Personality And The Nature Vs Nurture Debate.

             Psychology is a scientific analysis of state of mind and behaviour. These studies have been taking place for over the last hundred years, the "nature versus nurture" debate is something that many psychologists have been unable to agree on for quite some time. A person in favour of the nature theory would believe that the genetic build up of someone is what determines his or her personality. A person in favour of the nurture theory would believe that the environment is what determines his or her personality.
             Skinner was a behaviourist and is probably best known for his writing on operant conditioning. He believed that most behaviour was a product of what he named ABC. This stands for Antecedents, behaviour, and Consequences. Antecedents are thought of as stimuli e.g. if someone is working in a factory and hears the sound of a bell they may leave their work area for their lunch, the bell is the stimuli (antecedents) to go for lunch.
             Behaviour is our actions, what we are doing. Working on the factory line or taking notes from the supervisor are both parts of behaviour linked to a day at work.
             Consequences are the outcome of the behaviour. Getting promoted at work, a pay rise, a good reference or even just a pat on the back from the boss are all consequences of good behaviour in the place of work.
             According to Skinner, we learn consequences of good behaviour by reinforcement. There are two kinds of reinforcement, positive and negative, e.g. if a child was at school and the teacher was to ask a question (stimuli) and the child was to answer (behaviour) the question correctly, then hopefully the teacher would praise (consequence) the child for doing so, this would be positive reinforcement and the child is likely to repeat this behaviour. However, if the child did not answer the question correctly and the teacher criticised the child for it, then this would be considered negative reinforcement and it would be un...

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Personality And The Nature Vs Nurture Debate.. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:17, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/9181.html