How many percents nature is your omelet?
One of the major discussions within the field of psychology is the question of nature versus nurture. If you get or don't get a disorder, or if you become or don't become a juvenile delinquent, is that because you were born that way, or because of the way life treated you? It's an interesting discussion, with often surprising results.
For example, anti-social behavior and delinquency are often thought to be learned behavior. We are all born cute adorable babies who can do no wrong, right? Wrong. When scientists in New Zealand decided to follow every single baby born in a town in a certain year for as long as possible (the children in question are currently about 26, and still being followed, as are their children), they found that most people who wound up showing a lot of anti-social and delinquent behavior as adults were difficult as babies and toddlers already. And while some difficult babies and toddlers turned out fine people, there were virtually no children who had been lovely babies who ended up problem children as adults.
On the other side of the equation, training programs for children of mentally retarded mothers (one of the main risk factors for mental retardation) have been found to lead to IQs that are, at average, about 20 points higher than those children of mothers with retardation who didn't participate in these programs. In many cases, those 20 IQ points were enough to lift the children out of the mentally retarded category into average.
Now this research is all great and fascinating. The problem is, people want numbers. How many percents nature is x disorder, and how many percents nurture? For those people, I have a question, which one of my teachers once asked our class. However, it requires some introduction.
If you're making an omelet, you also have both nature - eggs, some milk, spices, maybe some mushrooms and ham - and nurture - you break the eggs into a bowl, mix them with the milk and spices, cut up your ham and mushrooms, heat some butter in a pan... Now I can change around some of this, and still get a fine omelette. It's no less of an omelet if I decide to leave out the mushrooms because my friend hates them, or use soy milk instead of regular, nor is it less of an omelet if I decide to start with cutting things instead of with breaking the eggs. But if I completely change either the nature, say by leaving out the eggs, I won't get an omelet no matter what I do. If I completely change the nurture, say by deciding I'd rather juggle the eggs or have a food fight, the result won't be an omelet either. So I need both the right nature and the right nurture to end up with the result I want. Now, if I do end up with an omelet... how many percents nature is that omelet?
With special thanks to prof. dr. Orobio de Castro, who, in my first year of studies, gave a lecture that still stands our in my mind 4 years later.
For example, anti-social behavior and delinquency are often thought to be learned behavior. We are all born cute adorable babies who can do no wrong, right? Wrong. When scientists in New Zealand decided to follow every single baby born in a town in a certain year for as long as possible (the children in question are currently about 26, and still being followed, as are their children), they found that most people who wound up showing a lot of anti-social and delinquent behavior as adults were difficult as babies and toddlers already. And while some difficult babies and toddlers turned out fine people, there were virtually no children who had been lovely babies who ended up problem children as adults.
On the other side of the equation, training programs for children of mentally retarded mothers (one of the main risk factors for mental retardation) have been found to lead to IQs that are, at average, about 20 points higher than those children of mothers with retardation who didn't participate in these programs. In many cases, those 20 IQ points were enough to lift the children out of the mentally retarded category into average.
Now this research is all great and fascinating. The problem is, people want numbers. How many percents nature is x disorder, and how many percents nurture? For those people, I have a question, which one of my teachers once asked our class. However, it requires some introduction.
If you're making an omelet, you also have both nature - eggs, some milk, spices, maybe some mushrooms and ham - and nurture - you break the eggs into a bowl, mix them with the milk and spices, cut up your ham and mushrooms, heat some butter in a pan... Now I can change around some of this, and still get a fine omelette. It's no less of an omelet if I decide to leave out the mushrooms because my friend hates them, or use soy milk instead of regular, nor is it less of an omelet if I decide to start with cutting things instead of with breaking the eggs. But if I completely change either the nature, say by leaving out the eggs, I won't get an omelet no matter what I do. If I completely change the nurture, say by deciding I'd rather juggle the eggs or have a food fight, the result won't be an omelet either. So I need both the right nature and the right nurture to end up with the result I want. Now, if I do end up with an omelet... how many percents nature is that omelet?
With special thanks to prof. dr. Orobio de Castro, who, in my first year of studies, gave a lecture that still stands our in my mind 4 years later.
posted by Geerte at 1:44 PM
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