Nurture strongly influences early human development. Discuss
For Centuries people have wondered what role does ' Nature ' or in other words one's inherent traits from birth ,and 'nurture' or the role of one's environment (physical ,cultural social and familial ) play in the development of ones social and psychological Identity. Parents endeavor to raise the perfect child , the one that mirrors their values and goals .But many times they are startled to discover a stranger in their nest, when the child they raised is nowhere close to what they want him to be. Recent researches show that nature plays a major role in the shaping of an individual rather than nurture. This essay will reveal how nurture has only a limited impact on early phases of human development as compared to nature.
Cases where an individual turns out to be a good person in spite of tremendous environmental conditions clearly makes the case for parents and other environmental factors to have relatively lesser influence on a child's growth .The life story of the scientist George Washington Carver would be a very good example . He emerged from slavery to become one of the worlds most respected and honored men .Here one asks the question of where did all the courage and strength come from to deal with such hard and terrible conditions, when there was no obvious environmental cause. The very believable answer to this question would be that these individuals were born with it , it was in their genes . If outstanding individuals can raise poor offspring and poor parents can produce excellent offspring , differences in parenting within the normal range are unlikely to have major effect on a child's character and personality.
Another question that surely amazes scientist is the similarity seen when identical twins who possess a very similar genetic make up are raised far apart in completely different environments .Five such studies conducted recently in three different countries show an average correlation of 0.75 in such twins .This clearly is a very powerful evidence displaying the power of genes. But when the twins are brought up to gather in the same environment they correlate about 0.85 . This indicates that the difference in correlation of these twin being reared to gather was only 0.1 ,which is a very small value .Also , adopted children reared in the same environment displayed zero IQ resemblance .This suggests that the effects on children with same environment but different genetic makeup being reared under the same household is close to nil .
Poor rearing by parents is often considered an important factor in the development of a criminal . A study was conducted among adopted children whose biological mothers were criminals or convicts and adopted children whose mothers didn't have a criminal background .The results were surprising , The former were more likely to have been arrested ( 15 % versus 2% ) , convicted ( 13 % versus 1%) and incarcerated ( 10 % versus 0% ) and are often found to have a very antisocial personality .Conversely , no such relationship was found for the adoptees and their adoptive parents. If criminality was something learned from parents a relationship would surely emerge out between the adoptees and adoptee's parents.
Sometimes, certain diseases also play an important role in shaping of an individual .For instance , the infant maybe born deaf , blind or brain damaged if the infant's mother contracted German measles in the first three month of her pregnancy. Wolfram's syndrome is another condition associated with blindness and deafness , majority of people suffering from this syndrome are psychologically disturbed and have suicidal tendency .This disease usually affects 1 in every 100,000 person. Diseases like these play a major role in growth and development and growth of an individual.
There are plenty of researches that conclude that an individuals biology affects many psychological and mental aspects of a individual's behavior and character .Once an individual is aware of this evidence , he /she can surely detect faults in many researches and studies conducted by media or incorporated in textbooks talking about environmental influences and particularly parenting on early phases of infants growth. While considering environmental influence one should know that people often construct their own environment and this choice is largely influenced by their genetic traits .For example ,Smart Studious and intelligent students would select harder courses in school than other average student. The effect of environmental influences and parenting are important but their impact is far too limited.
For Centuries people have wondered what role does ' Nature ' or in other words one's inherent traits from birth ,and 'nurture' or the role of one's environment (physical ,cultural social and familial ) play in the development of ones social and psychological Identity. Parents endeavor to raise the perfect child , the one that mirrors their values and goals .But many times they are startled to discover a stranger in their nest, when the child they raised is nowhere close to what they want him to be. Recent researches show that nature plays a major role in the shaping of an individual rather than nurture. This essay will reveal how nurture has only a limited impact on early phases of human development as compared to nature.
Cases where an individual turns out to be a good person in spite of tremendous environmental conditions clearly makes the case for parents and other environmental factors to have relatively lesser influence on a child's growth .The life story of the scientist George Washington Carver would be a very good example . He emerged from slavery to become one of the worlds most respected and honored men .Here one asks the question of where did all the courage and strength come from to deal with such hard and terrible conditions, when there was no obvious environmental cause. The very believable answer to this question would be that these individuals were born with it , it was in their genes . If outstanding individuals can raise poor offspring and poor parents can produce excellent offspring , differences in parenting within the normal range are unlikely to have major effect on a child's character and personality.
Another question that surely amazes scientist is the similarity seen when identical twins who possess a very similar genetic make up are raised far apart in completely different environments .Five such studies conducted recently in three different countries show an average correlation of 0.75 in such twins .This clearly is a very powerful evidence displaying the power of genes. But when the twins are brought up to gather in the same environment they correlate about 0.85 . This indicates that the difference in correlation of these twin being reared to gather was only 0.1 ,which is a very small value .Also , adopted children reared in the same environment displayed zero IQ resemblance .This suggests that the effects on children with same environment but different genetic makeup being reared under the same household is close to nil .
Poor rearing by parents is often considered an important factor in the development of a criminal . A study was conducted among adopted children whose biological mothers were criminals or convicts and adopted children whose mothers didn't have a criminal background .The results were surprising , The former were more likely to have been arrested ( 15 % versus 2% ) , convicted ( 13 % versus 1%) and incarcerated ( 10 % versus 0% ) and are often found to have a very antisocial personality .Conversely , no such relationship was found for the adoptees and their adoptive parents. If criminality was something learned from parents a relationship would surely emerge out between the adoptees and adoptee's parents.
Sometimes, certain diseases also play an important role in shaping of an individual .For instance , the infant maybe born deaf , blind or brain damaged if the infant's mother contracted German measles in the first three month of her pregnancy. Wolfram's syndrome is another condition associated with blindness and deafness , majority of people suffering from this syndrome are psychologically disturbed and have suicidal tendency .This disease usually affects 1 in every 100,000 person. Diseases like these play a major role in growth and development and growth of an individual.
There are plenty of researches that conclude that an individuals biology affects many psychological and mental aspects of a individual's behavior and character .Once an individual is aware of this evidence , he /she can surely detect faults in many researches and studies conducted by media or incorporated in textbooks talking about environmental influences and particularly parenting on early phases of infants growth. While considering environmental influence one should know that people often construct their own environment and this choice is largely influenced by their genetic traits .For example ,Smart Studious and intelligent students would select harder courses in school than other average student. The effect of environmental influences and parenting are important but their impact is far too limited.
