Nature vs Nurture essay

Introduction
The content of this report will demonstrate a condensed argument for both nature and nurture in relation to human development throughout a child's progression and early development, correlating to my own personal pathway of Social Work specialising within Child Protection.
The deliberation concerning the relevance of nature and nurture has been debated since Plato, favouring the nature argument and Aristotle, favouring the nurture argument. Their disagreement sparked a debate with no conclusive end for the proceeding centuries. Nature can be defined as "the basic or inherited features, character or qualities" (oxforddictionaries, Online, 2014) from the respecting subjects parents. Nurture can be defined as the "the sum of environmental influences and conditions acting on an organism" (thefreedictionary, Online, 2014), stimulated by external factors such as experiences.
Developmental Psychology and Moral Development
Developmental psychology can be defined as the "study of changes in behaviour and mental processes over time and the factors that influence the course of those changes" (Gross, 2010). Psychologists in support of our genetic makeup defining our personalities believe that development is "biologically programmed to happen sequentially" (Gross, 2010). The practice of this is identified as maturation, an example of a form of maturation can be seen as a child's gradual physical features emerge such as; facial elements and eye colour. Subsequently the earlier a personality is defined via maturation the closer the connection is to genetic determinism, however the longer the formation of characteristics takes the more likely environmental instances have influenced the construction of the child's character.
Moral development is debated within the nature nurture subject due to Piaget's (Gross,2010) establishment of heteronomous and autonomous morality. He displayed that young children demonstrate their levels of heteronomous morality through predetermined laws and rules, moving forward onto older children's demonstrations of autonomous morality through their own laws and rules which have developed through experience. Piaget believed the transition was due to a "change from unilateral respect of the child's unconditional obedience for their parents, to mutual respect within the peer group where disagreements between equals have to be negotiated and resolved" (Gross, 2010). Reinforcing natures influence at the primary stages of development, secondary to Piaget is Levy's "crossing the boundaries of biology" (Levy, 2004). Levy states that morality is genetically bestowed upon infants both "moral and immoral dispositions" (epjournal, Online, 2014), however Levy examines stronger acknowledgments of the conditioning of morality, the roles played by nature and nurture within its' origins and how it is possible due to the "plasticity of our minds, their growth and capacity to learn and create culture enables the child to transcend these dispositions" (epjournal, Online, 2014). Levy clearly demonstrates the importance of both nature and nurture within moral development "we are animals, and cannot ever free ourselves of our biological heritage however we have the ability to modify the genes that we as animals inherit" (Levy, 2004). Both psychologists are nativists however Levy demonstrates a passionate understanding of both attributes within the nature nurture debate.
Development of Speech
Throughout history nativist and empiricist scientists have been fascinated with a child's language development, a general assumption of scientists is that all children pass through a "universal timetable" (Gross, 2010).An implication of progression through stages in order to have the appropriate communicative skills for their specific culture. This assumption from nativist scientists neglect the necessity of exposure to a language in order for a child to progress within the specific language. Skinner (1957) supports this by arguing "a child acquires verbal behaviour when relatively unplanned vocalisations, selectively reinforced, assume forms which produce appropriate consequences in a given verbal community" (Skinner, 1957). Conclusive to Skinner's theory it is the parental guidance that forms the correct speech patterns, through positive or negative reinforcement implementing the importance of external factors in relation to human development. This can further be supported in various studies of feral children who lack human guidance. Feral children who have had minimal contact with humans display a clear "devoid of enculturation" (learnstuff, Online, 2014), along with severely impaired abilities to further develop language. A product of the failure to access the "universal timetable" (Gross, 2010) allows them to bypass the vital age that children progress their speech in the early stages of development. Numerous studies have shown that many cases express how the subject feral child is eventually able to learn some words and sentence formations but only achieving a level similar to that of a toddler. The evaluation of feral children has demonstrated the importance of early human interaction with children, proving that language is not genetically dispatched but instead taught by external factors at a predominantly young age.
Nature and Nurture in Relation Social Work, Child Protection
The nature and nurture debate influences Social Work due to the close connections that Social workers have working alongside children. Without an understanding of the debate it may lead to prejudgments of a child if you believe their genetic make-up determines their individual characteristics and future selves. An example of this would be positioning the children with violent backgrounds to potentially having self-for filling prophesies, which is an unfair assessment of a child with a troubled past. Due to the acquired knowledge from Levy and Skinner I believe that it equips me with a balanced approach to working as a Social Worker within Child Protection.

Conclusion
From evaluating different psychologists' theories in relation to human development through the nature nurture debate I have concluded that there is no single answer. Both nature and nurture fundamentally provide the foundation for human development with equal magnitude for both attributing factors.
Word Count: 905


Reference List

Gross Richard, 2010, Psychology the Science of Mind and Behaviour, London, British Library Publications
Levy Neil, 2004, What makes us moral? Crossing the boundaries of biology, Australia, One Word Publications
Skinner B.F, 1957, Verbal Behaviour, New York, Appleton Century Cross
www.epjournal.net, Evolutionary Psychology-1SSN1474-7049-Volume 3. 2005 www.learnstuff.com Online, Accessed October 2014 www.oxforddictionaries.com Online, Accessed November 2014
www.thefreedictionary.com Online, Accessed October 2014





Jessica Marsh 214543

3