The Bad Seed

14 Pages 3398 Words

Introduction


This is a paper about the effects of nature verses nurture on child development – specifically as it relates to the “difficult” child. Seeing as the burden of proof rests more on the nature aspect of the way a child develops, this paper focuses more on the evidence that nature indeed takes a huge role in determining “how” a child could develop. “Heredity is one of the reasons that parents with problems often have children with problems. It is the most ignored fact in all of Psychology.” (Harris, 1999)

The “Nature verses Nurture” argument is one that has been widely discussed and debated since the very beginning of the idea of child psychology. Child Psychology is a relatively new science, but even in the times of Rousseau, the argument was present.

Parents should realize that there is more at work in this issue than their parental methods and family environment when it comes to a child who may be labeled as “out of control”. So many times, a parent or parents are blamed (or blame themselves) when a child is one of a difficult temperament. This paper will discuss both sides of the nature/nurture issue and come to a researched conclusion.


Genetics

There is no argument that genetics take a role in the development of a child. Even though it is an obvious biological fact that genes and heredity play some part in a child’s life, it is amazing how much of a role that nature takes. Thomas and Chess identified three main temperaments that a child is born with. The easy temperament is one in which the child smiles easily, adapts to change well and has a positive outlook overall. The slow-to-warm-up temperament is one in which the child is less reactive and emotional, quiet and can be seen as almost negative at first. Eventually, they warm up to people and adapt to situations. The child with a difficult temperament has a hard time adapting to change and is often times negative. ...