The Nurture Assumption Essay Example for Free

The Nurture Assumption EssayI have al charges held the belief that Nature v Nurture is not a zero-sum game. To steal a line from T. S. Elliots The Hollow Men, I believe humans are born into this world a shape without form. That shape, of course, is our nature the sum of our inheritable make-up and natural tendencies based on some combination of predisposition and innate sense of self. The form, then, necessarily reflects our experiences and the way those have restructured our self. The nurture of our mind, particularly at a young age, is instrumental in providing depth and context to our natural shape.Both aspects of our self are complimentary. except like we are unable to understand shape without the context of form, we are similarly unable to understand humans without an understanding in the dynamic of two nature and nurture expressed through our behavior, desires, and interactions. Raising a virtual child did not change my initial thoughts on the collaborative importanc e of nature vs. nurture. However, I was curious to see what my child, Chase, would be like at 18, and so I answered each question thoughtfully based on what would be vanquish for him.The feedback about Chase provided substantial evidence to backup my nature vs. nurture belief. The influence of nature on Chases development was evident in several life stages throughout the program. To begin, the assessments in Chases life revealed above average performances in multiple subject areas. This advanced state in development is a common result of a psychological perspective called the Core Knowledge Perspective. This states that infants are born with innate special purpose association systems, which results in rapid earliest development.In the virtual child program, Chase was, advanced in his gross and fine motor skills and seemed to have little goals that obscure two steps of planning ahead. On the flip side, after the positive feedback in specific areas, nurture highly influenced addi tional development in those areas. By choosing answers like, encourage Chase to point to toys that are out of reach so you can get them for him, and encourage Chase to keep trying when there is an blockage you know he can overcome, his development is influenced by my decisions and nurturing.Chase was also above average in the language development area. Multiple early childhood development specialist assessed Chase and they determined that he was at a higher level in language development than his fellow peers. many of their notes included statements like, Chases language skills are developing rapidly and he scored in the above average range on tests of language comprehension and production, and provided unusually sweep through and grammatically mature sentences he seems to know an unusual number of names for things. Chases language development can be characterized by a psychological study called, Multiple Theories of Language Development. The combination of the Interactionist Theo ry and Behaviorist Theory combine the following influences on language development inner capacities, the environment, and tender context. Therefore, I can conclude that Chases advanced language development is a result of influences from two, nature (inner capacities), and nurture (environmental social). Chase showed signs of adherence to me and I immediately began several intervention strategies in order to prevent a serious attachment issue in the future.Attachment is an innate survival utensil and is a system used to control things such as proximately, security, and emotional regulation. Thus it is obvious that attachment is determined through nature. However, studies have shown that children subject to feelings of attachment often have long term effects on behavioral characteristics like temper and communication. Chase was showing signs of attachment by reacting negatively in situations of separation. He was hesitant to part with both, my partner and I, and he started cryin g immediately after the handover at the daycare.Moreover, this behavior is linked to the sensitivity and responsiveness of the mother/ primary care provider and is collinear to the influence of nurture. Lastly, Chase had a larger than life personality he was very extroverted, and had a natural curiosity about him. His personality was influenced by the mutualistic relationship between nature and nurture. A specific focus on the science behind Chases temperament revealed a foundation of nature. The genetic contributors can be described as the Biological Basis for Temperament. Chase is characterized as uninhibited and outgoing, which is determined by obtaining qualities such as positive reactions and uprise to new stimuli, low heart rates, stress hormones and symptoms, and higher left hemisphere frontal cortex activity. In addition, temperament is also influenced by nurture. Therefore, his outgoing personality is the result of many factors like, his environment, relationships with fa mily members, non-family peers, and etc. He was described as, very outgoing and friendly with new people, having several good friends and gets invited to parties, and one of the most outgoing and popular seniors at the school. I tried to choose answers that introduced Chase to new situations and people. Consequently, nurture also played a significant role in establishment Chases outgoing temperament. In conclusion, my previous thoughts about the influence of nature vs. nurture on human development go unchanged. As mentioned above, both aspects of our self are complimentary. Just like we are unable to understand shape without the context of form. The only change that may have occurred from the Virtual peasant program is the reinforcement of my initial understanding of nature vs. nurture.