Braden Koyle
Mr. Ritcher
January 18 2018
Your Behavior, is it Biological or Environmental
You got your dimples from your Mom and your blue eyes from your dad, but where did you get that tendency to withdraw in social situations, or the occasional bursts of anger? Were these learned behaviors from your parents, or is your conduct predetermined by your genes? The purpose of this essay is to explore the influence of environment vs. genetics and to discover which one of these factors plays the bigger role in determining human behavior. You may have heard the catch phrase, “nature vs. nurture” sometime in your life. This term dates back to the thirteenth century and describes the roles of both heredity and environment in the development …show more content…
American psychologist John Watson, best known for his controversial little Albert experiments with a young orphan named Albert, demonstrated that the acquisition of a phobia could be explained by classical conditioning. A strong proponent of environmental learning, he said: "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select... regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors” (Powell)
We do know we take genes from each parent, like hair or eye color, and whether our right or left hand is our dominant hand. Scientists who embrace the nature theory also say that aggression and intelligence are coded into ones DNA, but we can learn to be aggressive whether it’s because our caretakers raised us like it or because we go through a traumatic experience. We can also learn to be smart, going through school studying hard and practicing. If you don’t study or practice you’re not going to be a genius inventor because your parents gave you the “smart” …show more content…
But if full siblings share about 50% of the same genes then theoretically identical twins share 100% of the same genes. If you have a long list of ancestors that are mean and aggressive they can blame it on their gene pool. “Research indicates that children whose caretakers express warmth and are predictably responsive tend to form a secure attachment marked by a long list of positive traits. They have high levels of self-esteem, confidence, trust, emotional stability, impulse-control, and resiliency. They tend to be free from anxiety. They are empathic and compassionate. They form friendships easily in childhood and intimate relationships as adults. In contrast, children whose caretakers are cold, rejecting, inconsistent in their responsiveness, and/or abusive tend to suffer from a number of emotional and social problems. They can be fearful, suspicious, withdrawn, impulsive, clingy, and/or aggressive, depending on the specific detrimental parenting behaviors they experienced. They tend to have problems forming and maintaining healthy friendships and intimate relationships later in life”(Johnson). If kids experience this type of parenting they will most likely treat their kids the same way thus creating a long list of mean, aggressive, and/or abusive ancestors.
Mr. Ritcher
January 18 2018
Your Behavior, is it Biological or Environmental
You got your dimples from your Mom and your blue eyes from your dad, but where did you get that tendency to withdraw in social situations, or the occasional bursts of anger? Were these learned behaviors from your parents, or is your conduct predetermined by your genes? The purpose of this essay is to explore the influence of environment vs. genetics and to discover which one of these factors plays the bigger role in determining human behavior. You may have heard the catch phrase, “nature vs. nurture” sometime in your life. This term dates back to the thirteenth century and describes the roles of both heredity and environment in the development …show more content…
American psychologist John Watson, best known for his controversial little Albert experiments with a young orphan named Albert, demonstrated that the acquisition of a phobia could be explained by classical conditioning. A strong proponent of environmental learning, he said: "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select... regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors” (Powell)
We do know we take genes from each parent, like hair or eye color, and whether our right or left hand is our dominant hand. Scientists who embrace the nature theory also say that aggression and intelligence are coded into ones DNA, but we can learn to be aggressive whether it’s because our caretakers raised us like it or because we go through a traumatic experience. We can also learn to be smart, going through school studying hard and practicing. If you don’t study or practice you’re not going to be a genius inventor because your parents gave you the “smart” …show more content…
But if full siblings share about 50% of the same genes then theoretically identical twins share 100% of the same genes. If you have a long list of ancestors that are mean and aggressive they can blame it on their gene pool. “Research indicates that children whose caretakers express warmth and are predictably responsive tend to form a secure attachment marked by a long list of positive traits. They have high levels of self-esteem, confidence, trust, emotional stability, impulse-control, and resiliency. They tend to be free from anxiety. They are empathic and compassionate. They form friendships easily in childhood and intimate relationships as adults. In contrast, children whose caretakers are cold, rejecting, inconsistent in their responsiveness, and/or abusive tend to suffer from a number of emotional and social problems. They can be fearful, suspicious, withdrawn, impulsive, clingy, and/or aggressive, depending on the specific detrimental parenting behaviors they experienced. They tend to have problems forming and maintaining healthy friendships and intimate relationships later in life”(Johnson). If kids experience this type of parenting they will most likely treat their kids the same way thus creating a long list of mean, aggressive, and/or abusive ancestors.