Nature not Nurture

[Tao_Equus]

See article: 'Nature not nurture' is to blame for aggressive children - Independent Online Edition > Education News

"Toddlers are born with aggressive instincts rather than learning to be violent from their surroundings."

No surprise for any parent but what does it mean for a society where violence in the name of punishment is handed out to kids to make them conform? Is this the nail in the coffin for any moral justification for hitting your children?

Tao

[Neemai]

Everyone has their own character, but do you think that diet, exercise and pyscological well-being also play a part in behaviour and attitude?


... Neemai

[wil]

Of course diet and environment have an affect...

but I disagree that all infants have aggressive instincts...

(all toddlers are born....toddlers is an indication that they have been already affected by their surroundings....takes quite a while to start toddling....)

When you watch infants...I mean those that can roll...grab...babble...interact.. You can already see their instinctual tendencies come out...one is grabbing other toys, another is playing happily by themself, another is rambunctious and railroading everyone, another is already displaying compassion and constraint...

yes their exists instinctual aggressors....but not all...

imo based on anecdotal experience....my twins...others children...infant care centers...etc.

[Tao_Equus]

I agree Wil, I believe cognitive adaptation begins even before departure from the womb. I think the Scientist behind the report did not confine his study to toddlers tho. This perception is a journalistic imposition. I think he, the scientist, is probably right that aggressive competitional traits are the "default". The infants that never display them are already subject to the kind of stimulus that does not require aggressive developments and so it dies on the bud so to speak, without becoming apparent.

[Neemai]

Having watched a number of my nephews, neices and cousins growing up I would agree that their general personality was observable, even from a very early age. As one who believes that we are all eternal souls I wouldn't put this all down to genetics.

I have also witnessed people who have gone through radical changes in their established long-term behaviour (i.e stopping bad habits, from negative to positive attitude etc...) although their character remained in some ways consistent throughout.


... Neemai