Nature Vs Nurture Debate: Nurture Affects Cognitive Development As Compared To Nature

Nature vs nurture has a critical role in shaping how individuals think and perceive things in the environment. In this perspective, nature represents the behaviors that are inherited from the parent to the offspring while nurture refers to the environment in which a person has been brought up.

Both the environment and inherited behavior through genes have an influence in determining the kind of person one will become in the future (Plomin, and McClearn, 1993). The combination of the two determinants of personality traits is a key aspect in studying and understanding behavior, behavior patterns, and lifespan development in society. It should be noted that learning how people behave the way they do is very integral in providing solutions that people may encounter as they grow by eradicating some of the environmental experiences that may affect the behavior of an individual.

Also, the study of nature and nurture is vital in understanding the collective role of the environment and genes in shaping the behavior of people in society. Some of the natural factors include characteristics of a certain personality and physical appearance among others.

On the other hand, nurture factors involve surrounding cultures, childhood experiences, upbringing, and social relationships. The study of the two implies that it is must that nature vs nurture holds that it is very difficult to separate the environment and genetics when trying to understand how people behave in contemporary society.

However, it should be noted that the environment or nature varies from one region to the other depending on culture, climate religion, and other social and environmental aspects that determent how a person will think and approach various aspects that need his attention in society (Plomin, and McClearn, 1993). This paper argues that nurture has a big role in determining cognitive development as compared to nature.

According to Jean Piaget, the Theory of Cognitive Development, children are perceived to go through four different stages that influence their mental development. In the four stages, Piaget explores how a child can acquire knowledge as well as identifying their nature of intelligence. The first stage is called the sensorimotor stage, which starts from birth to two years old (Huitt and Hummel, 2003).

Sensorimotor simply implies that the child employs the use of his senses as he interacts with the environment. For instance, the kid can touch, smell, bang, and taste by getting everything the touch to the mouth. The second stage is referred to as the preoperational stage and ranges from age 2 to age 7.

At this stage, the child has some understanding of the environment and can be able to talk. The kid at the second stage can also play around with symbols and manipulate them through the kid has not developed enough logic. In this regard, the kids cannot provide their individual opinion over a person or an issue because the brain is still growing at that second stage. In terms of symbols, a kid can identify people like “mummy” and “daddy” and the roles that each plays in the environment.

Up to this stage, it can be noted that the type of environment will critically determine how a child will behave in the future, for instance, if a child understands that the dad is a smoker, he might grow up believing that one has to smoke in order to be a dad. The third stage of mental development is the concrete operational stage that starts from age 7 up to age 11. In this stage, the kid has rational and concrete thinking hence the beginning of logical thinking among the kids (Huitt and Hummel, 2003).

Depending on the type of environment, a child at the third stage can identify and use numbers, understand the issue of class inclusion, calculate area and volume among other things. The formal operational stage is the fourth and last stage in mental development, which starts from age 12 and above. In the last stage, one can think more in advance and solve complicated issues.

Based on the theory of cognitive development, all the aspects of mental growth have been associated with the environment (Huitt and Hummel, 2003). From the first stage, one can point out that nurture will highly determine how the kid will grow. For example, if a kid is introduced to eating a certain type of food, he will grow up having in mind that is the only type of food that should be taken.

As well, if a child is brought up in a very violent environment, it is likely that the child will be violent when grows up because society has taught him nothing but violence (Plomin, and McClearn, 1993). However, nature cannot be ruled out completely because the growth of the mind depends on the genes of a person, which go along when explaining how some individuals find it easy to solve problems in society as compared to others.

John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory asserts that the bond formed between a parent, or a caregiver and a child in the environment has a central role in influencing the behavior of a child in the future. The essence is that kids learn first from who taught them when they are young and carry the behavior to adulthood (Bretherton, 1992).

The case of Beth Thomas (child of rage) is a reflection of how the bond between the kid and caregiver can affect the behavior of a child in the future. After a critical evaluation of Beth, a child that was adopted by a pastor and his wife, the adoptive parents were confused about the kind of behavior that the child was developing. The six-year-old girl was becoming so violent to a pointing where she wanted to harm her brother and everyone with sharp objects such as a knife.

The child was diagnosed with psychopathy and Reactive Detachment Disorder (RAD). Continued investigation on the cause of the disorder established that Beth was brought up by a single father after the death of her mother when she was one year old. The father was bringing them to a harsh environment where they were beaten and tortured together with her brother. She encountered neglect, torture as well sexual abuse when she was only 19-months old something which brought forth her unpleasant childhood experience.

Due to a lack of a good and loving environment during childhood, Beth developed a Reactive Detachment Disorder (Thomas, Thomas, and Thomas, 2010). The disorder causes mental trauma to a child as he grows to adulthood hence resulting in violent behaviors. The implication is that the environment remains the central point of reference in determining how individuals will perceive the world and interact with others in society regardless of the genes they inherited from their parents.

Conversely, how an individual behaves as he interacts with the environment depends on the types of characteristics inherited in the genes. For instance, the way one looks might define how he will blend with the environment as far as getting the experience is concerned (Bretherton, 1992). Adaptability and flexibility in the environment hugely depend on genetics hence it cannot be fair enough to credit the environment on how mental development growth takes place, and how it determines the eventual behavior and thinking of individuals in the society.

Nature vs nurture is an important beat in psychology that has helped in understanding behavior and behavior patterns in society. As much as one can ascertain that the environment has a central role in shaping how people think and perceive the world, it is important to point out the relevance of the genetics that has facilitated individuals with features that enable them to adapt to the environment. Thinking and perception of issues in contemporary society primarily rely on learning, which can be done mostly through experience and training.

Hence, kids who grow up in happy and caring family will end up being caring people in the future whereas those who have been brought up in a chaotic environment ends up being violent because of the trauma that has developed in them as they grow up. Essentially, people should try as much as possible to understand both nature and nature and how they influence society to be able to control some negative behaviors that can result from childhood trauma, or even reduces cases of child abuse.

References

Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental psychology, 28(5), 759.

Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (2003). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Educational psychology interactive, 3(2), 1-5.

Plomin, R. E., & McClearn, G. E. (1993). Nature, nurture & psychology (pp. xvi-498). American Psychological Association.

Thomas, N. L., Thomas, T., & Thomas, B. (2010). Dandelion on my pillow, Butcher knife beneath: The true story of an amazing family that lived with and loved kids who killed. Families by Design.