Genetics Vs Social Enviroments

I don’t really know that much about sociology until the first day of the class. I always want to know about people’s behaviors, why do some change their behaviors day after day? I understand anybody could face a good day the next day could be a horrible day. I believe its most like because of the social environment or their lives could let them face certain challenging that affects them socially. Therefore; which I learned many things the first day the class that makes me realized how much it opens my eyes to see myself in and with different point of perspective people behaviors. However; I have different personality than everyone in my family. I have many things that make me I am part of the family, but I still believe each individually has her/his own that makes her/his different or unique from others.
From sociology class I learned that people learn things from others by socialization internalizing values with others and from families? Even though I agree with this statement I still I have some disagreement with genetics. I am not disagreeing 100%, but I always have questions about genetics that I never quite understand. I believe that genetics don’t always work perfect. When I say this I am not talking about DNA I am talking about how person behaviors or his/her characteristics that shapes her/his to go beyond their genetics. That led them to have some kind of character they are inside and outside. I also believe that kids learn many things from their family, friends, and environment until they know who they really want to be. But does this affect them who they are inside and outside? Which one is more influences them more as who they are inside or outside?
Nevertheless; when one of my classmates was talking about how her sister is different from the rest of the family. That makes me to think about genetics I had in my mind because genetics don’t makes us how me see things or how we approach and value things different way than our family. When sometimes some people show phenomenon behaviors others see that it’s because of her/his family. No it’s not because of the family it’s because of who we are chosen to be. In fact when we see some inadequate behaviors we mostly like we get it from the environmental factors we live in, whether it positive or negative. And it’s because how we process which each things we learn and internalize the values and norms we think it fit who we are. I know genetics, social life, environments play a large roles part of how we behaviors and how act. But which one is most character impact human’s behavior, environment or genetics? Also do they pass those behaviors to their next generation, and which one do they pass the negative or positive one?

Nature versus Nurture?

How much of who we are is determined by our genes or biology? How much of who we are is determined by our environment, including where and how we live and how we interact with those around us? While the question of nature versus nurture is unanswerable in many respects, it strongly influences how we see ourselves and others. It helps us explain traits and behaviors, which has consequences for how we treat each other.

Science does allow us to determine the extent to which we inherit certain traits and behaviors using twin studies. Since twins who are raised together often have fully shared genetic material and highly shared environments and experiences, it would still be difficult to attribute similarities among twins to either nature or nurture. But, when twins are reared apart, this provides an ideal way of studying whether nature or nurture matters more.

Traits like eye color and blood type are predominantly genetic, while language (what language one speaks) and culture are predominantly environmental. While we tend to think of traits like height and weight as genetically determined, the full expression of how tall we are and how much we weight as adults depends also on our diet, physical activity, and other variables we experience throughout childhood and adulthood.

The questions about whether certain behaviors are biological or environmentally determined raises lots of other interesting questions. For example, if perpetrating violence were found to be genetic, what would this imply that we should do about people who are biologically more likely to commit violent acts? On the other hand, if perpetrating violence were found to be a socialized behavior, how might we change the way we socialize children and adults to prevent violence? How would we respond to people committing violent acts- would we imprison them to be punished, enroll them in therapy, or teach them about anger management?

This question becomes more salient when we consider the roles of mental health and mental illness in crime. When someone commits a really terrible act of violence, we often say that they are ‘bad’ people and they can’t be helped. We might also want them completely removed out of society. This implies that they can’t be ‘fixed,’ and that their permanent state is to be immoral or violent. Many mental health challenges that may lead to violent acts (bipolar disorder, for example) are caused by neural imbalances (biological) combined with early trauma or abuse. Treatments that address the biological causes (medication) and the environmental causes (therapy) can be very successful, which implies that perhaps we can help alleviate the negative impact of such disorders. Certainly, the vast majority of people who do have mental health problems or trauma experience do not commit violent crimes. So, are people who commit violent acts products of unfortunate circumstances instead of inherently bad people? Thinking about how our society treats criminals and people with mental health problems, which side of the nature/nurture debate do we seem to believe more in regard to violent crime?

The nature/nurture question is also being utilized by those for and against gay rights. Those who oppose gay rights say being gay is a choice. Those who are for gay rights say that gays and lesbians are born that way. How do these two attributions help support their respective views? Will finding out whether being gay is biological or environmental end the debate over gay rights? If ‘they’re born that way,’ should gay marriage be legal? If ‘it’s a choice,’ should it be illegal?

This debate also raises questions about how much support parents need to successfully raise children and how much of a role communities and societies should play in rearing children. How much of our behavior do we believe is dictated by biology/genetics, social influences, and free will? In class, we will talk about the moral and ethical problems associated with ‘biological determinism,’ the idea that biology determines our behavior.

Which behaviors do you think are biologically-based? Which ones are learned? How do you think a person who lacked human interaction during early years of life would be as an adult?