Understanding the Nature vs. Nurture Debate through John Locke's Argument
Nature and Nurture is a highly debated topic on the development of a person’s behaviour and decision-making. John Locke’s quote “Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from EXPERIENCE,” is in reference to the nature vs. nurture debate. Locke is supporting the argument of ‘nurture,’ that is, we are born as ‘white paper, void of all characters,’ to which we become ‘furnished’ from the people who surround us, the institutions we live in and our environments that form the basis of who we are. By fully supporting the nature argument, Locke is directly stating that nurture, the hereditary information encoded in a person from birth has no influence whatsoever in a person’s development and that it is entirely nature-responsible. To disprove Locke’s argument and prove that it is in fact a mix of both nature and nurture in human development, the example of Anti-social behaviour is used. The three main arguments of a cross-sectional study of identical and non-identical twins, the cause of anti-social behaviour and Adoption studies will be used to shed strong doubt on Locke’s ideology that Nurture is the only influence in Anti-social behaviour.
The features of anti-social behaviour include ‘hyperactivity-inattention, novelty- or sensation-seeking, impulsivity, low physiological reactivity, and cognitive impairment,’ (Locke) and Locke supports his argument that Nature is the cause for this through such theories as Piaget’s social cognitive development theory stating that encouragement from parents can develop a child’s attitude towards things such as praising them for taking their first steps which encourages them to do it again.
The first line of evidence supporting
The features of anti-social behaviour include ‘hyperactivity-inattention, novelty- or sensation-seeking, impulsivity, low physiological reactivity, and cognitive impairment,’ (Locke) and Locke supports his argument that Nature is the cause for this through such theories as Piaget’s social cognitive development theory stating that encouragement from parents can develop a child’s attitude towards things such as praising them for taking their first steps which encourages them to do it again.
The first line of evidence supporting