nature versus nurture
The nature versus nurture debate involves a discussion of whether the behavior of human beings is decided by the environment they inhabit during their life or by the genes of the person and is a highly discussed topic among scholars. Both nature and nurture contribute greatly to the behaviors of human beings. Nature refers to the genes and hereditary issues that influence what human beings are as per the physical appearance and personal characteristics whereas nurture refers to the environmental factors that influence the behaviors of the human beings including how they are raised as well as social and cultural surroundings and are learned as people grow and mostly all about survival for the strongest species.
Nature and nurture influence human development in different ways which are evident in the way of living of the people. Such ways include the education sector as well as healthcare and medicine. The environment in which people live in and their genes contribute to the education level. Healthcare and medical research are greatly influenced by nature and nurture. Love and affection are contributed to by the environment in which an individual is brought up. if the person is not showing love they tend not to be affectionate in the future. The mental and physical health of a person is greatly influenced by nature. If there is a history of a mentally challenged person in the family there is a high possibility that a person in the family is most likely to suffer the same disorder. The genetic disposition of criminality and addiction and abuse is can be traced back to the family history of a person and this is a result of nature.
While most behaviors of a person are influenced by the genetics of the person environmental factors also equally contribute to such behaviors. The heredity behaviors and the environment work together to determine the traits that children grow to have. I believe that aggression is greatly a learned behavior since it is greatly influenced by observations from the social and cultural surroundings of a person. Aggression refers to a behavior that is meant to cause harm to another individual. For example, children learn some behaviors from their parents and adults that they interact with since they mostly imitate what the adults do. Findings show that children who grow around aggressive people tend to grow to be aggressive too. For them not to be aggressive they have should observe the behavior of adults being peaceful hence the children will mimic the behavior or the adults and be peaceful in return. According to Bandura’s social learning theory, children tend to have aggressive behaviors due to the aggressive and violent behaviors due to the content they watch in the televisions and movies and their peers. Exposure to aggressive behaviors exposes children to the chances of aggressiveness. Children who experience violence from their parents or witness their siblings being violated tend to expose the same violence to their partners or children in the future.
This experiment on the children is a good example of the influence of the environment on the behaviors of human beings since it clearly shows the influence the surrounding has on children. The experience clearly shows the impact of the surroundings on the way children behave. According to the experiment children in a friendly environment tend to grow up with peaceful traits unlike those that are brought up in an aggressive environment who grow up to be violent. The experiment causes fear to children whose parents or guardians have aggressive behaviors since it shows that the children grow up to be like them and which might not be the case in some instances.
Conclusion
Biological and environmental factors play an important role in the way people behave. Children exhibit different behaviors according to the interactions and experiences during their growing up.