Sociology – Nature Versus Nurture

The roles of nature (what we genetically inherit) and or nurture (what we learn) in making us what we are have long been argued. The idea that humans are determined by these two influences dates back to the ancient Greek philosopher Protagorus who in the fifth century BC compared physics (nature) and nomos (tradition). It is however difficult to unravel the separate influences of nature and nurture. If the children of musically talented parents are themselves musically talent, is it because of genetic inheritance (nature) or because of a musical environment at home where they grow up(nurture)? The nature versus nurture debate concentrates on the question of how far our behavior is determined by nature at birth or by nurture after birth. In seventeenth century philosopher John Locke claimed that the mind of a child was like a Tabula Rasa (blank slate). People became what they were taught to be. By the second half of nineteenth century many social scientists started to argue that human behavior is determined by nature. Charles Darwin’s theory came up with the idea that humans and other animals have descended ultimately from the same ancestors.  Read also  Sociology and Social Integration. Animals are governed by instincts (fixed traits that are inherited and shared by all members of a species). These inherited mechanisms enable members of the species to perform complex tasks. For example twice a year the New Zealand cuckoo travel 4000 miles between New Zealand and Islands off the coast of New Guinea. The adults’ leave New Zealand before their eggs are hatched. The young cuckoos later on travel 4000 miles and join their par4ents-without ever having made the journey and with no one to guide them. Experiments have indicated that other birds also seem to have some inborn sense that guides their migration. Because animals are governed by instincts and human are also animals, some scholars reasoned that human behavior must also be governed by instincts. As a result many social scientists searched for the supposed instants that would explain all kinds of human behavior when they saw a mother feeding her baby they attributed it to the maternal instinct, when they were asked to explain war, they explained it was the aggressive instinct. They eventually discovered more that 14000 instincts, ranging from laughing instinct to a religious instinct. But these ideas of instinct have many short comings. Firstly the concept of instinct was tautological. (i. e. the explanation was true by definition. The instinct that was discovered was just another name for what was to be explained. For example the aggressive instinct was just another way of saying that they engage in warfare, in the same way that high temperature is another way of saying hot weather. Secondary the same instinct was used to explain contradictory actions for example the acquisitive instinct was used to explain both hard honest work and bank robbery. Thirdly, instincts are supposed to be in all human but human behavior around the world varies greatly. For example Arapesh of New Guinea or the Tasaday of Philippines do not have aggressive, nature in their behavior, if human have self preservative instinct then they would not have committed suicides. In 1969, An American psychologist Jensen claimed that only to percent of the variation between peoples intelligence is due to their social environment while 80 percent is fixed from birth by genetic inheritance. Another American psychologist, Professor Thomas Bouchard of Minnesota University carried out an experiment on Jim Twins which also help to argue that human behavior is determined more bye nature than by nurture. For example, James Lewis and James Springer were identical twins who were separated in the first year of life and brought up separately. He discovered an amazing number of coincidences about Jim Twins: †¢ Both had married women called Linda. †¢ Both had been divorced and had then married women called Betty. †¢ One of them had named his son James Allan and the other as James Alan. †¢ Both had had a dog called Toy †¢ Both had spent these holidays on the same beach in Florida. †¢ Both drove a blue Chevrolet. †¢ Both built white benches round the trunk of a tree in their gardens. †¢ Both had a habit of biting their fingernails. Both were chain smokers of same brand of cigarettes †¢ Their temperaments, voice patterns and nervous habits were also similar. Thus the case of Jim Twins might lead us towards the idea that nature determines our human behavior. Sociobiology (the systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior) was devel oped by E. O. Wilson in 1980 s. According to sociobiology’s human behavior is determined naturally just like animal behavior. According to sociobiologist Steven Gavlin and Alice Schlegel (1980) individuals act in order to maximize their genes in future generations. Thus the tendency of man to have sexual relationship with beautiful women is to maximize his genes. Similarly behavior of both men and women is thus guided by genetic factors. These above mentioned evidences shows that human behavior is determined by nature or genetic influences. Our race (color of the skin and other bodily features (sex, certain diseases, flood groups, are no doubt inherited. Human beings are directly influenced by nature. For example, hunger, thirst, physical fatigue, gradual but in exorable degeneration human body all constrain our human life, shaping what we can do and can be. For example vigorous physical exercise is beyond the capacities of virtually all 70 year olds. Similarly we are still subject to and contained by ecological or climatic conditions. Human communities, no matter how advanced or developed are powerless in the face of elemental forces of earthquakes hurricanes or snowfall. On the other hand, as the twentieth century began, the concept of instinct lost its strength. The idea that human behavior is determined by nurture or learning began to gain favor. For example Russian Psychologist Ivan Pavlov had shown that human beings like dogs can be trained or conditioned. American psychologist John Watson extended Pavlov’s experiment on dogs to human infants. For example Watson could make a little boy called Albert afraid of a white rat that had previously delighted him. He concluded that all emotions, and behaviors are learned through such associations and social environment make us who we are. He further added that learning by itself determines human personality. Although social scientists accepted the influence of biological factors they considered nurture to be more influence than heredity. Even the habits that seem very basic and essential to human nature also appear to depend on nurture i. . socialization. Evidence of the far reaching significance of socialization comes both from case studies of children who are deprived from socialization and those rose in the mild. Since the fourteenth century there have been mor4e than 50 recorded cases of feral children (children supposedly raised by animals) one of the most famous is mild boy of Avey ron-Victor. In 1979 he was captured in the woods by hunter in Southern France. He was about 11, completely naked, ran on all fours, could not speak, speechless, preferred uncooked food, could not do most of the simple things done by young children. Jean Itard a physician ried to train the boy. After 3 months he seemed little more human. He more clothes learned to sit at a table, and eat wit6h utensils. He started to show human emotions such as joy, gratitude and remorse. He lived for about 40 years but he never learned to speak nor ever become a normal person. Similarly in one orphanage Spit found that infants who were about 18 months old were left lying on their backs in small cubical most of the day without any human contact. Within a year all had become physically mentally, emotionally and socially retarded. Two years later more than a third of the children had died. Those who survived could not speak, they could not walk, they could not dress up and they could not use spoon. This shows that children who received little attention/socialization suffered very noticeable effects. Various cases of unsocialized children also indicate that human behavior is something that has to be learned. Humans do not simply become able to do all things instinctually. For example Anna, from Pennsylvania, USA was an illegitimate child. Anna was kept hidden from the public in the attic. She was just fed enough to keep her alive, she was neither touched nor bathed, and she simply lay still in her own filth. She was discovered in 1938 at the age of six. She looked like a skeleton. She was couldn’t talk nor walk. She did nothing but lay quietly in the ground her eyes vacant and expressionless. She was attempted to socialize. Eventually she could walk, feed herself. Brush her teeth and follow simple directions. But she never learned to speak and was far from normal. Isabella was also an illegitimate child. She was founding Ohio, USA in 1938 at the age 6. Her grandfather had kept her and her deaf-mute mother secluded in a dark room. She could however interact with mother. When discovered however she showed great fear and hostility towards people and made a strange croaking sound, when examined she was found to be feebleminded and uneducable, she was put on a systematic skillful training, after a slow start she began to talk. In nine months she could read and write within two years she was attending school, she had become a very bright cheerful and energetic girl. All these examples clearly show that human behavior is not some thing which is fixed at birth and which unfolds step by step naturally. Human behavior has to be learned therefore social environment actually determines human behavior. Sociologists use the following evidence to support the claim that human behavior is socially determined. Jack Yufe and Oscar Stohr are identical twins born in 1932. They were separated as babies after their parents divorced. Oscar was reared in Czechoslovakia by his mothers and Jack was reared in Trinidad by his father, social scientists at the University of Minnesota Observed them but this time they found many differences between the two twins:-