Nature vs. Nurture!
TAN (The Assimilated Negro) had a post in his blog recently about his own experiences of nature v. nurture. Why do any of us behave the way we do. Well for some it is nature. Alcoholism is a genetic disease that I am sure has affected all of you in one way or another. It genetically is passed on paternally and has shown to effect male offspring as soon as 9 and female offspring as soon as 15 generally speaking and according to present statistics. However we have all been in situations that either encourage or discourage Alcoholism. Some of us have siblings that genetically have an equal opportunity to inherit this disease; they have also been raised in the same environment with the same circumstances. So why does one sibling inherit Alcoholism and the other not. Resilience and coping mechanisms play the most important role for a person faced with adversary.
Alcoholism is just one example. Twin studies concerning schizophrenia have paved the way for further understanding of this concept. If you ever are interested in literature about this subject read Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much Is True. It’s a story about identical twins where one develops schizophrenia after facing an abusive relationship. It is a great example of how coping mechanisms produce positive and negative situations and further coping mechanisms in that situation effect the over-all psyche.
What does this mean? You are a product of how your personality and genetic potential reacts to its environment. Further implications suggest that improvement in situation and personality may overcome and rehabilitate a person. Looking at our current Prison System, a “Time Out” may work for a 5 year old but it probably will not work to decrease the recidivism rate of prisoners. Many prisons are working toward viewing their facilities as a Rehabilitation Center. Over the holidays I will be interviewing for a position as an inmate resources coordinator at the brand new rehabilitation center erected in place of the county jail. When a prisoner is released from jail they are given advice such as stay away from your old environment, family, friends, ectra that may illicit negative behavior. Then they would hand them their belongings and the prisoner would be on their way. In the blow Johnny Depp’s Character says “I entered prison with a bachelors in Marijuana and left with a doctorate in Cocaine.” If we are going to solve the social problems around prisons then we must also be concerned with halting social deviance and rehabilitation within the prisons.
Claire wrote about compassion and listening to the stories of people who need help. If you want to read more about stories about survival and perseverance I would suggest reading David Pelzer entitled A Child Called It, The Lost Boy, A Man Named Dave, Help Yourself, The Privilege of Youth, and Help Yourself for Teens. I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Pelzer address CMU 4 years ago and I found him to be incredibly funny and motivating. At that point I hadn’t read the books yet and he had only two of them in mass circulization. After reading them it was hard to comprehend that the funny, courteous, witty, intelligent man that we had met was the same person in the book. Look for One Child by Torrey Hayden and a book called Running with Scissors. I apologize for not having many adult oriented book samples available.
Alcoholism is just one example. Twin studies concerning schizophrenia have paved the way for further understanding of this concept. If you ever are interested in literature about this subject read Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much Is True. It’s a story about identical twins where one develops schizophrenia after facing an abusive relationship. It is a great example of how coping mechanisms produce positive and negative situations and further coping mechanisms in that situation effect the over-all psyche.
What does this mean? You are a product of how your personality and genetic potential reacts to its environment. Further implications suggest that improvement in situation and personality may overcome and rehabilitate a person. Looking at our current Prison System, a “Time Out” may work for a 5 year old but it probably will not work to decrease the recidivism rate of prisoners. Many prisons are working toward viewing their facilities as a Rehabilitation Center. Over the holidays I will be interviewing for a position as an inmate resources coordinator at the brand new rehabilitation center erected in place of the county jail. When a prisoner is released from jail they are given advice such as stay away from your old environment, family, friends, ectra that may illicit negative behavior. Then they would hand them their belongings and the prisoner would be on their way. In the blow Johnny Depp’s Character says “I entered prison with a bachelors in Marijuana and left with a doctorate in Cocaine.” If we are going to solve the social problems around prisons then we must also be concerned with halting social deviance and rehabilitation within the prisons.
Claire wrote about compassion and listening to the stories of people who need help. If you want to read more about stories about survival and perseverance I would suggest reading David Pelzer entitled A Child Called It, The Lost Boy, A Man Named Dave, Help Yourself, The Privilege of Youth, and Help Yourself for Teens. I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Pelzer address CMU 4 years ago and I found him to be incredibly funny and motivating. At that point I hadn’t read the books yet and he had only two of them in mass circulization. After reading them it was hard to comprehend that the funny, courteous, witty, intelligent man that we had met was the same person in the book. Look for One Child by Torrey Hayden and a book called Running with Scissors. I apologize for not having many adult oriented book samples available.
posted by gwen at 1:07 AM
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