Nature vs. Nurture Debate in Psychology

Nature vs. Nurture Debate

• The nature vs. nurture debate involves the extent to which aspects of behavior are a product of inherited (genetic) or acquired (learned) influences.

Nature (Heredity)

• Refers to the transmission of genes or traits of physical, mental, and other characteristics from parents to the child at conception.
• Examples of features carried from parents to children include hair and eye color, possibility of height and body dimensions.
• Psychologists of the nature orientation believe that heredity factors are the most important in human development.
• According to them, the basic properties of humankind, such as physical, mental, social, emotional, and other characteristics, exist at birth and are entirely independent of the individual's subsequent environmental influence.

Influence of Nature on Development

• Nature (heredity) determines how much the individual can develop.
• Nature sets the upper and lower limits of an individual's developmental potential.
• The sex of every individual is determined by nature.
• The nucleus of every human cell contains 46 chromosomes, 23 of which come from the female and 23 from the male cells.
• Certain diseases, such as sickle cell, diabetes, and heart disease, may be inherited from parents.

Chromosomal Abnormalities

• Abnormal number of chromosomes can lead to Down Syndrome, Turner's Syndrome, and Klinefelter's Syndrome.
• Down Syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21, resulting in 47 chromosomes instead of 46.
• Turner Syndrome is a condition that affects only females, resulting from a missing or partially missing sex chromosome (XO or 45, X).
• Klinefelter's Syndrome is a sex chromosome disorder in boys and men that results from the presence of an extra X chromosome in cells (47, XXY).

Nurture (Environment)

• Refers to any and every influence that an individual meets after receiving hereditary patterns through the genes.
• The influence of nurture starts from the womb of the mother and includes the effect of training, trial and error, influence of the home, school, neighborhood, hospital, church, playground, climate, and geographical environment.

Influence of Nurture on Human Development

• Psychologists who stick to the nurture orientation play down the contribution of hereditary factors (nature) in human development.
• John Locke believed that a human infant is born without knowledge or skills, and that the child's mind is a blank sheet of paper or a "tabula rasa".
• The environment 'writes on the blank paper', determining what the experiences are and how the child will act.
• The first environmental factors are found in the mother's womb, where nutrition, illness, and drugs can affect the development of the child.
• After birth, environmental changes can threaten the smooth growth and development of the child.

Explore the age-old debate on the role of heredity and environment in shaping human behavior and characteristics.