The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest philosophical issues within psychology. Nature refers to all genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are - from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics. Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact who we are, including early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and our surrounding culture. Even today, different branches of psychology often take one or the other approach. This essay will give an overview of the “nature versus nurture” concept, how the two interact, delve into how they relate to the biological, behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic psychological perspectives, and conclude with a stance regarding
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For example, Kevin Davies of PBS's Nova described how perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any previous reference. Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and believe it might be tied to a single gene. However, they have also discovered possession of the gene alone is not enough to develop this ability. Instead, musical training during early childhood is necessary to allow this inherited ability to manifest itself. Height is another example of a trait influenced by the interaction of nature versus nurture. A child might be tall because he has familial genes for greater height. Yet, if he grows up in a deprived environment where he does not receive proper nourishment, he may never attain his potential height that he might have reached if had grown up in a healthier …show more content…
Biological psychology is concerned primarily with physical development, including that of the body and the brain. A few examples of biologically determined characteristics include certain genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color. Ethology, a perspective influenced by Charles Darwin, Konrad Lorenz, and Niko Tinbergen, focuses on instinctive behavior patterns, which preprogram an organism to behave in a certain way. One example of a nativist theory within psychology is Chomsky's concept of a language acquisition device (or LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce
For example, Kevin Davies of PBS's Nova described how perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any previous reference. Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and believe it might be tied to a single gene. However, they have also discovered possession of the gene alone is not enough to develop this ability. Instead, musical training during early childhood is necessary to allow this inherited ability to manifest itself. Height is another example of a trait influenced by the interaction of nature versus nurture. A child might be tall because he has familial genes for greater height. Yet, if he grows up in a deprived environment where he does not receive proper nourishment, he may never attain his potential height that he might have reached if had grown up in a healthier …show more content…
Biological psychology is concerned primarily with physical development, including that of the body and the brain. A few examples of biologically determined characteristics include certain genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color. Ethology, a perspective influenced by Charles Darwin, Konrad Lorenz, and Niko Tinbergen, focuses on instinctive behavior patterns, which preprogram an organism to behave in a certain way. One example of a nativist theory within psychology is Chomsky's concept of a language acquisition device (or LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce