature. It means inherited genes or nurture which are environmental factors.
I want to light up a common misconception early on which we need to be really clear. The debate is about the relative importance of each of these nature and nurture. It assumes that there's a combination of both factors in determining Behavior. So now hopefully you won't make the mistake of thinking the debate is if behavior is just due to Nature or just due to nurture.
Many of my students often get confused and think that psychologists only choose one side or another and then fight it out. But you would actually find very few psychologists coming down completely on the nature side or the nurture side of any argument about Behavior.
The confusion is understandable as when teaching psychology we try to explain a clearly defined biological
approach and behaviorist approach. In reality even behaviorists accept the role of biology and actually include it in their fairies which prominently reinforce.
Biological psychologists argue that behaviors due to the inheritance of genes such as genes of brain formation can result in early trauma and deprivation can influence the developing brain creating a vulnerability to late to mental health conditions.
In response to experiences and learning but while the vast majority of psychologists take a complex view about the origins of behavior assuming an interaction between
nature and nurture each extreme side.
Mind develops through accumulating experiences when it comes to psychological explanations of behavior.
Babies are born with an innate need to attach to a mother figure.
Genes code for behaviors and those adaptive behaviors are selected for and passed on. Babies develop their attachment style due to the sensitive responsiveness of their mother behaviorists suggest phobias are due to an association forming during a traumatic experience.
Nature and nurture factors in Behavior but genes and the environment actually work together and influence each other as they interact.
All young males are aggressive but have the potential if exposed to certain experiences and cultural norms as they grow up this would explain why we don't see the same level of violent aggression in young females who grow up in a similar cultural environment.
I want to give a quick warning before moving on to the evaluations both nature and nurture perspectives are deterministic arguments meaning both sides of the debate argue.
Behavior as a cause either in the environment or in the genes you can mention this but if you do try not to
turn this into an essay about determinism or you might lose focus on nature-nurture debate.
Thanks for your time.
With💙
©chrysanthemum
