Nature vs nurture

Original post by rsimpson

Do you believe a person is born a criminal or do you believe that they are nurtured into it by their environment and relationships with people. (PS talking about serious crime Ie serial killers etc)

Posted from TSR Mobile

Define a criminal.

Reply 5

Philippa T

Nature vs Nurture is an extremely delicate subject to handle and something I have always questioned myself. Are we born bad ? Is a psychopath born that way ? It it in his DNA to be a killer... Or whether it is our upbringing, the people we were surrounded with throughout our lives and the things we may have done that create who we are. Jean Jacques Rousseau, a french philosopher had said "Men are born good, it's society that corrupts them".

Reply 6

Birkenhead

3

Original post by snozzle

Define a criminal.

As a wild stab in the dark, I'd say someone who is proven to have committed a crime :wink:

Reply 7

snozzle

Reminds me a bit of the Milgram obedience experiments.

Interesting point about that experiment is that it was the 'good order follower' who was prepared to inflict a great deal of pain on a person. The deviant would have been the 'good person' in that scenario....who refused to follow orders.

I think who is and who isn't a deviant (criminal) can depend upon social and historical context and contingencies....and point of view.

Reply 8

Dragonfly07

18

You're not born good or bad.

You're only born with certain tendencies towards being good or bad that can be triggered later on by environmental factors.

Many of your genes may never get turned on at all throughout your life and some genes can be triggered only temporarily.

That's true to all the qualities you may have. Your risk of obesity (the Pima people of South American are malnourished and thin, but when they move to America, an obesogenic environment, then about 50% of them develop diabetis, 95% of the time alongside obesity or overweight), your risk of certain cancers, your risk of depression or your chances of being outgoing and happy in life.

Reply 9

snozzle

Original post by Dragonfly07

You're not born good or bad.

You're only born with certain tendencies towards being good or bad that can be triggered later on by environmental factors.

Many of your genes may never get turned on at all throughout your life and some genes can be triggered only temporarily.

That's true to all the qualities you may have. Your risk of obesity (the Pima people of South American are malnourished and thin, but when they move to America, an obesogenic environment, then about 50% of them develop diabetis, 95% of the time alongside obesity or overweight), your risk of certain cancers, your risk of depression or your chances of being outgoing and happy in life.

Sure but what are 'good' and 'bad'? You seem to be assuming they have an essence.

I think we can agree what cancer is but what about 'the good man'?

Reply 10

Fatfis

Original post by rsimpson

Do you believe a person is born a criminal or do you believe that they are nurtured into it by their environment and relationships with people. (PS talking about serious crime Ie serial killers etc)

Posted from TSR Mobile

I do think that genetics play a role in this, but only in a latent potential to be snapped by situations of nurturing. No crazy serial killer gene would persist consistently because I doubt it would be conducive to survival in a population so the pressures of NS would remove it. But a single mutation could possibly produce a psychopath.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 11

LofAlexandria

Everyone keeps framing the nature vs nurture debate in the wrong light. The key is to think about the situation in terms of ranges. For all but a few extreme examples the potential range of expression for any given trait is determined by biology. Then environmental factors are going to influence development and behavior to determine where within that range the trait is going to be expressed at any given time.

I wrote about this a bit recently and if you find the above interesting feel free to check out my article on the topic: http://lofalexandria.blogspot.com/2013/01/nature-vs-nurture-debate-is-framed.html

Reply 12

There are clearly elements from both nature and nurture at play during a person's development. I would however say that between these two factors is accounted all that a person becomes or will become. Individuality is nowhere to be found.

Reply 13

Farm_Ecology

The question is not which forms our development, but how they work together to do so. Psychological conditions have both genetic and environmental factors involved.

Original post by miser

There are clearly elements from both nature and nurture at play during a person's development. I would however say that between these two factors is accounted all that a person becomes or will become. Individuality is nowhere to be found.

Basically this.

Reply 14

Original post by Farm_Ecology

The question is not which forms our development, but how they work together to do so. Psychological conditions have both genetic and environmental factors involved.

Basically this.

Are you a Jain? :biggrin:

Reply 15

Farm_Ecology

Original post by miser

Are you a Jain? :biggrin:

Haha, no. But I've been inspired by their philosophy. I follow a jain-esque diet.

Reply 16

Norbertnorbert

2

Well clearly both are important, but I think it's wrong to treat people like passive victims of their genetics or environment. There must be a role for active human choice and agency.

Reply 17

Original post by Farm_Ecology

Haha, no. But I've been inspired by their philosophy. I follow a jain-esque diet.

I do the same, though I'm not vegan. They're probably the best religion going, though I don't personally agree with pacifism.

Reply 18

Farm_Ecology

Original post by Norbertnorbert

Well clearly both are important, but I think it's wrong to treat people like passive victims of their genetics or environment. There must be a role for active human choice and agency.

It may appear morally wrong, but its true. We are a product of our environment and born characteristics (genetics and epigenetic factors)

Original post by miser

I do the same, though I'm not vegan. They're probably the best religion going, though I don't personally agree with pacifism.

I'm not vegan either. I see dairy and eggs as 'fruit of the animal' as it were. I find their absolute dedication to pacifism one of their most appealing aspects.

Reply 19