General Intelgency Nurture Theory of Psychology

Question: Explain the concept of nature and nurture and how it is a debate; consider with examples how it might be used to explain child development. Answer: The debate relating nature and nurture theory of psychology has been ongoing for a fair amount of time and is concerned with the fact that which particular aspect of the human behavior is a product regarding the inherited that is the genetic or the acquired that is the learned characteristics. These two aspects are considered important in case development of a child in terms of his behavioral and psychological aspects (Archard 2014). Figure 1: Approach to psychology through the aspect of Nature and Nurture theory, Source: (Archard 2014) With respect to the current context, it can be said that one of the oldest arguments of psychology is considered as the controversy regarding the nature and nurture theory of psychology (Bornstein and Bradley 2014). Each of these above-mentioned two aspects has both the positive and negative sides as well. the main controversy is related to the fact that whether the development of a child is predisposed in his DNA, which is acquired through his or parents or the majority of his characteristics is influenced by the real life experiences according to his her surrounding environment (Eagly and Wood 2013). Nature and nurture refer to the innate qualities of an individual in comparison to his personal experiences. This brings about the individual differences in case of the behavioral traits. It is a debate that has been continuing in the developmental sciences, emerging from the research findings and theoretical perspectives in the fields of education, neuroscience, sociology and psychology. Nature and nurture are a complimentary and conflicting dialogue with an immense underlying principle of extremely dynamic and complex interaction that occurs between the environmental influences ad biological factors, related to child development (Golombok et al. 2014). The developmental pathways and human mind do not follow a fixed effect and cause pattern. Instead, the developmental transformations are regarded as unpredictable as the environment initiates the processes of neurobiology and the child as per his individuality interprets them. These transformations result as a complex interrelation of process, substance and time and occurs a dynamic play between the environmental experience and gene action that continues as long as the child lives. The effects of these two factors are most prominent in the earliest years of the life of the child when the brain growth takes place at its peak velocity (Gottlieb 2014). The predisposition of the child to learn and brains plasticity are shaped by the stimulation of emotional, cultural, cognitive and social nature and the environmental influences for the creation of new pathways for development and learning. The debate of nature versus nurture is applied as a mean for describing the differences that occur during development of a child. Nature is the hereditary or biological information that shapes the learning and development of the child whereas nurture refers to the everyday interactions the child faces in their environment. Based on the individual differences in the development of a child, it can be said that characteristics and heredity of a child remain stable throughout his life whereas the experiences of early life of the child shape the future behavior patterns. However, new experiences bring a change in behavior. Caregivers and parents are often of the opinion that child development is largely dependent on nature. That is the reason they provide children with various activities for stimulating the change (Gross 2015). If they were of the belief that nurture and not nature is responsible for child development, they would have provided the activities for stimulation at a much earl ier age. In addition, they would have cared to provide the child with high quality experiences for ensuring a better adulthood for him. Another phenomenon which is observed that there are certain characteristics which are not observed at the time of birth of a particular child but they tend to emerge later in their life. These properties are often categorized as the product of maturation. The reason behind this type of phenomenon is that every individual has a particular inner biological clock (Slee and Shute 2014). Which stitches on and off with respect to certain behavioral aspects. A classic example of such phenomenon is the typical physical development or the bodily changes, which occur at the time of early adolescent or puberty. There are also some arguments that maturation actually governs the fact of emergence regarding attachment of infancy, cognitive development and the language acquisition as well (Harold et al. 2013). Nature or the genetics is to be proven as one of the reasons, which affect the development of the mental health of an individual. In many cases, at the development stage of a child, diseases like schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar syndrome may occur. However, it can also be said that there is certain importance of the genetic factors regarding the mental illness and its development in the case of children. If one twin develops the event of schizophrenia, then there is a fifty percent of a chance that the second twin will also develop the same. This phenomenon states the importance and contributing part of nature (Horowitz 2014). In recent times, with respect to the current context, it is proposed that the nature and nurture do not independently in case of development of a child. It is suggested that both the nature and nurture are essential in case of development of particular set behavioral characteristics. It is also suggested that it is almost impossible to state that whether a particular behavior is a result of genetics or the effect of the surrounding environment (Magnusson 2015). In recent years, there has been an enormous amount of advances in the field of genetics. For example, The Human Genome project is considered to be one of the most important aspects for the purpose of tracing down the behavior and properties of particular regions of DNA located in specific chromosomes as well (Kan et al. 2013). A recent study on the particular hereditary and problems regarding the alcoholism indicated that adopted child with the presence of alcoholic parents are four times more likely to become alcoholic than the scenario where their presence are not alcoholic (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). New findings also suggest that there is some relatedness in terms of genetics. In terms of nurture, it is meant that the environment and people surrounding the child. This may affect heavily on the mind set and development of a particular child. In many cases, the adult individuals possess many diseases in term of psychological aspect. From taking examples of such phenomenon, it can be said that the nurture aspect also effects heavily in terms of the development of a particular child (Lemer and Lemer 2013). Researchers in the current context have stated that nature and nurture both concur that the linkage between the behavior and the gene is not always the same as the cause and the effect. It is observed that a gene may sometimes increase the likelihood of to behave a particular child in a certain manner but it do not influence a child to do or act in a particular manner (Shaffer and Kipp 2013). As a result, it can be said that the child actually still possesses the choice of what he or she wants to be or wants to act. Some of the social scientists also stated that the interaction of a child with both the nature and nurture play an important role in that particular child's life and effect the life of that particular child's in such a manner that it will impact on the characteristics when he or she is full grown (Stemberg and Stemberg 2015). These proper environments not only consist the child's symbolic and social setting but also of the natural environments as well. Another who should be included in the conclusion is that the intermediary heritability of a child always shapes the traits through both the environment and the genetic depositions as a child develops with respect to age. It can be said that all nature depends on the nurture and the process is vice versa as well as both of them exist and coexist with each other. References Archard, D., 2014.Children: Rights and childhood. Routledge. Bornstein, M.H. and Bradley, R.H. eds., 2014.Socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. Routledge. Eagly, A.H. and Wood, W., 2013. The naturenurture debates 25 years of challenges in understanding the psychology of gender.Perspectives on Psychological Science,8(3), pp.340-357. Golombok, S., Mellish, L., Jennings, S., Casey, P., Tasker, F. and Lamb, M.E., 2014. Adoptive gay father families: Parentchild relationships and children's psychological adjustment.Child Development,85(2), pp.456-468. 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