Nature Vs Nurture

Chapter 4 in Psychology by David G Myers discusses the long debated topic of nature versus nurture. It also discusses human diversity which is a topic that goes hand in hand with nature versus nurture.

The first section is about our genetic code and how we come to get our genes. We have 46 chromosomes of which we get half (23) from our mother’s egg and half from our father’s sperm. It goes on to talk about how our genes contain variations from person to person. This is what makes us different from everyone else. It’s what causes some of us to have a predisposition to certain diseases and some to have a positive reaction to breast milk.

Section 2 is in regards to twin and adoption studies. This type of study seems unethical to perform on people so it quit fortunate that this type of “experiment” has happened naturally. There are two types of twins in this study, identical and fraternal. The researchers studied the effects of separation on identical twins. They looked at how their personalities differed from each other and surprisingly noticed that their personalities, despite the years of separation, were almost exactly the same. It goes on to discuss biological and adaptive relatives and their impact on people. The biological and environmental parents and siblings that raise children are said to have a high impact on children.

The next section goes on to look at the relationship between temperament and personality. Temperament is also known as emotional excitability which is predisposed by heredity. It uses the example of babies from the first weeks of life as evidence that people are predisposed to certain emotional excitability.

The 4th section is a deep look into the long argued topic of nature versus nurture. Our adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity in this section is best described as some human traits developing no matter where a person is and some traits showing up in only particular environments. It explains that it shouldn’t be considered nature versus nurture, but nature via nurture.

Culture, as defined in a later section is the behaviors, idea attitudes values and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next. We have learned and grown by learning from the culture that surrounds us. Our culture helps us grow not only as a person but as a people. It is because of our culture that we are able to develop as a people. We have learned from our mistakes, grown from our triumphs and understood that in order to move on and grow we must look back as we strive for the future.

Some cultures vary on the extent that they allow priority to nurturing