Nature vs. Nurture: Psychological Aspects of Nature and Nurture

Psychological aspects of nature and nurture:
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Psychological aspects of nature and nurture
The human perspective that characteristics and appearances are influenced by either genetic inheritance, biological factors or external factors such as the environment of upbringing have been in the limelight for debate and discussion for a long time. In the viewpoints of McLeod (2007), nature is what we perceive as pre-wiring and is dictated upon by genetic inheritance and other biological inputs such hormonal and neurochemical influences on behavior. Nurture, on the other hand, consists of external factors that affect a person after conception for example experience or exposure (Moore, 2013). Both aspects of nature and nurture contribute to human behavior. Moore (2013) points out that, nature and nurture are not oppositional elements influencing human development but rather, they are contributory factors that constitute who humans are. As much as they are not conflicting factors, neither can be used in place of the other. Nature and nurture each plays a complementary role to the other. Pinker (2004) clearly explains that nature and nurture are not alternatives to each other. Learning as proposed by nurture is also a component of the innate mechanism where information is taken in and transformed into new thoughts and ideas. Pinker (2004), acknowledges the importance of learning and culture as presented by both the nurture and nature debates. He further explains that learning must incorporate both imitation and innate learning mechanisms.
Individuals who adopt complete hereditary ideologies base their arguments on the assumption that characteristics and traits are results of evolution and that individual differences are a consequence of the uniqueness in genetic coding. McLeod (2007), further explains that the likeliness of a characteristic to be influenced by genetic factors is dependent on the particular stage of the appearance of that ability. The earlier a given ability appears, the more likely it is to be orchestrated by genetics. Traits such as eye color, pigmentation, and susceptibility to certain diseases, height, hair loss and gender are directly influenced by genetic inheritance. This genetic evidence leads to speculations as to whether psychological characteristics such as cognitive abilities and behavior are directly linked to genetic inheritance (McLeod, 2007)
Similarly, nurture is based on a fundamental assumption that at birth the human mind is a blank slate, and it gradually fills as a result of experience and behaviorism (Pinker, 2004). In general, this blank slate theory is based on the central idea of learning. In the standpoints of McLeod (2007), how an individual was brought up oversees significant psychological aspects of an infant's development. Cognitive abilities, in the blank slate theory, depend on the level of stimulation in the environment and civilization under which the child is brought up. Examples of nurture-influenced characteristics include language learning through imitation.
On the nature side of view developmental aspects such as language is gained through the use of an innate mechanism called the language acquisition device (LAD). This theory occurs in stages ranging from the ability to distinguish, organize and evaluate speech sounds to differentiating good and bad linguistic systems. According to Pinker (2004), language is a uniquely human talent. He further explains that language is not a given fixed catalog of sentences but rather a larger algorithm which allows a greater number of different new thoughts to be expressed. On the nurture side of view, language is learned through imitation and learning. They argue that children adopted, at a younger age to guardians speaking a different language from the biological parents, tend to learn the new language. The environment the child is reared in with considerations of factors such as language shapes the particular characteristic that the child exhibits. Moore (2013) points out that sometimes humans do not understand how traits develop. He further explains that as much as nativists believe that language is influenced by inheritance, it is affected more by nurture. Moving an infant to a French-speaking society will manipulate the language of the child, the child will grow up appreciating French. According to Moore (2013), this language manipulation is only possible if explanations are based on nurture otherwise, the language will not be influenced.
Another important aspect of comparing nature and nature is intelligence quotient testing. The cognitive abilities are arguably related to nature and nature. McLeod (2007) explains a disparity in intelligence quotient tests being attributed to nature and the argument the nurturists present to defend their cause. The findings of the American psychologist Arthur Jenson about the average IQs of black Americans being significantly lower than that of the Americans brought an uproar of debates questioning the validity of the f...