Now, I will explain the information about the nature to understand my articles. In psychology, nature is defined that human development is determined by his DNA. The coding of genes determines the different traits that we have, more dominantly on the physical attributes like eye color, hair color, ear size, height, and other traits. However, psychologists still didn't recognize whether the more abstract attributes like personality, intelligence, sexual orientation is from the nature(Sarah Mae Sincero (Sep 16, 2012). Nature and Nurture Debate). Even if psychologists still didn't recognize whether the more abstract attributes, there is a example supported the nature theory. For instance, There are studies that the genetic and environmental influences on Childhood obesity. A systematic review of twin and adoption studies(K. Silventoinen, B. Rokholm, J. Kaprio, The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies, 15 September 2009) is researched by K. Silventoinen, B. Rokholm, J. Kaprio. In their systematic review, They identified nine twin and five adoption studies; all of these studies had used relative weight as an indicator of obesity. Through their meta analysis of these twin studies, they said, "Genetic factors had a strong effect on the variation of body mass index (BMI) at all ages. The common environmental factors showed a substantial effect in mid-childhood, but this effect disappeared at adolescence. Adoption studies supported the role of family environment in childhood obesity as correlations were found between adoptees and adoptive parents; however, correlations were substantially stronger between parents and their biological offspring, further supporting the importance of genetic factors."
From now on, I will explain the narration for the nurture theory. Sarah Mae Sincero says, "The nurture theory holds that the environmental factors are the real origins of our behavior. This includes the use of conditioning in order to induce a new behavior to a child, or alter an unlikely behavior being shown by the child(Sarah Mae Sincero (Sep 16, 2012). Nature and Nurture Debate).
Here is one of social learning theories. It is not only the example for the narration of nurture, but also my first contention. Albert Bandura (1977) states, behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. Bandura (1977) argued that humans are active information processors and think about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the famous bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961). Individuals that are observed are called models. In society children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. Theses models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate, e.g. masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social etc. Children pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behavior. At a later time they may imitate (i.e. copy) the behavior they have observed. They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is ‘gender appropriate’ or not but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for its sex. First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar to itself. Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people of the same sex. Second, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with either reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a model’s behavior and the consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behavior. If parent sees a little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are”, this is rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behavior. Her behavior has been reinforced (i.e. strengthened). Reinforcement can be external or internal and can be positive or negative. If a child wants approval from parents or peers, this approval is an external reinforcement, but feeling happy about being approved of is an internal reinforcement. A child will behave in a way which it believes will earn approval because it desires approval. Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement offered externally does not match with an individual's needs. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a change in a person's behavior. Third, the child will also take into account of what happens to other people when deciding whether or not to copy someone’s actions. This is known as vicarious reinforcement. This relates to attachment to specific models that possess qualities seen as rewarding. Children will have a number of models with whom they identify. These may be people in their immediate world, such as parents or elder siblings, or could be fantasy characters or people in the media. The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have a quality which the individual would like to possess. Identification occurs with another person (the model) and involves taking on (or adopting) observed behaviors, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with whom you are(identifying.http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html). Albert Bandura, one of the greatest psychologists, argued that the nurture has more influenced to the human behavior. Bobo doll experiments supported not only his arguments, but also my arguments.
Secondly, Mencius' story confirms my argument through the real example. There was a Mencius and his mother. They were living in the near around the common grave. Mencius who has no friend to play with, played holding funerals, which was seen by him. His mother observing this situation decided to move to a market, because the situation is not proper for his life style. Then, He tried to play selling the products, following the merchants or businessman trading with the people. His mother also decided to move, realizing that this place is not good to live. In this time, she decided to move to where is near the school(seodang). In the place to which they had moved, Mencius started to learn the tradition of courtesy and ancestral rites and the way of studying or bowing. When watching him, His mother realized that this place which is around the school is the best place to grow him up. This story suggest that the place is influencing the humans' behaviors.
A word of criminal also confirm my argument. Shinchangwon(신창원) is a criminal who is killed 7 people. He said, " Nation use a lot of money and armies to catch me, but, there is a way not to make me like this. When I studied in elementary school, My class teacher said that you don't have to study, if you don't have enough money, shut up and go away. Since my teacher said like that, in my mind, the evils started to appear. If the teacher gives me the love, I won't be here." It means that nurture changes him. When I read this, I realized that negative environments make person bad. However, there is a positive impacts of nurture. There are a lot of people that success from bottom to the top. Even if they are suffered by poverty, they tried a lot to escape the poverty rather than to give up. In addition, There are a lot of underground musicians who just like the music. Although they have no money to eat and make musics, no fame and even no place to sing, they didn't stop their music life. Their environments are bad, but, through out their conditions, they tried hard to live or earn money. Through these supports, It is proved that Nurture plays more important role in shaping human behavior and characteristic.
A systematic review of twin and adoption studies(K. Silventoinen, B. Rokholm, J. Kaprio, The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies, 15 September 2009) is researched by K. Silventoinen, B. Rokholm, J. Kaprio. In their systematic review, They identified nine twin and five adoption studies; all of these studies had used relative weight as an indicator of obesity. Through their meta analysis of these twin studies, they said, "Genetic factors had a strong effect on the variation of body mass index (BMI) at all ages. The common environmental factors showed a substantial effect in mid-childhood, but this effect disappeared at adolescence. Adoption studies supported the role of family environment in childhood obesity as correlations were found between adoptees and adoptive parents; however, correlations were substantially stronger between parents and their biological offspring, further supporting the importance of genetic factors." This is the refutation for my argument. However, This has a flaw that the common environmental factors' effects disappeared at adolescence. The common environmental factors didn't disappear, It is just internalized by the other environments. It seems like disappeared, such as adaptation for the MCH.
Perhaps one of the challenges to discussing this topic is how to prove that the nurture plays more important role in shaping human behavior and characteristic. There is a related theory that proves my argument. Bandura's (1977) social learning theory states that aggression is a learnt from the environment through observation and imitation. This is seen in his famous bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961). This saying refers to the legend that Mencius's mother moved house three times before finding a location that she felt was suitable for the child's upbringing. As an expression, the idiom refers to the importance of finding the proper environment for raising children. Shinchangwon(신창원) is a criminal who is killed 7 people. He said, " Nation use a lot of money and armies to catch me, but, there is a way not to make me like this. When I studied in elementary school, My class teacher said that you don't have to study, if you don't have enough money, shut up and go away. Since my teacher said like that, in my mind, the evils started to appear. If the teacher gives me the love, I won't be here." It means that nurture changes him. Through this supports, I think that nurture plays more important role in shaping human behavior and characteristic.
Bibliography
- http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
- http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1168439&cid=40942&categoryId=32972
- http://blog.naver.com/ddoo97/90102343712
- http://www.simplypsychology.org/naturevsnurture.html
- https://explorable.com/nature-vs-nurture-debate
- http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
- http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v34/n1/abs/ijo2009177a.html
