Nature-Nurture+Debate

Definition:
The debate over whether intelligence and other traits are primarily the result of heredity or environment Gen Psych Chapter 7, p. //229//

Examples:
Example 1: Biological factors like Down's Syndrome are obviously nature; cultural factors like the social clock are obviously nurture. Something like gender roles appears to be a combination of both, and the degree to which each plays a role is the part that is debated.

Example 2: In the recent school shootings, you hear some people trying to explain the actions of the shooters in terms of biology -- Did their brains lack the ability to feel empathy? This is the perspective of nature theorists. Others explain the actions in terms of upbringing, education, and lashing out against bullying; this is the perspective of nurture theorists.



= Analogies: = To use the analogy of a person as a machine, nature is how the machine was originally assembled, and nurture is how the machine has been maintained and upgraded. If the machine starts doing something new, the question is, "Was this always part of the programming, and just waiting to emerge? Or has it resulted from something else such as faulty maintenance, new programming, etc?"

= Mnemonics: = [Insert Mnemonics Here] (give a mnemonic in place of the bracketed text above, then delete these instructions. If you don't know of any examples, leave this section unchanged for someone else to improve on.)

= In The News: = A Unique Look at Nature vs. Nurture "Identical twins generally are not separated during adoptions, but Chinese officials had no record that Lily and Gillian were related at the time of their adoption in 2000."

=Discussion Area:= Start a discussion by using the button with the two comment bubbles next to **Edit** at the top of the page. Click on a subject below to see what people are saying and join a discussion. This is the area for in-depth discussion of: include component="comments" page="Nature-Nurture Debate" limit="25"
 * location of a page elements
 * quality/appropriateness of videos or pictures
 * improving analogies and mnemonics.

When I was a small child, I was the last one of 8 children. My mother was a widow with 7 children and then she had me with my father, a lthough he never had anything to do with me. I did not grow up in his environment but my mother and the rest of my brothers and sister labeled me as being just like my father, that I look like him and act like him, but I really do not know how he acts, I know what he looks like. Then I moved away from my little village, and I keep seeing myself not being or acting like anyone in my father's family or even my mother's family. Is this an environmental impact or nurture? I look at it as a little of both, what do you think? Help me out.