Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 9 and pages 372 through 380 of Chapter 12 in Power and Society: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, and view the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Links to an external site.), Genie Feral Child TLC Documentary 2003 (Links to an external site.), Abandoned Toddler Rescued and Raised by Feral Dogs | 60 minutes Australia (Links to an external site.), and Twins: A Window Into Human Nature | Nancy Segal | TEDxManhattanBeach (Links to an external site.) videos.
Making explicit use of the psychological perspectives in these resources above, respond to the following bullets:
Explain in your own words what makes the field of psychology different from anthropology, sociology, and political science.
What do you consider to be the main or most important contribution of the field of psychology to society?
Apply the concept of nature versus nurture to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as you discuss how these influence an individual’s ability to reach the top of the hierarchy.
In what ways does nature help or hurt a person’s outcomes, and in what ways does nurture help or hurt a person’s outcomes?
Read and contemplate the following: Chapter 9 of your text explores an example of a twin study. Chapter 12, pages 372 through 380, considers genetic and environmental explanations of mental illness and crime. After reading and contemplating these chapters, please locate a different social science scholarly research article on twin studies and consider the results of that study as well.
Then, respond to this question: While no one truly knows which is more influential on an individual’s behavior, if you had to guess, what percentage are we influenced by nature, and what percentage by nurture?
Explain your reasoning, referring to the course text and other research you located.
Be sure to provide concrete examples from the text and from your own research.
links
Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/theories-personality/v/maslow-hierarchy-of-needs
Genie feral child TLC Documentary
Abandoned toddler rescued
Twins: A window into human