Module 3: Issues on Human

Development
Brenda B. Corpuz, PhD

The interaction of heredity and

environment is so extensive that to ask which
is more important, nature or nurture, is

asking which is more important to a

rectangle, height or width.

Wiliam Greenough
Activity:
Small Group Debate
Topics/ Issues:
1. Nature versus Nurture: Which has a more significant influence
of human development? Nature or Nurture? Nature refers to an
individual's biological inheritance. Nurture to environmental
experiences.
2. Continuity versus Discontinuity: Does development involve
gradual, cumulative change (continuity) or distinct changes
(discontinuity). To make it more concrete,here is a question:
Is our development like that of a seedling gradually growing
into an acacia tree? Or it is more of a caterpillar becoming a
butterfly?
3. Stability versus Change: Is our development best described as
involving stability or as involving change? Are we what our first
experiences have made of us or do we develop into someone
different from who we were at an earlier point in
development.
Analysis:
After every small group presentation to the whole
class, the teacher facilitates the whole class
discussion and asksthe following:
1. Who are-pro nature" Pro nurture? Are there
additional reasons you can give in favor of nature
and nurture? Who are neither for nature nor
nurture? Why?
2. Who go to continuity? Discontinuity? Can you can
additional arguments to defend continuity
discontinuity? Who are in between continuity and
discontinuity? Why?
3. Who claims stability is more correct than change?
Change is more corect that stability?
Abstraction:
The presented can be translated into
issues
questions that have sparked animated debate
among developmentalists. Are girls less likely todo
well in math because int their 'feminine' nature or
because of society's masculine' bias? How
extensivelycan the elderly be trained to reason
more effectively? How much, if at all, does our
memory decline in old age? Can techniques be used
to prevent or reduce the decline? For children who
experienced a world of poverty, neglect by
parents, and poor schooling in childhood, can
enriched experiences in adolescence remove the
'deficits' that they encountered earlier in their
development (Santrock, 2002)?
•Naturereers to allof the genes and heraditary factors that influence who we
are from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics.
Neare Ntt
•Nurture refers to all the envitonnental vaiables that impuct who we are,
including our early childhood experiences, how we were raised. our social
relationships, and our surrounding cuture.

A Closer Look at the Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Do genetic or environmental factors have a greater influence on your
behavior? Do inherited traits or life experiences play a greater role in
shaping your personality? The nature versus nurture debate is one of
the oldest issues npsychology. The debate centers on the relative
contributions of genetis inheritance and environmental factors to
human development.
Some phlosophers such as and Descartes suggested that
Plato
certain things are inborn, or that they occur naturally regardless of
environmental influences. Nativists take the position that all or most
behaviors and characteristics are the results of inheritance.

Advocates of this point of view believe that all of our

character'stics and behaviors are the result of evolution. Genetlc
traits handed down from parents influence the individual differences
that make each person unique.
 Other well-known thinkers such as John Locke
belicved in what is known as tabula rasa, which

suggests that the mind beginsasa blank slate, According

to this notion, everything that we are and all of our
knowledge is determined by our experience.
Empiricists take the position that all or most
behaviors and characteristics result from learning.

Behaviorism is a good example of a

theory rooted in
empiricism. The behaviorists believe that allactions and

behaviors are the results of conditioning.Theorists such

as Lohn B.Watsn believed that people could be trained
to do and become anything, regardless of their genetic
background.
 Examples of Nature vs. Nurture
For example,when a person achieves tremendous academiesuccess.did
they do so because they are genctically predisposed to be successful or is it

result of an enriched cnvironment? Ifa man abuses his wife and kids, is it

because hc was born with violent tendencies or is it something he learned

by observing his own parent's behavior?

A few examples of biologically determined characteristics

(nature)include certain genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and
skin color. Other things like life expectancy and height have a
strong biological component, but they are also influenced by
environmental factors and lifestyle.

An example of a nativist theory within psychology is Chomsky's

concept of a language acquisition device (or LAD). According to
this theory, all children are born with an instinctive mental
capacity that allows them to both learn and produce 3uage.
 Some characteristics are tied to environmental influcnces. How
a person behaves can be linked to influences such as parenting

sIyles and learned expericnces. For example, a child might learn

through observation and reinforcement to say 'please and 'thank

you.! Another child might leam to behave aggressively by

observing older children engage in violent behavior on the
playground.

One example of an empiricist theory within psychology

is Albert Bandura's social learning theory. According to the
theory, people learn byobserving
the behavior of others.
In his famous Bobo doll experiment,Bandura demonstrated
that children could learn aggressive behaviors simply by
observing another person acting aggressively.
 How Nature and Nurture Interact
What roseaehers do know is that the interaction betwen heredity and environment is often
the most important actor of all. Kevin Davies of PBSS Noudeserihed e fascinating
Ssamplçofthis phenomenon.
Perfet pitch is the ability to deted the piteh of u musical tone without any referene.
Researchers hove found thar this ability tends to run in familis and belicve that t might be tied to

a single genc. Ilowever, they've also discovered that possessing the gene alone is not enough to
develop this ability. Instead. musscal training during ealy childhood is necessary to allow this
inherited ability to manifest itself?

lHeight isanother example ofa trait that is inluenced by rsature and nurture interaction. A
child might come from a family where everyoe is tall. and he may have inherited these genes for

height. kowever. if he grows up in n deprived envircmment where he decs not receive ropr
nourishment. lhe might never atain the height he might have hnd he grown up in a healthier
cnvironmcnt.

There are two effecttve ways to study nature-nurture.

Twin studies: ldentical twins have the same genotype, and fraternal twins have an
average of 50%of their genes incommon.

Adoption studies: Similarities with the biological failysupport nature, while

similarities with the adoptive family support nurt
 Normativedevclopmentis typically viewed
continual and cumulative process. The continuity
view says that change is gradual. Children become
more skillful in thinking,talking or acting much the
same way as they get taller.

This iscspecially apparent in observable skills

that are often learned through the trial and ero
method, such as learning to walk or eat with
utensils.

Developmentalists who advocate

the continuous model describe development as a
relativelysmooth process, without sharp or distinct
stages, through which an individual must pass.

For example,a chíldlearns to crawt, and then

to stand and then to walk. They are gradually
learning how to walk. Its Just ike hiking the
mountain path: a slow, steady ascent that leads to
the top.
 The diseontinuity view sees development as more abrupt-a succession of
changes that produce different beluviors in different age-specific life periods
called stages. Biologial changes provide the potential for these changes.
We often hear peple taking about children going through "stages in life
(i.c. "sensori-motor stnge."). These are called developmental stagesperiods
of life initiated by distinct transitions in pbysical or psychölogieal
funtioning. Psyehologists of the discontinuty view believe that people go
through the same stages, in the same order, but not necessarily at the same
rate. However, ifa person misses a stage it can have lasting consequences.
The discontinulty view of development believes that people pass
through stages of life that are qualitatively different from each other. For
example, children go from only being able to think In very literal terms
being able to think abstractly. They have moved into the 'abstract thinking
phase of thelr lives. As you can imagine, discontinuous development ts like
walking up the stars: a series of stages, or steps, that get you to the top of
the mountain.
Meanwhile, supporters of the discontinuous model describe
development as a series of discrete stages, each of which is characterized
by at least one task that an individual must accomplish before progressing
to the next stage.
Stability vs. Change

Stability implies personality traits present during

infancy endure throughout the lifespan. In contrast,
change theorists argue that personalities are
modified by interactions with family,experiences at
school, andacculturation.

This capacity for change is called plasticity. For

example, Rutter (1981) discovered than somber
babies living in understaffed orphanages often
become cheerful and affectionate when placed in
socially stimulating adoptive homes.
Stability vs. Change

Stability Change
The belicf that personality • Personalities arc modified
traits developcd in the first 5 through interations with
years predict adult
family,experiences at
personality.
school, and aceulturation.
Soe aspctts of
temperament, such as cnergy •Social attitudesusually
level and outgoingness ,secm change a great deal from
relatively stable childhood to adulthood.
Example: A young child that
isshy will remain shy through
adulthood.
 Based on the presentations, each one has his/ her
explanations for her/his stand of developmental issues.
What is the right answer? Up to this time, the debate
continues. Researches are on-going.
But let me tell you that most life-span developmentalists
recognize that extreme positions on these issues are unwise.
Development is not all nature or all nurture, not all
continuity or discontinuity,and not all stability or allchange
(Lerner, 1998 as quoted by Santrock,2002).
Both nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity,
stability and change characterize our life-span development.
..The key to development is the interaction of nature and
nurture rather than either factor alone (Rutter, 2001 as
quoted by Santrock, 2002).
In other words, it is a matter of "both-and" not
"either-or". Just go back to the quote beneath the title of
this lesson and the message gets crystal clear.
 To summarize, both genes and environment are necessary
for a personeven toexist. Without genes,there is no person;
without environment, there is no person (Scarr Weinberg, 1980,
quoted by Santrock,2002). Heredity and environment operate
together- or cooperate and interact - to produce a person's
intelligence, temperanent, height, weight.. ability to read and
SO on.
If heredity and environment, interact,, which one has a
greater influence or contribution, heredity or environment? The
relative contributions of heredity and environment are not
additive. So we can't say 50% is acontribution of heredity and
50% of environment. Neither it is correct to say that full genetic
expression happens once, around conception or birth, after
which we take our genet iclegacy into the world tosee how far
it gets us. Genes produce proteins throughout the life span, in

many different environments. Or they don't produce these

proteins, depending on how harsh or nourishing those
environments are (Santrock, 2002).
THANK
YOU!