M1 Discuss the Nature Nurture Debate in Relation to the Development of an Individual Essay

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M1 - Discuss the nature-nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual

The historical debate regarding nature and nurture has been going on for years and is still unresolved. Many theorists believe what we have inherited and our genes, makes us the way we are and how we develop. Other theorists believe it is the way we are brought up and our experiences, that make us the way we are and how we develop.
Physical
The way we look can be argued to be mainly due to nature. The genes we inherit from our parents make the basis of we look. For example, people often say ‘Don’t you look like your father/mother!’ Genetic inheritance can determine our eye colour, whether we have straight or curly hair or how tall we will be. We
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scores of black Americans were significantly lower than whites he went on to argue that genetic factors were mainly responsible – even going so far as to suggest that intelligence is 80% inherited. www.simplypsychology.org
Gessell came up with a theory called maturation. He suggested that developmental changes in a child's body or behavior are a result of the aging process rather than from learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience. The maturation theory backs up the hereditary theory.
Binet suggested intelligence was not down to nature, but nurture. He designed tests that would assess mental abilities. However, he did not believe his test could measure an inborn degree of intelligence. It believed that factors such as motivation and the environment could play a role in what the test scores showed.
Twin studies have shown that twins raised in different environments have similar IQs than fraternal siblings raised together, suggesting that nature plays a more important part in IQ. www.psyasia.com Cheryl Cole has stated she has never been the ‘brightest spark in the box’. She left her run-down, poor school at 16 without any qualifications. Intellectually, she had said that if she had been helped and pushed through out her education, she might have left with some qualifications. Her parents went through life without having a job