ISSUES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

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The interaction of heredity and
environment is so extensive that to ask
which is more important , nature or
nurture, is like asking which is more
important to a rectangle, height or
width.

- William Greenough
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 Learning Outcome:

At the end of this topic, you should be

able to take an informed stand/position
on the three (3) issues on development.

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Introduction:

Each of us has his/her own informal way

of looking at our own and other people’s
development. These paradigms of
human development while obviously
lacking in scholastic vigor, provide us
with a conceptual framework for
understanding ourselves and others
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Scholars have come up with their own
models of human development. Back up
by solid research, they take stand on
issues on human development.

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The Issues:

1. Nature versus Nurture

2. Continuity versus Discontinuity
3. Stability versus Change

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1. Nature versus Nurture

Which has a more significant influence

on human development? Nature or
nurture? Nature refers to an individual’s
biological inheritance. Nurture refers to
environmental experience.

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2. Continuity versus Discontinuity

Does development involve gradual,

cumulative change (continuity) or
distinct changes (discontinuity)? To
make it more concrete, here is a
question: Is 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?
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3. Stability versus Change

Is development best described as

involving stability or as involving
change? Are we what our first
experiences have made of us or do
we develop into someone different
from who we were at an earlier point
in development?
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The issues presented can be
translated into questions that have
sparked animated debate among
developmentalists. Are girls less likely
to do well in math because of their
‘feminine’ nature or because of
society’s ‘masculine’ bias?

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How extensively can the elderly be
trained to reason more effectively?
How much, if at all, does our memory
decline in old age? Can techniques be
used to prevent or reduce the decline?

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For children who experienced a world
of poverty, neglect by parents and
poor schooling in childhood, can
enriched experiences in adolescence
remove the ‘deficits’ that they
encountered earlier in their
development? (Santrock, 2002)

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Most life – span developmentalists
recognize that extreme positions on
these issues are unwise. And so the
debate continues, up to this time.
Development is not all nature or all
nurture, not all continuity or discontinuity
and not all stability or all change.
- Lerner, 1988, as quoted by Santrock,
2002
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Both nature and nurture, continuity and
discontinuity, stability and change
characterize our life – span
development… The key to development
is the interaction of nature and nurture
rather than either factor alone (Rutter,
2001 as quoted by Santrock,2002). In
other words, it is a matter of “both-and”
not “either-or”.
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To summarize, both genes and
environment are necessary for a person
even to exist. Without genes, there is no
person; without environment, there is no
person (Scarr and Weinberg, 1980,
quoted by Santrock, 2002). Heredity and
environment operate together – or
cooperate and interact – to produce a
person’s intelligence, temperament,
height, weight… ability to read and so
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If heredity and environment interact,
which one has a grater influence or
contribution, heredity or
environment? The relative
contributions of heredity and
environment are not additive.

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So we can’t say 50% is a contribution
of heredity and 50% of environment.
Neither is it correct to say that full
genetic expression happens once,
around conception or birth, after which
we take our genetic legacy into the
world to see how far it gets us.

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Genes produce proteins throughout the
life span, in many different
environments. Or they don’t produce
these proteins depending on how harsh
or nourishing those environments are.
(Santrock, 2002)

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 What realization did
today’s discussion give
you?

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Pointers on Midterm Examination:

1. Human Development: Meaning,

Concepts and Approaches
2. The Stages of Development and
Developmental Tasks
3. Issues on Human Development

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