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Influence of Heredity and Environment
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Influence of Heredity and Environment
CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND PEDAGOGY
INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT
Heredity and environment greatly influence the growth, development and behaviour of a child, Each child inherits certain capacities for growth. The way in which these capacities develop is influenced by the opportunities afforded by the environment, for example, the height to which the individual is capable of growing is determined by heredity. The environment cannot change the limits imposed by heredity. Whereas a poor environment Le.. lack of exposure will slow down a child who is genetically clever, a rich environment which provides and exposes a child to a lot of educational facilities will not change a child who is genetically bom not clever to become clever. A good environment will enable the individual to reach these limits. The environment influences the speed with which the child develops. The environment shapes the individual’s development in the sense that it promotes the growth of certain capacities and neglects the growth of others. For instance, if the child experiences more emphasis on academic and no attachment to physical education, the child’s capacity to develop certain skills will be neglected
Effects of Heredity and Environment on Development of Personality
Before discussing the contribution of hereditary factors let us see what is meant by heredity when we talk of heredity we usually have biological heredity in mind. The term heredity may also be used in another sense, for example, if a child is brought up in a particular social environment say of a tribe, the value of that tribe and the norms of that tribe are inculcated in him through other members of that social group and we call it social heredity. In the same way, a student in a classroom situation brings with him a specific cultural heredity also. Here our discussion will be focused on the influence of only biological heredity on individual differences. Each individual has a specific set of potentials which are developed through the environment. These potentialities and characteristics possessed by the individual are the result of his biological heredity. The influence of heredity is so strong that twins brought up in dramatically different environments show very much similarity in terms of their mental abilities and other traits. This shows that even drastically different environments are not capable of overcoming hereditary influences.
Hereditary, or the genetic transmission of characteristics from parents to offspring, determine personality to a certain extent. Hereditary characteristics manifest at birth such as hair and eye colour, skin colour and body type. Hereditary also includes aptitude or the capacity to learn a skill or inclination for a particular body of knowledge. It establishes the limits of one’s personality traits that can be developed. This aptitude creates the desire for a person to learn something For instance, the son of a sports hero like a boxer superstar is expected to inherit the genes of his father. His capacity for growth in the boxing arena is immense because he is skilled.
Behavioural geneticists, Dr. David Reiss and colleagues from George Washington University. conducted a thorough and long-term study on the effects of genetics to a person’s personality. The result of their study revealed that it seems that genetic influences are largely responsible for how ‘adjusted kids are : how well they do in school, how they get along with their peers, whether they engage in dangerous or delinquent behaviour
Effect of Environment on Personality Development
Apart from heredity, environment also affects the child development. The concept of environment needs little clarification when we say the environment of the child is not good, sometimes we mean that he is living in a locality which does not have desirable people or we mean that he is living in the rural area where he does not have access to many things which an urban environment may provide. As has rightly been said, the psychological environment consists of the sum total of the stimulation the individual receives from conception till death. This is an active concept of environment ic. the physical presence of objects does not in itself constitute an environment unless the objects serve as stimuli for the individual.
The role of the prenatal environment on the development of the child is well known and has been demonstrated through various experiments. The diet a mother takes at the time of pregnancy, her mental status, glandular secretions and even the thinking process influence the development of the child. Environmentalists firmly believe that, under favourable circumstances, every individual is almost infinitely improvable.
Newman, Freeman and Holzinger conducted thorough research on nineteen pairs of identical twins reared in different environments. Initially they found that the pairs reared apart show mere differences in LQ. But Woodworth (1941) in his analysis of the results pointed out a factor called error of measurement that is always involved in intelligence testing. When this factor was taken into account and results interpreted, Woodworth concluded that environmental differences do operate to produce 1.Q. differences in persons with exactly the same hereditary potentialities. But the magnitude of these differences is not as large as those found among children whose heredity is not alike.
Environment and its Interaction with Hereditary Factors
Nature refers to what a child has inherited genetically, from the parents (eg. eye colour, appearance, etc). The influence of the environment on the development of the child (e.g. liking for a type of music) is referred to as nurture. The earlier view of child development focused either entirely on nature or nurture. Many favoured heredity, and believed that we are born with certain talents and personalities. These determine who we are and what we become.
In the other view, the focus was on the role of the environment. We learn to do things for which we get rewards (or praises) and do not do things for which we are punished (including disapproval from elders) Both views contain some truth but neither is complete. To understand the development of a person, we have to study the complex interaction between nature and nurture (or heredity and environment).
Let us consider an example. A child is bom with a talent for music. In the child’s family, this talent for music is expressed by the child at an early age, through his activities of singing and listening to music. The parents notice the child’s interest in music and expose the child to more music and give him a toy musical instrument (e.g. ek tara or flute). The child’s interest in music grows further and his talent develops and this makes the parents offer even more musical experiences (e.g. playing music on stage, attending music concerts etc.). This has a further positive effect on the child’s talent and his desire to play music.
It is thus clear that both the child’s inherited talent and environment shaped his/her development. The child had the talent for music, but this led to a change in the environment by making her parents provide more musical experiences at home. Now these experiences in the environment further developed the child’s talent and motivation and made the parents introduce more musical experiences to the child. The process goes on and on like this in a form of transaction. This approach to understanding development is called a transactional model (TA).
The TA model is able to explain why brothers and sisters, though physically in the same environment, always grow up in different ways. This simply means that the environment of family life is always changing in the process of adjusting to the personalities of its members. A first born child grows up with very different experiences than a middle bom or youngest child. A child who displays temper tantrums (getting angry easily, without sufficient cause) has a very different experience with her parents as compared to her easy going brother.
Let us take another example to make the point more clear. Suppose you as a parent (if not today. then in the future) are facing difficulty with your argumentative 12-year-old. The TA model reminds you that you must first think about the factor which has brought your child to this point. Is it a personality trait that is troubling you? Is she stubborn (does not listen to others) all the time and is thus part of her nature? Does she resist any change in her usual routine? Does she lack the ability to talk to you about what’s troubling her, and could that be upsetting her? The child represents one part of the puzzle or problem which has to be solved.
The next questions you have to ask are: What is my role in all this? Am I somehow rewarding the very behaviours? Am I trying to stop by paying too much attention to them? Am I having too much expectation from a 12-year old? Am I reminded of my younger sister with whom I had faced a similar problem, and could be causing irritation in me now? The environment which includes you forms the other part of the picture.
Finally, you need to put the two together to obtain a full picture of what is going on and how to bring about a positive change. In which way my behaviour is affecting my child? And most importantly, what do I need to change to break this pattern of behaviour (argumentation in the child) located in its transactions with nurture? How can 1 better understand the forces behind my child’s behaviour so as to improve my response to it?
This may sound very theoretical to some of you But it’s exactly the question which many parents are always asking themselves, even if they are not aware of it, By understanding the TA-model you will be in a better position to understand the interaction between nature and nurture which is responsible for your child’s behaviour and development. This will help you in deciding which role you can play for effective development and improve the child’s behaviour.
In summary according to the transactional model of development, the child changes the environment which in turn changes the child. The child’s development is like a complex dance in which nature and nurture both lead, and are led.
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