After briefly discussing Margaret Mead and her work in New Guinea...what is the answer to her great question - Is it a person's NATURE that shapes who they are, or is it NURTURE?
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46 comments:
In my opinion, the world there just isn't just one clear answer there are many, i think in Margaret Mead's case study whether its Nature or Nuture that shapes who they are its basically in between both, because you have people that are survivors in a case for example when they were young they had a terrible childhood but eventually some people could overcome that and lead to have successful lives but some don't, its the matter of which a person takes in what.
I completely agree with Alba. Its not just a persons nature or nurture that defines who they are but its alittle of both. For ecxample if someone is abused, when they start their own family they can repeat the cycle and alow it to happen again or they can break away from it because they realize that its a negative environment. Another example is that someone can have parents with succesful careers who always remind them of the importance of further education and end up not going to college.And on the other hand someone can have parents that dont show them the importance of collage and work hard to achieve that goal. It really just depends on the person and what they think is important and what they value which shape them.
I think im most cases your nurture has everything to do with how you are or what you become. You have the option to change your nature, whether that means moving to a different location or changing the way you are. However, you don't have the option to change how you were brought up. Well until you turn 18 and can live by your own rules. But in parents and your upbringing have a lot to do with the morals and how you act as you get older. If you hate your father for example, when you get older you say you will never become like him yet everyone tells you that you are just like him. They never say "oh you are just like your nature, how you were born." They would say "oh you are just like your nurture, how you were raised."
This question's anwser is obiously unique for each case study, but morals and nurture tend to shape how you grow up. Take for examples, your peers in todays society. They influence what you wear, what you listen too, even to what you eat and drink. This is true for everyone, seeing as how without the influence of any other being, you couldn't even come close to what you are today. Mike did a god job summarizing nature, seeing as how in life today, there is a "pioneer" feeling to our lives, as when we feel unsatisfied, we can simply move on, and go whereever we please. Obiously, this idea wasn't so easy when Mead did this study, because in todays day and age, it is much simpler to hop on a bus and be stress free about starting a new life, whereas in her time, traveling wasn't as much of a leisure.
I believe that nurture is most responsible for influencing and making a person who they are. A person can't naturally be solely good or bad, because they haven't got the experiences to know what good or bad is. One can't just be born and know how to act from birth. As a person grows, the people around them and their society influences and impacts on how one will think and act. The way a person is raised and the people they associate themselves with, will affect greatly in what a person will become. For example, an individual can be abused in his/her home, and that causes them to be badly behaved as well. However, if that individual was relocated to a new home, with a new family, there is a big chance that this boy/girl can change his/her attitude and become a better person. Therefore, nurture plays a big role in shaping a person.
While the way you grow up and the people who influence you does alter who you are as a person, I believe that nature dominantly shapes who you are as a person. So many people can be put in the same situation but are still two completely different people because we're naturally all different, and the way we react to each situation is going to be different. I personally believe that you were born either introverted or extroverted, passive or agressive, and so on. If only nurture shapes who we are, then every person who lost a dad or every person who was caught stealing would act the same way. That would mean that siblings, virtually being dealt with the same situations, would act identical. But those don't prove to be truel and I believe that we are born with our characteristics and personality traits.
I believe it takes a little of both to define who you are. When we start out young, we are completely influenced by our parents and their decisions on how to raise us. Your morals and standards are based on their beliefs, which isn't a bad thing, but we haven't had much influence frpm the outside world yet. However, as we grow older and enter school and make friends, our desire to fit in gives us new morals and standards...whether it's what clothes to buy or what music we listen to, we are all influenced in some way by our outside world. To define yourself as a person is defining not only your home and your family, but also your friends and surroundings.
I think it is impossible to really judge if someone turns out the way they do based on nature and nurture alone. Not just one theory shows the development of a human. I believe that experiences really shape a person into what they are. But is that really nurture? A childhood is the bringing up of a child in society but does this alone develop one into who they are? Many experiences occur in our lives and there are many points where we might act one way or another. We all keep our upbringing, that is not something we can change. However, who I am today does not necessary show who i'll be tomorrow. People change daily and even semi daily. The personality of each one of us is so very dynamic judging each act or reaction wouldn't prove anything. We are who we are because of the life we lead.
i think nature vs. nurture is a case study that will never get an answer but i feel that how a person is characterized is in between. like everyone has said where and how you are raised as a kid is how you will be raised either nature or nurture. a kid in a nice suburb home will most likely use nurture to be raised and someone in a innner-city will use nature to be raised.
I feel as though it all coexists. As earlier mentioned, when we're younger, we tend to gravitate toward what our parents tell us because it is simply what we are compelled to do, whether it's impulsive or because we know that there is a consequence when we disobey, which in a sense, conditions us to reinforce these habits as we get older. However, as we get older, and even sometimes early on, we acquire our own ways of thinking and we tend to act on what we want to do simply because we know that we have that freedom.
I personally believe that it's a person's nuture that shapes who they are as a person. You can be born from a mother who was an alcoholic in her teens, but if you were taken from her at birth and never exposed to alcohol, you would never; one, know about her habits which would not give you any thoughts about it and two you wouldn't even have a desire to drink not being brought up with it.
Another example is the idea of having manners. You're not born with manners because naturally we're like animals. That study that was done years ago where the French people left their daughter in a room away from society her whole life and didn't teach her anything, she turned out to be almost like an animal with her developed characteristics. If they raised her with manners with; eating, drinking, talking, communicating and interacting she would be a whole different person. It's like the old saying goes "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". That is why when you're younger everything is instilled in you because our brains are like sponges (especially when we reach the age of 3) and we pick up anything and everything. that's why you need to monitor where your kid goes to daycare, who your child hangs out with and what they watch on TV because they a majority of what they know through those means of communication.
So overall it doesn't really matter what family your born into, it's how they raise you that makes you the person you are today. If you're taught, like I was that school was the most important thing needed in life to succeed, that is what you will focus on. If no one really teaches you the importance of school, when you enter in at 5, your full attention is not there because you were never taught the importance of it. Anything and everything you know you were taught at some point in your life. You're never born a nice person or a loud person, you grew into that based on your beliefs, families and traditions. So I deff. believe that every part of you is based in your nurture rather than your nature.
I believe that were your nature is or were you grow up determines how you are nutured. For example someone living in the inner city is going to brought up differently than someone living in a richer area because of the poeple around him/her. The person living in the inner city would probaly have to raise himself and most likely turn to crime. While the person living in the richer area would have many poeple around them to make sure they have a bright future.
I think that it's definitely not one or the other, but the interaction between nature and nurture that shapes who we are. Both your genes and your experiences through life play large roles in your development, but depending on upbringing and many other factors, one can overshadow the other. While nature can set standards of how people view us, our environment shapes those perceptions into who we we are today. There are gray areas where nature and nurture clearly overlap, so I don't see there being any simple, single answer.
I believe that it has to be a mix of both. We will be raised to learn based on where we live and how we are raised. A good example of this is the Spartans. From birth they where trained to be warriors, also they where raised into an environment that was surrounded by war and conflict. How we act has to do with how we are raised and what surrounds us.
In my opinion nurture has a little more impact on a person, then just their nature. To me a person raised in a high class neighborhood will probably have different thoughts, opinions, and morals then someone who was raised in a lower class neighborhood. On the other hand every person in a higher class situation doesn’t think the same and every person in a lower class isn’t the same either, so a person’s nature does have some impact on them, in one way or another.
I think it has to do with both nature and nurute. I think however, that a huge part is nurture. Typically seeing how your parents deal with things may lead for you to repeat the same actions, wether it being good or bad. Depending on the persons stability of emotions and how to deal with things, some may learn that their parents mistakes should not be repeated and to make other decisions while others just think thats how life is and it's fine to do the same. I think thats the nature part of it because its really on who you are as a person becuase of what you've dealt with and not only within the household but throughout the world.
The answer for each case study is different depending upon the enviroment that the individual is settled in. For example, if someone is brought up in the slums and their parents are drug addicts and criminals then they would most likely be shaped to fit something similar to a drug addict or criminal if the parents were uninvolved. If the parents however teach their child that what they themselves do is wrong and not to imitate them then nurture would become a factor. It all depends on the enviroment and who is influencing the individual.
I think, depending on where you come from, both nature and nurture greatly affect how we grow up. We still have animal instincts and natural tendencies that come into play, but we also have morals and guidelines that we are taught be our elders. Also, the mixture of nature and nurture that actually affect each of us depends on where we come from. A rich child would not have as much need to rely on our natural instincts as a child from a third world country.
i think it's the persons nurture that tells who they are because nurture is the behavior we all learn, our parents or guardians want ur to raise perfect and want us to be a good person and they teach us everything because they know what it is going to be like when we grow up and how our life is going to change so this is why they tell us and guide us through an age we can learn so by the time we get older we would know because that is just the way we were used to life and that was the way we were raised. Sometimes we think we have restrictions but it is not that our parents/guardians have gone through that and they know what it is like so it is nurture who tells who we are and we all dont learn unless we experience it
I believe, to define who you really are as a person in society and in general it takes both nature and nurture to shape who you are. In life you are taught to follow the same beliefs as your parents taught you and you primarily believe those until you are old enough to start to live life on your own. Yes, nurture is important because it shapes the basis of who you are and what you believe but not everyone acts the same towards their family as they do towards the rest of society. Normally, most people want to fit in with society so they will respond the same way that their best friend did. The way others act and the thoughts that others believe in aren't always wrong, they are just different from your own and without your own thoughts on life the world wouldn't be shaped the way it is and this question would be non-existant. Nature plays a key role because society can in fact change what you believe but nurture is the basis or the starting factor of what you should believe in. Life is a rollercoaster and one day you might believe nature is better but another day you might believe the way you were raised means more. Even everyone who has answered this question has had a different reason to their opinion and that could be because of both nature and nurture so it really just depends on your outlook and the situation you are placed in. I believe nature has shaped me more than nurture to become who I am today but another person could be the complete opposite but all in all you need both to shape a true individual.
I don’t feel there is one right or wrong answer as to whether or not a person's nature or nurture shapes who they are. I do feel though that both play an equal roll. A persons nature, they're surroundings, can greatly influence they way they act, the way they feel and the way they handle others and situations they come across. But along with that it's also they're nurture, the way they are brought up, or taught to handle situations, or even the things they are taught to believe in that can shape them as a person. I feel neither is more responsible then the other and they both help to make a person who they are. For example if someone grows up with little love and support in their family, it being their nurture, they aren't going to be the same as someone who has received immense amounts of support and love from their families. Same goes for nature. If someone grows up in a tough neighborhood, they are going to be a different person then someone who grew up on a more wealthy side of town. Either way, I feel both nature and nurture play huge rolls in how people turn out in their lives, and I think they will continue to play these rolls well into the future of the human race.
In my opinion, I don’t believe there is one true answer. In nature vs. Nurture one explains how the person is by there surroundings vs. if they are who they are because of how there parents brought them up. I believe your main influence in life is your family and how thing bring you about your life. They teach you how to act around certain people, how to sit at the table, just the basics of manners. But as you grow up you learn to act different by which you accommodate or associate yourself with, in other words your friends. Your friends may influence you to become a better person or the complete opposite. If your parents teach you aspects of life and they may have abused you, later when you start to make a family you can repeat the cycle and also abuse your children which wouldn’t be good. Or you can learn in a better way as you may hate your father or mother in the way they treat you so you change for the better and decide to be better than them and treat your loved ones with more respect. So in conclusion I believe there is no right or wrong way to discuss Margaret Mead’s theory of nature vs. nurture because it can easily go either way.
Yes I agree with Alba. Somthings are learned through socialization and others we know fromk birth. It is nature for us to eat when we are hungery but it is nurture that teaches us what to eat and how to eat it. Many simple things can be broken down into both nature and nurture. When we look at things in a sociological way we can not look at anything in black and white because that creates a close minded way of viewing the world. We must be willing to say that both sides are indeed right and in this case it is both nature and nurture the list for examples goes on and on.
i totally agree with melissa. although its not just one straight forward or clear answer, it really is a little of both nurture an nature, and depending on the individual it could be a little more of one or another. The way you think and act can be a reflection on how you were brought up and what you were taught, but all depends on what their personal values and beliefs are.
In Margaret Mead's case study of whether nature or nuture shapes the way a person interacts with others and the way they guide their life is based upon nuture. Reason why is beacuse, the way a person is brought into the world, and the way a person is raised determines the way a person interacts with the rest of the world. For example, many people that are raised into a world surrounded with drugs and alcohol they often seem to avert to drug use or a deviant way of life. On the other hand, a person who is raised and taught how to interact, mature and gain knowlegede is more likely not to become engaged in deviant acts. A person cannot help the world they are born into, but a person can change the nature that surronds them, by moving locations or excluding anyone or anything that changes the way they live their life. Therefore, the way a person is nutured has a strong impact on the way a person guides their life.
It is a balance between the two concepts but I do feel that nurture has more of an impact on who we end up being. Without stimulation as a child one cannot be a functioning adult (scientifically based). We are very much a product of our surroundings. Both our parents and friends shape our behaviors and beliefs. But there are some inbred qualities that appear in a person; language, drives for food and sex as well as other things that are present in all civilizations. If some qualities exist in civilizations hundreds of years apart there must be some connection... nature.
I believe that nurture has everything to do with who you are as a person. Your parents mold you into the person you’re going to be. A person doesn’t' come into this world evil or good. Rather, how they are brought up is how a person can be. The lessons we learn as kids can define who we become as adults. A famous saying that I refer to a lot is "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." That means that you become just like your parents when you grow up, whether you like it or not. I am only 17 years old and people are telling me I act just like my father already. Nature has some effect on a person but not nearly as much as nurture.
I think that someones nature affects how someone acts in a society. Your Nurture is how you are raised and taught how to act. Those teachings may lose its value or you might forget about them as you get older. when that happens your nature that you are surrounded by takes over how you think and how you act in certain situations. For example when people who live in the streets turn to gangs and selling drugs for a living, instead of getting a job. The Nature around them is doing that, so they are too.
in my opinion I would say these two concepts are entirely different and they are in some what affect different people differently. in some cases people were nurture or taught to do something whether they deviant act or deviant . An example of a deviant act would be Terrorism,because they taught that way and they weren't born with it. I think nature and nurture have a similarity between them because no one can actually born with some kind of nature. it all depends upon their society were they raised.In Margret Meid research, she found that these two different groups of people were living only 100 miles have entirely different charastritics. one group is aggressive and the other group is calm people.I don't that's a feature that they born with.I think they are raised in two different socities with completly different ideas but they weren't born that way.
I think that everyone is born with a specific personality and that certain things comes "naturally" to them, i.e., artists - singers, dancers, painters. Others can be taught these things or have their talents "nurtured" and then be just as good as if these talents came naturally.
Alyssa Bart
nurture shapes who a person is at one point in their life, however, nature could change that.wen you are growing up your parents tell you what is acceptable in scoiety and they mold you into a proper person. your parents teach you manners, respect and many other valuable things in order for you to function in society. although your parents are with you most of the time when you are young, they arent with you so much as you get older. you start growing up and growing apart from their ways and begin to come into your own. you begin to change beause of friends and other influences around you and that means nature is shaping the person you are. overall, i believe that when you are young you are shaped by nurture but as you grow up you are shaped by nature.
I believe that nurture deffinitely starts you off to be the person you are, but nature could absolutely change that. When your a kid your parents always tell you whats right and whats wrong and you learn that way. But when you get older and you are in school, the kids around you that you hang out with could pressure you to do things that you know is wrong. They could change the kind of person you are. So therefore nature and nurture both come into play to make you the kind of person you are.
I think that in people's lives, nurture plays the most important role in creating a person. you can be born into a bad family, but if you're adopted and raised in a good family with morals, then you will turn out to be a good person. I agree with James' comment that when you get older nature starts to shape you a little because you don't have authority figures teaching you anymore. You teach yourself.
I think there isn't an answer to nature vs. nurture. I think that nuture is the reasom we are who we are. it has to do with the person that raised you and their value. i do agree with Alyssa's comment though that you were born with specific traits that can also make up who you are.
going to be a superstar. The person would still have to work hard. Nature may have an influence but its what they experience and how they take it that is going to decide how they are.
A person becomes who they are through nature. Traits they get from their parents may have an impact but does not make them who they come. A person may come from an athletic family doesnt mean there
I think that its a person's nurture that shapes the person into what she or he is. I don't think that it is nature because no matter where you were born you are going to be taught by your parents the way they think is good, and the way that they were thought when they were young. i also don't think nature has a effect on you because you always have the option to go somewhere else if you or your family are struggling. i think its nurture because nurture is very hard to change, no matter what you cannot change the way you were brought up and what your family expects from you, and your family will always have a big influence on you so most of the time you act the way that you were brought up.
In my opinion nurture has more of an impact on a person rather than nature. I believe that many people turn out like their parents not because they inherited genes or traits. After spending pretty much the first half of your life with your parents, it's pretty much inevitable to start acting like them, and eventually the person you become will be your parents. Therefore nurture is dominant over nature. In addition, as children we mimic everything we see, our actions are based off of that. Another prime example of nurture over nature is that everyone isn't born destined to be a specific person, people always change as they grow up there are many things that influence us.
My opinion in Nature vs. Nurture is that people are born with some animal instincts that they will follow, but they will also grow up learning things from the environment around them. Depending on our life experiences and the way we grow up, makes us the person we will become in the future.
Just want to start off saying that this is my first lifetime blog and I told myself that I would never blog, but here I am. Nature vs. Nurture is a very complex discussion, and the answer to the question is really based on the way you look at a situation. For example, someone who is raised in a not so great environment who is faced with drugs or abuse can grow up to be successful and determined to make sure that their children will never live that life. This contradicts nurture because the way that the person was raised isn't what that person has become. At the same time, it's in that persons nature to choose his or her own path and get out of that situation. Life decisions are made both off of nature and nurture.
i think that it is both. every thing that you do has to do with the things around you and how you were raised. to me there is not one thing alone that determines how you act as a person. all of things that i do today and the customs that i follow were all given to me by my parents and other people around me.
to me i think theres no real answer to Meads question. you can be brought up and be raised by poverty, addicts,criminals,even abuse, but i think if you could stay away from those aspects, you would not be making a huge circle in your life by being all those things. besides alot of people had a troubled life and some people made them selves very succeful in life(in a legal way)
In my opinon it takes a mixture of both Nature and Nurture to shape who we will become in the future. When we are young we take all the point of views and ideas our parents give us about the world and apply them to our lives. But its up to us to know when to aplly those morals and ideas we get when were young, we are influenced by the people around us to act in certain ways, for example if your out with your friends you are more likely to enroll in the activity that their doing witht hem instead of shunning your self out, it could be drinking as well as it could just be goin out to a movie.In my opinion Nurture is dominant for the early stages of our life but Nature becomes a big part of how we act as we get older.
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