Masters in Psychology ~ 2

A.Exquisite
May 10, 2024
3 min read

Updated: Aug 24, 2024

x AALiYah

Developmental Psychology

week 1 objectives:

Human Life Span Development
Conception to Death
Prenatal Development

discussions on Nature vs. nurture.

class objectives included lifespan overview and biological beginnings.

excerpt on my additions to the discussion:

"Discuss your perspective on the nature-versus-nurture debate. Additionally, discuss how epigenetics fits into this debate. Can you identify areas in your life that have been related to nurture and others that have been related to nature?
Nature is defined as, “the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of ‘earth,’ as opposed to humans or human creations; the physical force regarded as causing and regulating these phenomena; the basic or inherent features of something especially when seen as characteristic of it.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023).
Nurture is defined as, “care for and encourage the growth or development of.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023).
“Nature vs. Nurture”: Nurture deals supporting, training, and educating. As described here, “nurture,” can be that of education such as K-12+, also an example would be on-the-job training or onboarding for a new position in a company. The thing about nurture is that someone can be miseducated by way of lies – you can literally teach someone wrong. Of on-the-job-training, this is training specific to the tasks being done for the tasked reasons. Nature comes from within and is present intuitively like eating and breathing – it does not need to be taught.
Epigenetics is defined as, “the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). This tampering is not natural in any way. I am still researching the totality of what epigenetics entails, however, as described here, this could include the observation of nurture. Gene modification is genetic engineering – interchangeably gene manipulation, which is done by technology. Epigenetics cannot involve Nature, for gene modification goes against the very definition of Nature.
I prefer reasons and truth in conversation and/or instruction, rather than arguments and debates. My perspective is that Nature rules everything. Nature is the beginning and the end – Nature is the foundation of all. Nature is necessary to even have something to observe, study, abuse, or attempt to change. Nurture is applicable for specified skills. I am certain it will all soon be revealed - at this time I find it odd that humans study humans so much instead of just... being. And, why name the focus if there aren’t any other beings to distinguish from, or are there? Humans study humans quite a bit, but shouldn’t one seek to study and understand themselves instead of others of the same species? I find it interesting that studies, such as the one in our reading for the week involves studying twins by separating them. Humans seem to try to learn by going against Nature. Constantly testing Nature, I find it equally interesting that humans find the need to study children – seeking to understand children as if they cannot pull from their own childhood experiences. I have not seen research where the findings from these studies are in comparison to the researcher’s childhood experiences for comparative reason, just as if they were not children once themselves.
Nature is the extraordinary relative reason by which I am still here and will constantly grow. Nurture is my enrollment in graduate studies. Epigenetics is not something I relate to, but at this time is my perspective that it is child’s play, and for those who cannot fill their lives with their own existence.