Nature vs. Nurture Controversy

By Robbyn Wallace

2003

There is a big controversy between whether inherited genes or the environment influences and affect our personality, development, behavior, intelligence and ability. This controversy is most often recognized as the nature verses nurture conflict. Some people believe that it is strictly genes that affect our ways of life, others believe that it is the environment that affects us, and some believe that both of these influence us. Either way, social scientists have been struggling for centuries deciding whether our personalities are born or made. Tests are done often on identical twins that were separated to see how they are influenced. In the past twenty years, it has been discovered that there is a genetic component to about every human trait and behavior. However, genetic influence on traits and behavior is partial because genetics account on average for half of the variation of most traits. Researchers are finding that the balance between genetic and environmental influences for certain traits change as people get older. Also, people may react to us in a certain way because of a genetically influenced personality and, we may choose certain experiences because they fit best with our instinctive preferences. This means that our experiences may be influenced by our genetic tendencies. One way researchers study the development of traits and behaviors is by measuring the influence of genetics through out ones life span, and it is found to be that the genetic influence on certain trait increase as people age. A research was done to see whether a trait would show up in a child if it was environmentally influenced or genetically influenced. A child was given more negative attention than another was, and it increased the chances of the child having depressive symptoms and anti-social behavior. But these symptoms disappeared when accounted for genetic influences and how parents treat their children. There are three types of gene/environment relations. The first one is called a passive correlation. It is to be explained as, for example, if a musical ability was genetic, and a child was passed a musical ability trait, than the child would most likely have musically inclined parents. Their parents then would provide them with the genes and environment to promote the development of that ability. The second one is called evocative. This happens when genetically distinct people evoke different reactions from peers and parents and others. And the third association is called an active correlation. This is when people actively select experiences that fit with their genetically influenced preferences. This doesn't mean that there are no environmental influences on behavior, because, for example, it is found to be that a loss of a parent during childhood promotes alcoholism in women. It is shown that genetics play a big role on influences in people and society. Leadership is a big quality that everyone has and has a wide range of variations. Heritability is what researchers call 'the degree to which behavioral variations within a population can be accounted for by genes.' Heritability is what is found to make up a lot of one's personality. For a while, scientists have been trying to draw a line between heredity and leadership also. There is no single leadership personality. Even intelligence can go so far with leadership. It also involves how people make decisions, and how they give and carry out rules, how they are involved with a group, how they inspire and respect others. The list of characteristics is endless. Although genes seem to play as a map for a person's life, researchers caution that genes act only as an influence. Anyone who has enough will or a strong enough experience could affect the way they act or react for the rest of their life. In other words, if an environmental background is changed, the amount of variation that is due to genetics can change. In conclusion, it is safe to say that the role of genetics and the environment equalize people's traits and behavior. You cannot blame either one because without one, the other would not be activated. Genes affect a lot of your personality and behavior but the environment mutates and molds the way people are going to act. This will always be an ongoing controversy because it is nearly impossible to pin point accurately where the role of genes and the environment steps in. 

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Childern Are What They Live

CHILDREN ARE WHAT THEY LIVE

By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Engraved

Engraved


By Robbyn Wallace


As I lye here and cry, only to ask why

An angel entered my life, just to leave me in strife

Ten years had passed, and I wonder 'why so fast'

Now as I fold, memories I will still hold

My heart reaches out, finding nothing but doubt

For death is upon us, there need not be a fuss

Between me and you, I may always feel blue

Life is not a game, nothing remains the same

I have been left behind, with nothing but time
 
Feeling days with despairs, and having too many cares

My heart he will be near, and I will not fear

The emptiness in my soul, feeling hollow like a hole

It overwhelms me with grief, that our time was so brief

But he is engraved in my mind, for all eternity of time

As sanity slips away, reality is here to stay

He may not be here with me, but safe I know he will be



By your big sis Robbyn Wallace to my beloved little brother
Christopher Glen Wallace
Born 24 June 1988
Died 4 July 1998
Whom I will miss very much and love always!

Big Sis

BIG SIS

By Robbyn Wallace


Christopher

With you, I changed my first diaper

With me, you took your very first steps

With you, I played, taught and listened

With me, you shared your most intimate secretes, emotions, feelings and experiences

With you, I felt needed and wanted

With me, you felt understood

With you, I felt appreciated and loved

With me, you took hiking trips and adventures through the woods

With you, I remembered and understood what a childhood was and is

With me, you allowed me to be a great big sister

With you, I was allowed the opportunity to really know and appreciate you

I just want to say Thank You!!

Beyond My Mind's Eye

BEYOND MY MIND'S EYE

By Robbyn Wallace

Beyond my mind's eye is a dangerous place.
Saved only by your sweet embrace.

Void of your guidance I am condemned to chaos.
I yearn to experience the love you have for us.

Lost is what I risk to become. 
I pray to you do not be done.

Guide me through this journey called life.
 Hold my hand through each day of strife.

I realize the human mind is the gateway to enlightenment.
To get lost within the maze of consciousness is confinement.

Emotions are the key.
 I truly know only me.

Each time I come to a separation in my path.
I make a choice in which I hath.

Help me to hold fast to the positive.
Allow me to release the negative.

Enrich my soul allowing freedom from this human existence.
Only then may I bask in your almighty presence.

~ME~

REJECTION: Learning to Repair The Damage (An exercise included)

By Robbyn R. Wallace

What is "Rejection"?

(Social, also including work-related) rejection occurs when an individual is deliberately excluded from a interpersonal relationship or social relation (in any setting).

A person can be rejected on an individual basis or by an entire group of people. Furthermore, rejection can be either active, by bullying, teasing, or ridiculing, etc. or passive, by ignoring a person, giving the "silent treatment", etc. The experience of being rejected is subjective for (aka... based on individual perception of) the recipient, and it can be perceived when it is not actually present. Although humans are social beings, some level of rejection is an inevitable part of life. Nevertheless, rejection can become a problem when it is prolonged or consistent, when the relationship is important, or when the individual is highly sensitive to rejection. The experience of rejection can lead to a number of adverse psychological consequences such as loneliness, low self-esteem, aggression, and depression. It can also lead to feelings of insecurity and a heightened sensitivity to future rejection.

Rejection being subjective for the recipient means that anytime you feel excluded or isolated from a person or persons, no matter the situation or experience, "you" are being "rejected" regardless of what the true circumstances or intentions of the situation or experience were or is. Even if it may not have been intentional or known about by the culpretes, it still does damage to the recipient. Who am I to say what another person feels, as a result of their perception of the situation or experience, is true or false! We are all only capable of truly knowing what we feel and determining our own truth, which is not always the same truth another person may hold to be true to themself! Therefore, it is important that each person first strive for self-awareness on the journey to self-discovery, before expecting any understanding of human behavior... 

What type/kind of emotions do you think stem from being rejected on an individual basis or by an entire group of people?  What about the possible emotions steming from a rejector? How did or does it make you feel to be rejected or to be a rejector? How did being rejected or being the rejector in the past shape how you "NOW" react to, or the feeling of, being rejected?  How does past rejection(s) effect you today, or likewise being the rejector effect you today?

Now on to the exercise portion!

The 4 step exercise will not only help you better understand yourself, your own thoughts and perceptions, experiences or even your reactions to past and present experiences and emotions, but it should inspire a greater understanding and insight of human emotions and behaviours deriving from not only rejection but also any other negatively driven behavior and/or emotion (whether it be an action or reaction)... Just take a moment to exchange "rejection" with any other action/ behavior or emotion! Hopefully this will help you better understand why you (and possibly others) feel toward/about and/or react to people or experiences in negative or even positives ways.

The main purpose to this exercise is to teach an easy method to not only self-discovery but also to understanding yourself and others, which will hopefully lead to more positive interactions with the people you interact with, especially those nearest and dearest to your heart!

1. Apply "Rejection" in ANY scenario, then ask yourself, and ponder on, how it would feel to be the "rejected" AND the "rejector"!

2. Now, I want you to ponder and consider how it could make someone, anyone, else feel!

3. Then compare and contrast how you would feel versus how someone else "might" feel in the same scenario!

Feel free to do this with as many different types of scenarios as you can think of! Also, take time to recognize past and present "real-life" scenarios that have affected and do affect you or someone you care about or even know, and try to allow yourself to empathize and/or sympathize with whomever the scenario envolves, whether it be yourself or someone else or both!

4. Lastly, once you have pondered long and hard on the scenario(s) and all envolved, take a minute to appreciate your own thoughts and what they reveal to you, then appreciate (hopefully) the understanding of how you have and do handle your own emotions and how others "might" handle theirs... Above all, give just one more moment to give appreciation that we are all unique beings and all handle emotions and situations differently... AND... "Thank God"... Appreciate that God gave us a brain to learn with, ears to listen with, mouth to speak with, heart to love with, eyes to see with, people who have the desire to teach others, and the internet and FaceBook as a great tool to reach others' hearts and minds!

This exercise will not only help you better understand yourself, your own thoughts and perceptions, experiences or even your reactions to past and present experiences and emotions, but it should inspire a greater understanding and insight of human emotions and behaviours deriving from not only rejection but also any other negatively driven emotion and/or behavior (whether it be an action or reaction)... Just take a moment to exchange "rejection" with any other action, behavior or emotion! Hopefully this will help you better understand why you (and possibly others) feel toward/about and/or react to people or experiences in negative or even positives ways. The main purpose to this exercise is to teach a/one method to not only self-discovery but also to understanding others, which will hopefully lead to more positive interactions with the people you interact with especially those nearest and dearest to your heart!

Emotions are so flippin human!!!! Just imagine an existence NOT driven by human emotion but only by love and true understanding. Can you truly grasp the overwhelming presence of peace in that?!?! Anyway, that would be nice but impossible in the human realm.

Please keep in mind that all people are unique in how they perceive and react to the world depending on factors such their mental health, their environment past and present, their own collective, good and bad, experiences and the experiences of those who have had and do have any influence in their life (such as a sibling, friend, acquaintance or even a stranger), etc. AND always remember, the more you understand yourself, the easier it will become to understand, accept, have compassion for, even tolerate others and their shortcomings... In turn this "could" and "should" allow you to be a better communicator, which is an essential part to any type of relationship (aka... family, friendships, work relationships or any type of other relationship)!

However, we are ALL more "alike" than you could ever imagine, emotions can only be felt in so many different ways even though we are all unique individuals... Ultimately we all are just living THE HUMAN existence, confined to it til death do us part for better or worse! It is up to us to make the best of our own journey, and are benefited greatly by understanding, accepting, and loving others that happen to be on our path!

We are all imperfect. However, not all people experience the same things or problems or in the same way, and some are fortunate to not experience much negative in life. However, most all people, whether they are consciously aware of it or not at the time, struggle with all the different types of emotions, to different degrees even, at some point in there life, whether it be from the past, present, or possibly the future. Even if you can not relate to rejection par say, you might know someone that has or may in the future face this delima or one similar OR eventually you may experience it yourself! Either way, it never hurts to gain a better and deeper understanding of human behaviors and emotions, because sooner or later it WILL benifit you or someone you care about! Interaction with others is a MUST in today's world!

Every action/behavior has a reaction/consequence. Everything we do in life sends a ripple effect out into the world, it is up to each individual as to the ripple effect! Once that ripple is started it is out of your control, so it is very important that each ripple is done with self-awareness as to what type of effects, positive or negative, we are releasing into the world! Just remember, for every action there is a reaction! If you desire good reactions from others or life in general, then always "try" to be aware of the type actions/behaviors you are distributing not only to others but to all that you do and are in life! 

Each and every person has the potential to make a difference in the world, one person at a time! Right?

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!

Remember, sometimes it is the small stuff that make the biggest difference!

Good Luck on your path to self-discovery, and hopefully on your path to be the "person" you were truly meant to be in this life-time!

P.S. Leaning patience and tolerance for others will lead to a happier and more fulfilling life!! God Bless!! ~ME~  :)

Beyond the Mind's Eye - 01 Virtual Reality