Chapter Four - Nature, Nurture, and Human Diversity

This chapter was very in depth and I learned so much. I think the three things that have stuck with me the most throughout reading the chapter and working on the assignments are: information on twin studies, nature verses nurture, and genetic environmental influences. The majority of the information in this chapter I had never heard of before or just never really paid that much attention to before now.

Twin studies I found to be intriguing. I had always assumed that twins that looked exactly alike were identical and the twins that looked different were fraternal. However, I was wrong. Although it is true that identical twins usually look alike; fraternal twins can as well. I also learned that identical twins usually have mirror traits. For example in a pair of identical twins; it would not be unlikely for one to be right handed and the other to be left handed. I also found it interesting how people who had been raised as fraternal twins later found out that they were indeed identical and that their bond strengthened based off that information alone. The one thing that I didn't understand is how this correlates to those of us who are not twins, or do not have siblings? I understand that some of this information can transfer especially on the genetics end of things. The studies that I read lean more towards the idea that our genetics are more influential than our environment. (which probably is true) I also wondered if twins have the mirrored qualities what about identical triplets or other multiples? Overall I enjoyed learning about this stuff.

Nature verses nurture fascinates me. I knew that our genes had accounted for our looks and some of our traits but I had no idea to what extent. When working on the activity about this; at times I found myself going back and forth as to whether or not I truly felt that nature played a bigger role or nurture -our parents. I read several articles that claim both have an influence or an affect on your behaviors, traits, and overall self. (they are inter-related) I liked this section of the chapter because it made me think about the influences in my life and what extent comes from my genes and from the influences in my environment. (basically heritability) This would tie in with the genetic environmental influences. I read in an article that they did a study on whether poverty, illiterate parents or mental retardation affected a child's IQ. They found that while it didn't directly affect; that it did have some affect on a child and consequently lower IQ scores. So in that case I guess the environmental factors affected the children more than the genes.