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...