Why did she/he/I do that? One of the major points of this week\'s material on ps

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Why did she/he/I do that? One of the major points of this week's material on psychology is to realize what may go into determining people's and our own behavior at any given time. In other words, we are constantly trying to attribute people's behavior to something. In your readings for the week, the nature/nuture debate is presented. The question is basically to what extent is some aspect of a person determined by genetics and what we inherit (nature) and how much of it is due to environmental influences, how we were raised, what was role modeled for us that we learned through imitation (nuture). Historically scientists/philosophers and the like fell on one side of the argument or the other. Today most psychologists would say that much that we are is a combination of genetic predisposition influenced by our environment. With the basic completion of the Human Genome Project in 2001, more "twin studies" have been done which give us a better idea of the role genetics and the environment play a role in so many areas. For instance, is alcoholism, intelligence, schizophrenia, and so on due to our genes and how much is due to the way we were raised. Is it 50/50, 30/70, 70/30, etc? Well, it depends on the specific quality investigated. You can fairly easily read the results of various studies that have investigate the contributions of each for many aspects that you may interested in. For more information on the debate and twin studies please go to the following link (there are many others): http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm Let's continue this discussion. Given the information in the LEO site, what we have covered thus far, and at least one scholarly, reliable source (which you need to cite in APA form in your discussion post), do you think nature plays a greater role in determining personality and lifestyles than does environment? Why/ why not? After reading the material, please give your current perspective on "why did he/she/I do what he/she/I did? Use at least one reliable, valid, scholarly reference to support your position. Use in-text citation and give the reference in APA format. Later please respond to your peers taking into consideration the minimum number and the due dates. Please be mindful that quality, quantity, and timeliness are all assessed. Thanks.

Explanation / Answer

In my point of view, only physical make-up is made up of the genes and the rest of the individual's personality, attitude, character traits etc. are the result of the environment. This was found in several studies and few even suggest that the influence of genetic make-up may increase the occurrence of a behaviour but it won't prompt a behaviour. Albert Bandura (1977), in his social learning theory suggests that any behaviour can be learnt through imitation which he proved earlier in his famous Boboproved Doll experiment in 1961. Almost all the social learning theorists would suggest the same thing that a person is made up by the person's environmental factors such as, parents, family, relatives, friends and the society as a whole. B.F.Skinner (1957), the father of behaviourism suggests that any person could be conditioned to learn any behaviour or skill including language through operant conditioning.
Whatever background one is born, it depends on the person's surroundings whether they will achieve greatness or not. We had only one Shakespeare, only one Einstein, only one Hitler. None of their heirs achieved or even continued whatever they did. It's also true that a thief's son need not be a thief, an alcoholic's son need not be an alcoholic although the modelling may increase the possibilities that again comes under imitation.

Bandura A (1977) Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
Skinner B F (1957) Verbal behavior. Acton MA: Copley Publishing Groups

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