Is Genetics A Factor One Has No Control Over - 2716 Words

Our life begins prior to conception in some ways. What we will become is determined by factors which are in place before we are conceived. Our genetic makeup, our environment and culture all have an effect on whom we become. Genetics is a factor one has no control over. There are essentially two philosophies on our development. Freud regarded our development relatively complete by adolescence. In contrast, Erikson considered development to continue throughout one’s life span (Feldman, 2014, pp. 14 - 15). John Watson said â€Å"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer,†¦show more content†¦In these early twin studies, very consistent effects emerged that suggested one thing: when it comes to personality, genes matter (Kraus, 2013). In some of life’s endeavors one’s personality determines the outcome. Could Watson train them: probably. Would they all be successful at what they were trained in: probably not. There are those with divergent understandings of the development based on external elucidations. Piaget’s theory was that all pass through a defined sequence of universal changes. (Piaget) insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, that stages cannot be skipped, and that each stage is marked by new intellectual abilities and a more complex understanding of the world (WebMD, 2014). In Bronfenbrenner approach to the development, he considered the immediate environment, the connection between the various aspects of the immediate environment such as: parents to child, students to teachers, employees to bosses and friends to friends. Those interconnections play a part in the development of an individual (Feldman, 2014, pp. 22 - 23). Another developmentalist, Lev Vygotsky believed complete understanding of child development could not be understood without accounting for the culture in which people develop. â€Å"The socialcultural theory emphasizes how cogni tive development proceeds as a result of social interactions between members of a culture (Feldman, 2014, p. 25). Vygotsky placed