20117 이준우 Confirmation

1. What is my thesis?

 I think that Nurture plays more important role in shaping human behavior and characteristic.

2. What types of source am I using to defend my thesis? 

I am using expert opinions, a theory and psychological examples.

3. Are my arguments mostly based on evidence, logic or emotion?

I think that my argument has a lot of evidence. I think it is fine. In addition, my argument has no emotion.

My Confirmation

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). Also Skinner (1957) believed that language is learnt from other people via behavior shaping techniques.

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.

This story confirm my argument through the real example. 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. Mencius's father died when he was very young. His mother raised her son alone. They were very poor. At first they lived by a cemetery, where the mother found her son imitating the paid mourners in funeral processions. Therefore the mother decided to move. The next house was near a market in the town. There the boy began to imitate the cries of merchants (merchants were despised in early China). So the mother moved to a house next to a school. Inspired by the scholars and students, Mencius began to study. His mother decided to remain, and Mencius became a scholar. This story means that nurture is more influenced than the nature.

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. 
Through these supports, It is proved that Nurture plays more important role in shaping human behavior and characteristic.