Essay on Developmental Psychology: Social Development

The influence of inborn biological factors and the contrasting aspect of environmental issues has been applied to many areas of psychology and development. The debate concerning nature and nurture has indeed become a central and enduring feature within developmental psychology. It addresses whether it is one’s innate biological nature that influences behavioural traits or if it is life experiences and nurture from the their social environment.

Classic psychology sought to establish firm evidence to discredit the involvement of one or the other of these influences. Modern psychologists however recognise that the origins of human behaviour cannot be referred to in such black and white terms. More recent research focuses on how both biology and environment interact to create the different psychological phenomena that we see and experience.
Social development encompasses a number of areas with temperament, personality, gender development and aggression used in this piece. In the past psychologists have attempted to isolate environmental or biological aspects of a topic. The studies of feral children, adoption and twins have become important due to the apparent ability to separate the perceived influences in natural setting.
Reports of feral children focus on children who have been separated from their parents and ‘adopted’ as part of a family of mammals such as wolves or monkeys. The reliability of such information has been doubted but Ward (2002) argues that documented behaviour of children strongly supports the idea that upbringing is entirely responsible for a vast number of traits found to be common in the human population. Observed social behaviour in these children has highlighted issues such as a complete unawareness of the feelings of others, no emotional control, lack of attachment patterns, and no moral or value led beliefs. Although there is strong evidence for the environmental argument the feral children research does not allow us…

Loading...

Tags: behaviour genetics, human behaviour, modern society, social behaviour, social development

Login or Register:

Login or register and get access to hundreds of essays FOR FREE.

Either click here to register, or use the form below to login...