Development Across the Life Span: Nature versus Nurture Barry University What is Nature versus Nurture? Development across the lifespan is one of the most interesting areas of psychology. The word development refers to human development which can be defined as “the scientific study of changes that occur in people as they age from conception until death. ” (Ciccarelli, & White, 2009)Psychologists study this developmental change over time through several different methods. The book highlights three: Longitudinal design, cross-sectional design and cross-sequential design.
Longitudinal design is a research design “in which one participant or group of participants is studied over a long period of time. ” Cross sectional design differs from longitudinal design because cross-sectional designed research studies “several different age-groups of participants are studied at one particular time. ” (Ciccarelli, & White)Cross-sequential designed research is a combination of the other two types; the cross-sequential research design studies participants by means of a cross-sequential design but they are also followed and assessed for a period of time no more than six years.A controversial topic associated with development across the lifespan is the theory of “Nature versus Nurture”. Nature versus nurture refers to the relationship between development and heredity and environmental factors.
The answer lies on a spectrum between environmental factors and heredity. Psychologists on the environmental side are called empiricists. Empiricists believe that human development is fully influenced by a person’s environment. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the nativists.
Nativists are psychologists that believe a person’s development is based completely on genetic factors.The facts are divided in relation to the two theories; on one hand our DNA is “the instruction for all of an organisms traits” (Ciccarelli, & White, 2009). The DNA of a person is determined by their set of genes. The Dominant genes determine which traits a person will have including skin color, eye color, hair color and things of that nature. Also temperament is well established at birth. Temperament can be defined as the behavioral characteristics that are fairly well established at birth, such as easy, difficult, and slow to warm up.
But nvironmental factors play a role in social aspects of development, such as gender development. Take into example the Social Learning Theory. The social learning theory emphasizes learning through observation and imitation of models; gender role development is the cause of those processes. Children make observations about their parents and mimic their behavior, such as a son helping his dad mow the lawn. This behavior is reinforced positively if the behavior satisfies the correct gender role, since the son is helping his dad with mowing the lawn he will most likely be rewarded.However if the young boy was helping his mother try on women’s clothes the behavior would most likely be discouraged.
Another theory that supports the influence of environmental factors on development is The Gender Schema Theory. The Gender Schema theory is a “Theory of gender identity acquisition in which a child develops a mental pattern, or schema, for being male or female and then organizes observed and learned behavior around that schema. ” (Ciccarelli, & White, 2009) Today most psychologist hold less radical beliefs; a person’s development is based both on environmental and genetic factors.Psychologists continue to investigate this relationship in the field of “Evolutionary developmental Psychology”. Homosexuality and Intelligence After many years and countless studies, finding a simple explanation for many controversial topics has proven to be unrealistic and impossible. With such complex subjects, there is ongoing debate about the root causes and factors that contribute to human minds, bodies, and emotions.
Doctors and researchers have various theories regarding the affects behind human development.In the cases of sexuality and intelligence, the debate between nature and nurture has become significant. Because most can agree that there is an array of causes leading to gender identity, roles, and sexuality, it is often determined that gender and sexual preferences are a result of both nature and nurture. In terms of nature, biological conditions, such as complications during pregnancy or chemical imbalances, have been associated with homosexuality.
Nature and nurture are both extremely important during crucial stages of human development, specifically when identifying gender roles and sexuality.When studying nurture, homosexuality has been linked with child abuse. In studies of physical abuse in children, gay and lesbian individuals were more likely to report former abuse than heterosexuals. In one study, seventeen percent of gay and lesbian participants reported abuse, while only twelve percent of straight participants were determined to be abused as children.
(Saewyc, Bearinger, Blum, and Resnick, 1999) Even in families, homosexuals were found to be abused worse than their straight siblings as children. (Tjaden, Thoennes, and Allison, 1999)While some are able to overcome the abuse endured as children, many are left with trauma as adults. Though it is difficult to determine a definite outcome of former physical abuse, there is an obvious connection between childhood experiences and sexual preference as adults. Through these studies, it becomes clear that nurture plays a strong role in the psychological development of human beings. Not only does the environment of a child affect their sexual preference, but biological and natural factors are also significant.It has been found that enhanced levels of estrogen in a woman during pregnancy may cause homosexuality in a boy.
Furthermore, when a mother gives birth to more than one boy, the chance of the child becoming a homosexual increases. Because boys have a higher level of testosterone, the mother is left with extra estrogen after giving birth. Therefore, as a mother has less testosterone with each baby boy, there is a higher chance that subsequent children will also have extra estrogen, leading to homosexuality.Questions regarding intelligence and IQ are similar to homosexuality in regards to the nature versus nurture debate. While some things will obviously affect intelligence, many surprising and subtle factors also contribute to how well a person may score on an IQ test. Number of siblings, years of schooling, family economic status, and self confidence are only examples of the many factors, considered to be nurturing, that affect intelligence and IQ.
When a family has only one hild, they are able to put more effort and attention into the development of that child. Furthermore, they have more financial opportunities to provide the child with resources for success, which is also true of families who have a higher economic status. Children with higher self-esteem are more willing to ask questions and seek help, which will inevitably improve their level of intelligence. When a child is given love, attention, and adequate nurture they are able to flourish, which will result in higher IQ scores and intelligence.
However, if they are victims of malnourishment, abuse, or neglect, they are not able to reach their potential, resulting in a lower level of intelligence. While nurture is extremely important to IQ, it has been shown that nature is also underlying. Children who have been adopted and separated from their biological parents will often have IQ scores that closely match the scores of their birth mother and father, rather than the scores of their adoptive parents.While a positive experience with an adoptive family can also contribute to the intelligence of a child, it is impossible to ignore the correlations between the biological connections. Sexuality and intelligence are only small parts of the studies of nature versus nurture. Innumerable causes may contribute to the way a child develops, and many questions are still unanswered, allowing room for a wide variety of theories and studies.
However, most can agree that nature and nurture seem to coincide, and significantly contribute to the development of a human being.Twin Studies Nature versus nurture is an ongoing debate. Finding the correct answer is very difficult. There are so many factors that go into the upbringing of children so it is difficult to choose what kinds of characteristics have the greatest influence on people.
One of the best studies that can be done morally is that of finding twins who were separated at birth and studying their characteristics and finding out about information from their past that can be compared. There are two types of twins, monozygotic (identical) twins and dizygotic (fraternal) twins.With monozygotic twins there is only one egg that is fertilized by one sperm but that splits into halves, and each develops into a fetus with identical genetic compositions. Dizygotic twins develop when two eggs are released at once and, two different sperms fertilize them both, so two fetuses form and they are basically ordinary siblings in relation to their genetic composition. Fraternal twins occur twice as often as identical twins.
Twins are very important for developmental psychologists when it comes to studies on the influences of nature and nurture on human development. Ciccarelli, & White, 2009) There are several different views on what causes us to be whom we are when we grow up. Many people think it is dependent only on our genetics, others think it is only dependent on the environment we are raised in and the more popular view now is that it is a balance between the two. Studies on this were done with both fraternal and identical twins. Studies have shown that factors like height are influenced by genetics while other traits like intelligence are more influenced by outside factors including class, family income, and other surrounding factors. article) There have been several twin studies that have been conducted.
One study examined a set of identical twins that were raised separately and did not meet until their late thirties. They shared similar characteristics in relation to personality and temperament, interests and social attitudes. When they were compared to twins who were raised in the same environment, the results were very close to those of twins that were raised together. This does not say that environment has no impact on our development.
