How do genetics and environment affect people at different stages of development

Question

How do genetics and environment affect people at different stages of development?

Identify a typical developmental milestone for a person at a specific stage and explain how achievement of this milestone might be impacted by genetics and environment.

Do you feel one factor, genetics or environment, might impact a person more strongly at certain ages? For example, if an infant is at home with only his mother all day for the first year of life, will his acquisition of language, motor skills, etc. be different from a child who spends his first year in daycare with several children of varied ages? What if the two children in this example were 6 years old?

Give details and specific examples to support your answers. Provide the complete URL of any website where you find information to support your posts

Explanation / Answer

Growth and development of human beings is dependent on both genetics and environment. If either of the two is missing, then human development will be seriously hampered and will lead to improper functioning of the human beings. Being genetically endowed to grow in a certain manner and then getting an enabling environment is necessary for human beings to strive and thrive in the society and reach their optimal level of functioning.

There are crucial stages of development, also called as window periods, that determine the level of growth and human development. Like, for example, during the initial years of life, if an individual is not exposed to language, although he/she is perfectly genetically endowed to learn language, then the development of language will be extremely poor. This means that genetics and an enabling environment go hand in hand to help the human being prosper and grow. There are many cases where, although the individual was not suffering from any disability for language comprehension and production, yet was not exposed to situations where they might have learned language, it led to serious language impairment tin the child.

A typical developmental milestone, could be the acquisition of walking among infants. Though there will be individual differences in attaining this milestone, yet by the age of 12-18 months, infants begin to walk properly. Genetically if the child is not endowed with the skill of walking, suffering from a congenital disease, yet there is an enabling environment where he/she gets enough chances of walking, the child will not be able to walk. This again shows that this nature and nurture controversy will go on till infinity.

Yes, there are certain ages where if the child is not exposed to a particular setting, the growth and development will not be optimal. If an infant does not have many people to talk to, the exposure is limited to either one or two persons, language development will not be optimal. Social relationships, exposure to differing enriching experiences will be limited which will lead to limited development of mental capacities of the growing infant.

Overall, I would like to conclude that the role of genetics and environment cannot be compartmentalized. They work in tandem with each other. Lacking in one will definitely hinder the growth and development of the human functioning.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse H
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.