Category Archives: Nature/Nurture

Observational learning being monitored

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The definition of observational learning is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others.  As a child I was a perfect example of observational learning looking back on it today.  Whether it was being a classic boy and playing army in the back yard, or trying to be the center of attention at family gatherings, the television had a huge impact on how I act due to always wanting to grow up as the superhero, action star, or rugged actor in a movie or TV show.  When it came to violent television shows and video games my family made sure that I knew the consequences and the repercussions to those actions.  As a child you can never fully understand the concept of what happens in violent movies and dying.  Having Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, beating up cops and shooting at whoever was in the way was so exciting to watch, but as a child trying to perceive that people aren’t going to come back after they die is too difficult and too complex of an idea to handle as a kid.

Having my parents monitor how I behave myself after these kinds of movies I believe is a very critical part to growing up. Parents have been alive for much longer and have so much more knowledge to share with their children on what is acceptable and inappropriate.  The other thing that parents have is they have the control and you don’t want to anger them.  Having a parent give you a glare and saying in a stern voice, “don’t do that,” is a perfect indication and signal that I took my actions too far and should stop immediately if I would like to stay out of trouble.  Having the extra set of eyes watching moves made me more aware of how to take my ideas after watching a movie and how to handle them appropriately.  As you get to an older age though, having your parents fully explain what can happen in real life is so important for encoding the images correctly.  My parents shaped the way I perceive information and I believe for the better.

Psychology: The Crossroads of Physiology and Philosophy

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We mentioned in class that psychology is a combination of two other schools of learning; physiology, the study of how living things work, and philosophy, the theories behind why living things behave the way they do.

When I was in highschool, we had a section of our writing philosophy class dedicated to the idea of determinism. In the theory of determinism, every action and decision man makes is determined by his past, determined by every event that has influenced or shaped him in some way. In this theory, everything from why one would want to go to law-school to why one has a strong desire for hot cocoa on stormy nights is determined by past events that have shaped him to “choose” things the way he does. For example, I want to become a physician’s assistant. This is not a random choice, nor is it random in any way, shape, or form according to determinism. I am choosing to become a physician’s assistant for various reasons, all of which have been meshed together in my subconscious and influenced me to make this decision. Maybe it is because my father is a doctor, maybe it is because I get positive reinforcement from my peers when I come to their aid, maybe it is because I have been raised to think I should help others, or because people in medicine are regarded highly. Of these reasons I am not sure, but my choice is not the result of my free will, it is a result of my previous experiences.

This theory was immediately brought to the forefront of my mind when we discussed the theories of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. In the theory of psychoanalysis, early childhood experiences and trauma are believed to influence how a man behaves later on in life, influencing his personality. In the theory of behaviorism, an individual is shaped by how he is nurtured. External stimuli lead the individual to behave in a certain way. Both of these theories strongly relate to determinism. As a strong determinist, I am intrigued by these theories, and believe strongly in both of them. There are many aspects of my current life and of my personality that I can strongly trace back to childhood events and certain definite shaping events of my life. For example, I was a very fat child and got teased and chastised for it. Now, as an adult who is still on the larger side, I can trace a lot of the elements about how I feel about my appearance, how I judge appearance, and how I behave in regards to physical activity and diet back to the events that occurred during my childhood.

Just as play-dough can never return to its original shape once moulded, just as it is constantly changed, shaped, and turned, so too are our minds. Shaped by the past, these mouldings are outwardly projected as our behavior. As predicted by determinism, and as observed and studied in behaviorism and psychoanalysis, our past truly does determine our future.

Nature Vs. Nurture

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The concept of “Nature vs. Nurture” is the opposing views of whether our behavior is pre-determined at birth, or if our behavior is shaped based on things we experience throughout life. When I was a kid, I lived with my grandparents on my mother’s side. I was never in contact with my parents for more than a few weekends out of the month or less. Because of this, I believe that I can make an argument for and against both viewpoints due to the fact that I was not raised by my own parents, but I had enough contact with them to know some of their behaviors.

The term “Nativism” (nature) refers to the belief that our thoughts and ideas are inborn. When I think about this concept, and how my behavior might be related to one of my parents, I have a hard time making connections between us because I wasn’t around them all the time. However, last semester my dad came to Penn State to visit me and had breakfast with me and my girlfriend. When thinking about this assignment, I asked her if she thought that my father and I had any similar personality or behavior traits. When she told me that we seemed to have very similar personalities, I was kind of shocked. She had only spent an hour with my father, and she could tell that we had similar behaviors that easily.

The term “Empricism” (nurture) refers to the idea that our knowledge is gained through our experiences in life. This idea that my behaviors were shaped by the experiences I had growing up with my grandparents is very believable. I am very convinced that some of my behaviors are directly related to the way I was raised. My grandmother taught me to be kind and sensitive to others. Also, my sense of humor is very similar to both my grandfather and my brother. In my opinion, I believe that peoples’ behaviors are strongly related to the people they associate with.

Although I lean more heavily toward the idea that our behaviors are learned rather than being determined at birth, I can see how one could make a case for either view. I would not be surprised if I discovered more similarities between my parents and myself. However, if I spent more time with them, then I may be developing new behaviors from our experiences together rather than finding out if our behaviors are related to genetics.

Nature/Nurture

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This is a long-time argument about what makes people who they are.  Nature is the theory that all traits, thoughts, and ideas are inborn.  Nurture is the theory that traits, thoughts, and ideas are gained by experiences.  Philosophers argued on both sides, but there is scientific evidence now for both.  The lifestyle you grow up in changes you, but DNA also has an effect on your personality, which is inborn.

My personal experiences with nurture/nature relate to me and my brother.  His name is Tim.  He is five years older than me, and it frequently surprises me how similar we are.  During high school, we were both lifeguards.  We both played high school football.  We both did well in the same courses in school.  We also have the same sense of humor, and occasionally laugh hysterically at something others might not even find funny.  I have also noticed that we share similar thought processes.  I cannot really tell for sure if this is nature or nurture.

I believe it is some of both.  The nature part most likely relates to our actual brains.  We have similar DNA, so that must contribute to our success in the same areas of studies.  This also is likely the cause of our similar ways of thinking.  Our experiences and interests, however, I believe are caused by nurture.  We grew up together, and I always looked up to him.  He was five years older, so his choices were more individual.  But when I became old enough to play football, I started because my awesome brother did.  He became a lifeguard, and he convinced me it was the best summer job for students.  So I became a lifeguard as soon as I turned 15.

There is one thing about which I am unsure.  We have very similar senses of humor.  This could be caused by nurture or nature.  It could be nature because our DNA has an effect on the way our brains work.  It could be nurture, though, because while growing up together, we obviously watched similar things on TV, the internet, etc.  There is really no way to know for sure what caused such strong similarities between me and my brother.

Nature or Nurture- best friendship

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Nature or Nurture- best friendship

Nature and Nurture is one of the concepts that we learned in the class. Nature is something that the person is born with or features and characteristics that are passed on to generations, and Nurture is knowledge gain through experiences. From my story of Nature vs. Nurture it is about the girl’s friendships, how different they are in western culture and Asian culture.

While growing up in Asian country, when girls have very close friendship with each others, then it is so natural to grab their arms while walking, holding hands, or being really close to each others. (*no inappropriate physical contact*) When I was in kindergarten, elementary and junior high in Korea, it was so natural to me/o r any other girls to hold hands, grabbing their arms, or leaning onto others. There was no connection of any “same sex” love emotions to each others. It was only based on the pure friendships of the girls. So apparently it was very natural and became a habit to myself for behaving in this way with my best friends. This is just how Asian culture is like. No one in Asian country will think this is wired or inappropriate. (but only to girls, not boys) However, when I came to the States, this was not acceptable. This whole behavior thing was not socially accepted and even in best-friend relationship. Most of people in Western culture think when the girls act in this way means they are in love. Love as a “Same sex” meaning as Lesbians. So, When I tried to do these stuffs to my American best-friends at the first time in the States, their reaction were like “Ewww what are you doing? Or Why would you do that?” I could not understand their reactions and why these are so inappropriate to American girls. But soon later, I get the whole idea of how those kinds of behaviors can mean differently to people in different culture.

Therefore, Now living in the States about 7~8 years, I am so used to the Western culture and the social norm in the girls environment. I don’t behave or act in the same way as I was in junior high. When I see some Asian girls holding hands and grabbing their arms in the street, I would think and view them as the same way how American would see them. Sometimes I would forget about my past and think wired to those behaviors but soon realize that I have done the same thing and now I have changed a lot.

The Unconscious

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In class we talk about psychoanalysis, which means that psychologist believe that our early experience could affect on our later personality. this made me thought of a friend of mine who barely shows emotions , towards his family or friend. When people talk to him  about his emotions or anything that has to do with affections, relating to others he would respond in an uncomfortable way. sometime he would even avoid the topic or question. No one understood why he was like that and he will always claim that he was “born” that way. He thinks that showing emotions is a negative thing to do. and people who is around him thinks he is very harsh, sometime cold blooded. His emotionless behavior was not only towards his friend but also towards  his family, i once asked him about his past, and he told me that when he was younger he would always come home from school or hanging out with friends and talk about his day to his parent and sharing his experience with them. But they never seemed to care about what he has to say , they would usually ignore him and tell him to never show his weakness to his friend. After years and years of living in a household that wasn’t open to their feelings. He became a strong emotionless person that holds everything in and who never show fear or love to anyone. Therefore using this example i absolutely think that our past make who we are today and everything we do and act has an influence from the past unconsciously. Many people, just like my friend think that they have always been like that or was ” born ” that way . But what he did not know is that he was influence by the environment and the people around him . In my opinion, psychoanalysis is a very important factor in psychology because to understand one’s behavior we always need to understand their past.

A Way Of Thinking Can Be Changed?

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Growing up I came from a highly technical household.  I was always taught how to analyze objects and fix their parts if necessary.  Some people call that skill being a mechanic, but I find that it is really just a life skill that most people need.  This is one of those things that can potentially be linked to a side of your brain.  Most people who are like me seem to be “left-brained.”  What are some traits of a left-brained person you ask?  Well, for starters we tend to be very analytic and logical.  This naturally leads us to be stronger in math and science but weak in other subjects such as art and any other creative subject.  Now, normally people are born like this, with an affinity for a certain half of their brain.  This is generally the case, but there are some people that change over time.

Most of the time this is caused by an injury but there are other cases of people changing the way they think spontaneously during their life.  The latter is what happened with me.  When I was young (under the age of 6) I was always drawing pictures and painting and creating stories to tell people.  This is generally linked with the right side of your brain so people like this are dubbed “right-brained.”  After I turned 6 my dad finally decided it was time for me to help him work on our cars.

From that point on there was a lot less creative side of me and a lot more of the calculated analytic side.  Why was this car making a squeaking noise?  Maybe it was the serpentine belt or an accessory belt or the clutch.  There is no creativity just a checklist.  Even now that I am in college I am still awful at drawing and poetry.  So, as a kid, I was transformed from a right-brained person to a left-brained person.  It was almost similar to a Skinner-Box where I was trained to think a certain way.

I was used to being creative, and through working on cars and the house as a kid I was acclimated to being analytical about everything.  Why did the house make that creaking noise?  As a kid I would have dubbed it a ghost but now I would just say it was the wind moving the structure or simply a squeaky floorboard.  This is just proving what we learned about the Skinner box.  With enough repetition and rewards one can be trained to act and even think in a different way.

Pavlov and Behaviorism

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The rise in popularity of functionalism and structuralism in the early 1900s spurred a revolution in psychology. It created many of the original subsets of psychology, such as Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis. Behaviorism is still widely used today, albeit it is very different from early behaviorism. Unlike functionalism and structuralism, behaviorism did not look at the mind. Behaviorism only studies observable, measurable behavior.  One of the first experiments that studied the behavior of animals was performed by Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, in the early 1900s.

Pavlov studied the effect of outside stimuli on body processes. His most famous experiment involved the salivation reflex in dogs. The salivation reflex is an involuntary, natural body process that occurs when food is in someone or something’s mouth. In his experiment, he tried to create the salivation reflex in the dogs when they did not have food in their mouth. To accomplish this, he would turn on a metronome, and then give the dogs he was studying food. Naturally, because food was in their mouth, they would salivate. However, after doing this for a while, when he would turn on the metronome, the dogs would salivate, even though they were not eating and there was no food in front of them. This is an example conditioning.

I have a very similar experience with dogs and conditioning. My girlfriend has a dog who is somewhat unruly. She loves to bark and does not listen well. In order to attempt to calm her down, I began to teach her different tricks using different hand motions. These ranged from staying quiet, to sitting, to laying down. For example, to get her to sit I hold my hand out like I am telling someone to stop, and I fold it down. Then to get her to lay down, I close my hand into a fist. To reinforce the idea that she would have to stay in these positions, I would give her a dog treat. After a few weeks, she would do what I would signal her to do without treats, however she would still expect them. After a few months, on command she could do whatever signal I showed her. Pavlov and I did not use the same method and did not control the same reflexes, however we both conditioned the dogs to do something involuntarily. Pavlov used classical conditioning, using the sound of the metronome in the background to stimulate a response.  I used operant conditioning to elicit a response. Good behavior was rewarded and bad behavior was punished.

Nature V. Nurture

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One of the oldest debates that is around when it come to psychology is the argument of nature versus nurture. The debate of nature versus nurture comes down to the idea of wether peoples individual personalities arise from the way that they were raised and the environment that they were raised in, or if each person’s personality is different from when they were born. Many studies have been conducted on this age old debate and both sides have come down to the decision that it is neither nature nor nurture that solely determine your personality, and in the end it is a mixture of both of them that determines one’s personality. For each person, one might have a bigger impact then the other, but everyone’s personality is a combination of the two.

To me, my brother and I are a great demonstration of the debate of nature and nurture. My brother and I, where raised by the same two parents, in the same household, and had the same rules/guidelines while growing up. Since we are only a few years apart, we both attended that same family events and holidays, and went through the same big events while growing up. Even though we lived such a similar life, we both turned out to be completely different people.

For me, I am a very “type A” person, I am very organized, strict, and live a seriously structured lifestyle which helps me get everything I have to do done in an organized timely matter. On the other hand, my brother is the complete opposite, he is definitely a “type B” person. He gets things done when he has to, and doesn’t plan out what needs to be done in the future. He lives with very little stress, and is definitely, and “go with the flow” person. We really do live two completely different life styles.

We both grow up the same exact way and yet we turned out to be completely different. So if there was something that I had to pick to explain why we turned out differently then each other, I would have to say that nature is the reason why. Nature has to be true, because we even though for the majority of our lives we were the same, we turned out to be completely different people with different thoughts, personalities, and emotions. If nurture was the case for us, we would be much more similar and have the same thoughts and opinions.

In out case nature is the reason why we are different despite are very similar experiences while growing up. This might not be the case for everyone, but in my case when it comes to my brother and I, nature explains are situation while nurture does not.

Nature vs Nurture

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     From the Greek, psychologists, Socrates and Plato started to build a theory that the element decides why people think, feel and behave in their own ways is not what environment that the people live in, but is born with them. But Aristotle had another theory that what builds the characteristics of people is the influence of environment.

       From the view of the “nature” theory, the reason why people behave different, have different emotions and personality are decided at the moment that people were born genetically. The differences and similarities between my father and his brother could help to explain what nature could determine. My father and my uncle were brought up in the totally same environment since they are siblings. And from what I know, my father is a little bit quiet kind of person. And he does not like social events, such as big dinner with people that he is not very close to. On the contrary, my uncle is outgoing, and talkative. And that is one of the reasons why my father always wants to invite him to the dinner with unfamiliar people, because it is so easy for him to start a long chat with a stranger. From the view of naturism, my father and my uncle were raised up in a totally same environment, so the parts why they are so different is because of they were born differently.

      From the view of “nurture” theory, the reason why people are different is because they live in different environment, and they have different experiences. Another example from my father’s family could explain this more related to daily life. My father was not born in a big city, same to all his three siblings. But my younger aunt, my uncle and my father went to the college in a big city, and they live in the big city now. Due to the serious illness, my older aunt did not have the chance to get a higher level education. Both of my older aunt and younger aunt were born in the same family sharing the same gene from their parents. From my father’s flashback chat about his childhood, two of my aunts are very similar. Both of them were outgoing, and from the picture back in time, I can see that the way that my aunts dressed were the same too. But now, not only do they look so different, they behave differently too. My younger aunt is more confident and more outgoing; she is into politics and always shares her opinions about political events with my father and my uncle. On the contrary my older aunt is a little bit shy, and when she talks with people, the topics would more tend to be about family issues. From the view of nurture theory, they way why they behave differently and have different personalities is because at the critical period of the construction of the view of the world, they grew in a separating way and environment. And if staying in an environment for a long time, you would behave like the group of people who live in the same environment.

   What I trust is that both gene and environment have the powerful influence of shaping personality and how people behave. And the statement should be nature and nurture instead of nature versus nurture. Because people do change living in different environments but also there are also something keeps the same as the environment changes.