The document discusses the nature vs. nurture debate, emphasizing the role of heredity and environmental influences on human development. It contrasts continuity and discontinuity views of development, highlighting that some changes are gradual while others occur in distinct stages. Additionally, it explores the stability vs. change perspective, questioning whether personality traits are enduring or shaped by life experiences.

1. Nature vs. Nurture
Nature or Nurture?
inheritance and maturation. One of the reasons why the
development of human beings is so similar is because our
common specifies heredity (DNA) guides all of us through
many of the same developmental changes at about the same
points in our lives.
ure refers to the impact of the environment, which
involves the process of learning through experiences.
interaction between these two forces that causes
development.
Some aspects of development are distinctly biological,
such as puberty. However, the onset of puberty can be
affected by environmental factors such as diet and
nutrition.
Continuity vs. Discontinuity
es development involve gradual, cumulative change
(continuity) or distinct changes (discontinuity)?
our development like that of a seedling gradually
growing into an acacia tree? Or is it more like that of
a caterpillar becoming a butterfly?
inuity view says that change is gradual. Children
become more skillful in thinking, talking or acting much
the same way as they get taller. Some theories of
development argue that changes are simply a matter of

2. quantity; children display more of certain skills as they
grow older.
abrupt-
a succession of changes that produce different behaviors
in different age-specific life periods called stages.
Biological changes provide the potential for these
changes. Psychologists of the discontinuity view believe
that people go through the same stages, in the same order,
but not necessarily at the same rate. They outline a
series of sequential stages in which skills emerge at
certain points of development.
Stability vs. Change
best described as involving stability
or as involving change?
do we develop into someone different from who we were at
an earlier point of development?
lity implies personality traits present during
present during infancy endure throughout the lifespan.
In contrast, change theorists argue that personalities
are modified by interactions with family, experiences at
school, and acculturation.
occur in early childhood. According to Freud, much of a
child's personality is completely established by the age
of five. If this is indeed the case, those who have
experienced deprived or abusive childhoods might never
adjust or develop normally.
ave found that
the influence of childhood events does not necessarily
have a dominating effect over behavior throughout the

3. life. Many people with less-that-perfect childhoods go
on to develop normally into well-adjusted adults.