Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes; when studying psychology one area that seems to always be important and in the foreground is nature vs. nurture. The reason why I find the ideology of nature vs. nurture important is because it has been the foundation for this class since the first day of the semester. Throughout the year, I changed my opinions on which of the two were more important, as though I was pinning one against the other. It was for this reason, it seems appropriate to end the semester reflecting over how much are we actually influence not only by one or the other, but how both play a significant role in our daily lives. This should also not be the case for humans, but for other species. Understanding how the
…show more content…
Around the middle of the semester I changed my viewpoint believing nurture might have a more influencing in shaping who we might become. Since most people normally associated with people who are similar to them, changes of personality and mentality are swayed to be more like each other’s. I mainly notice this when observing how my friend group had transformed after choosing my major. The friends I now socialize with leads me to make a decision I normally would not have made before. A great example of how this has been done in psychology study is through conformity. The definition of conformity is, “there is a change in behavior, belief, or both to conform to a group norm as a result of real imaged group pressure” (Book 354). A great example of this showing how nurture greatly influences a person is the Sherif Study. Participants were placed in a dark room and ask how the light had moved. The first time the participants did the test they were alone, while for the rest of the test they were with two other people and could hear each talk. During the first test the average estimate differed greatly from each person, but the group came together that answer became more of a group norm (Book 354). Though this example may not seem to fit in the nurture category fully, the definition for nurture states, to be influenced through environment and experience. This …show more content…
Though we learned about behaviorism towards the middle of the year, it was not until looking back over the semester that I realize how nature and nurture both a role with this. The idea of fight or flight can be seen as being part of nature, from a young age the mechanism to survive has been encoded in our DNA, for this reason Albert hearing a loud noise would cause him to be terrified and respond in either trying to fight off the danger or try to get away. It is from this idea that John Watson can then influence the nurture aspect and make Albert afraid of the mouse. Through using the loud noise and presenting the mouse to Albert. Albert, associate the mouse with the loud noise and becomes terrified of the mouse, even if he was not before. As a result of conditioning Albert to be afraid, the nature aspect of his brain tells him to get away from the mouse to ensure that he is not in danger. As a result of the experiment we see how both nature and nurture play a role. Nature in keeping Albert safe, though is fight or flight response, while nurture being Watts and changing Albert perspective into being afraid of the
Around the middle of the semester I changed my viewpoint believing nurture might have a more influencing in shaping who we might become. Since most people normally associated with people who are similar to them, changes of personality and mentality are swayed to be more like each other’s. I mainly notice this when observing how my friend group had transformed after choosing my major. The friends I now socialize with leads me to make a decision I normally would not have made before. A great example of how this has been done in psychology study is through conformity. The definition of conformity is, “there is a change in behavior, belief, or both to conform to a group norm as a result of real imaged group pressure” (Book 354). A great example of this showing how nurture greatly influences a person is the Sherif Study. Participants were placed in a dark room and ask how the light had moved. The first time the participants did the test they were alone, while for the rest of the test they were with two other people and could hear each talk. During the first test the average estimate differed greatly from each person, but the group came together that answer became more of a group norm (Book 354). Though this example may not seem to fit in the nurture category fully, the definition for nurture states, to be influenced through environment and experience. This …show more content…
Though we learned about behaviorism towards the middle of the year, it was not until looking back over the semester that I realize how nature and nurture both a role with this. The idea of fight or flight can be seen as being part of nature, from a young age the mechanism to survive has been encoded in our DNA, for this reason Albert hearing a loud noise would cause him to be terrified and respond in either trying to fight off the danger or try to get away. It is from this idea that John Watson can then influence the nurture aspect and make Albert afraid of the mouse. Through using the loud noise and presenting the mouse to Albert. Albert, associate the mouse with the loud noise and becomes terrified of the mouse, even if he was not before. As a result of conditioning Albert to be afraid, the nature aspect of his brain tells him to get away from the mouse to ensure that he is not in danger. As a result of the experiment we see how both nature and nurture play a role. Nature in keeping Albert safe, though is fight or flight response, while nurture being Watts and changing Albert perspective into being afraid of the