Nature Vs. Nurture: The Field Of Psychology And Child Development

The field of psychology and child development is extremely vast, and because of this different scientists may hold different opinions as to what influences a child as they grow and develop into adults. One subject that has brought about a slew of controversy would be the nature vs. nurture debate, one of the oldest arguments in the field of psychology. In the beginning of this debate psychologists claimed that either a person’s development is shaped by his or her environment and experiences, or that a person develops a certain way due to their heritage and genetic code. Currently, it is apparent that both sides of the argument play major roles in a child’s development as both biology and environment are not exclusively related to different aspects of development. Even though nature may affect some areas are more than nurture and vice versa, both heredity and experiences collaborate to shape all aspects of a child’s development. Over centuries humans have evolved, passing along qualities that are stored in our genes to our offspring who in …show more content…
Even though some areas of development are more influenced by one side of the nature nurture argument, there is no doubt that both nature and nurture play a role in the development of a child. IQ may be determined by genetics, but if a child with the potential to be a genius is born into a family that does not have the resources to educate him or her, the child will not be able to reach his or her full potential as a result. In this way we can see that even areas that are more influenced by once side of the nature vs. nurture spectrum are also clearly influenced by the other. In child development there is no one area that can definitely be pinpointed to either nature or nurture, and because of this both sides role in development are vitally