1 Read the following letters to a magazine advice column and discuss with the class what you would advise the parent to do.

• Would you advise a positive sanction?

• Would you advise a negative sanction?

• Do you think some behavior modeling might help, or do you have some other idea?

Letter 1

My 8-year-old son has never been in any trouble before, but just recently he has been getting into big trouble for swearing at school. I'm not sure what to do. My husband and I don't swear very much around the house, but of course, like many people, we do sometimes. My son is usually quite well-behaved, but he does not seem to take any notice of what I say about this. What should I do?

Letter 2

My 6-year-old daughter has been coming home with small toys that do not belong to her. When I ask her about them, she says that another child gave them to her. But it happens so much that I just cannot believe her. I feel I should punish her in some way, but I'm not sure if it would work and if it could even make the problem worse. What should I do?

Letter 3

My youngest child of four, a 3-year-old boy, has a terrible habit of throwing things at people who visit the house. Because people usually laugh at him when he does this, he thinks his behavior is amusing and keeps doing it. Of course, people usually try to be polite and laugh, but eventually they get upset. It is very embarrassing and I really don't know what to do. Can you help me?

2 Choose one letter and write a short letter of advice in reply.

Preparing to read

thinking about the topic

1 Experts disagree about which is more important in determining the way we are - what we inherit from our parents or what we leam from our social environment. From the list below, which do you think you inherited from your parents, and which do you think you learned from your social environment? Check (✓) the appropriate column.

	Inherited from parents	Learned from the social environment
Temperament (for example, how easily you get angry, how calm you stay under stress)
Personality (for example, how outspoken you are, how affectionate you are, your sense of humor)
Health and fitness
Mental ability or intelligence
Sports ability
Social skills (for example, how easily you get along with new people you meet)
Attitudes about money and finance
Attitudes about study and/or work

2. Discuss your answers and your reasons with a small group. Give examples to support your answers.

3. Now quickly skim the text and tell another student what you think the text is about.

Now read

Now read the text "The Importance of the Social Environment." When you finish, turn to the tasks on page 25.

о

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

The nature-nurture debate

The roles of nature (what we inherit) and of nurture (what we learn) in making us what we are have long been debated. In the seventeenth century it was generally believed that people became what they were taught to be. By the second half of the nineteenth century, a quite dif­ferent view was popular. Instead of looking to nurture - what people are taught - to explain human behavior, many social scientists looked to nature - what people inherit from their parents. Opinion on the question has gone back and forth ever since.

Obviously we do inherit something of what makes us who we are. But what? Physical traits such as skin color are clearly inherited, but people also appear to inherit temperament - a natural tendency to behave and react in a certain way. For example, some people are nat­urally active, nervous, or easily annoyed. Others, brought up in a sim­ilar environment, tend to be the opposite - passive, calm, and rarely upset. The role of heredity in determining our intelligence and apti­tude is less clear, and the debate is far from over.

The social environment is important in determining what an individual achieves.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE

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intelligence

the capacity for mental or intellectual achievement

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aptitude

the capacity for developing a skill

What is clear is that, although nature may limit what we can achieve, socialization plays a very large role in determining what we do achieve. That is, whatever potential ability we inherit from our par­ents may be enhanced or restricted through socialization. Case studies of children who have not been cared for, and of children who have been stimulated to achieve at a high level, are evidence of the importance of social or environmental learning.

Children who are not cared for

Since the fourteenth century there have been more than fifty recorded 4 cases of feral children. Feral children have supposedlv been brought

up by animals in the wild. One of the most famous is "the wild boy of ^{existing in a wild 5tate}

Aveyron." In 1797, this boy was captured by hunters in the woods of southern France. He was about 11 years old and completely naked. The

"wild boy" ran on his arms and legs, could not speak, and liked uncooked food. He could not do most of the simple things that younger children can usually do (Malson 1972; Lane 1976). He was obviously deprived of socialization.

There have been similar stories of social deprivation this century. 5 Anna, for example, was bom in 1932 in Pennsylvania to a young unwed mother. The father was outraged by the birth and did not want to have anything to do with the child. The mother tried to give Anna away but could not, so she hid her in the attic and gave her just enough food to keep her alive. Anna was neither touched nor talked to, neither washed nor bathed. When she was found in 1938 at the age of 6, Anna could not talk or walk. She could do nothing but lie quietly on the floor, her eyes and face expressionless.

Children who receive little attention in orphanages suEer similar 6 harmful effects. In 1945, researcher Rene Spitz reported on an orphan­age where 18-month-old infants were left lying on their backs in tiny rooms most of the day without any human contact. Within a year, all had become physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially impaired. Two years later, more than a third of the children had died. Those who had survived could not speak, walk, dress themselves, or use a spoon (Spitz 1945).

Child geniuses

While the lack of normal socialization can destroy minds, specialized 7 socialization can create geniuses. A young woman named Edith fin­ished grammar school in four years, skipped high school, and went straight to college. She graduated from college at age 15 and obtained her doctorate before she was 18. Was she bom a genius? We do not know. However, as soon as she stopped playing with dolls, her father filled her days with reading, mathematics, classical music, and intel­lectual discussions and debates. When she felt like playing, her father told her to play chess. This very special attention to her academic devel­opment is likely to have contributed significantly to her achievements (Hoult 1979). Another example is Adragon Eastwood DeMello who graduated with a degree in mathematics at age 11. When he was a few months old, his father gave up his career as a science writer to edu­cate him (Radford 1990).

Many parents of geniuses have deliberately given their children very s stimulating environments. In his study of Einstein, Picasso, Gandhi, and other world-famous geniuses in various fields, Howard Gardner (1993) found that they were all bom into families that valued learning and achievement with at least one loving adult who especially encour­aged their ability.

After you read

Task 1 visualizing parts of the text

When you read a text, it can be helpful to imagine a picture of what is being described. Visualizing the information will help you understand and remember what you read.

Task 2 building vocabulary: using context clues

Although there may be many words in a text that you do not know, you do not want to continually stop and look up words in the dictionary. It is often possible to get a general idea of the meaning of the word or phrase by looking at its context. This means looking at the words and sentences that come before and after the word or phrase.

Find words in the text that match the definitions below.

1. features or characteristics (par. 2) traits

2. not active (par. 2)

3. encouraged to grow and develop (par. 3)

4. angered and upset (par. 5)

5. home for children with no parents (par. 6)

6. weakened or damaged (par. 6)

7. continued to live after a bad experience (par. 6)

8. bypassed (par. 7)

2 Compare your answers in a small group. Discuss which clues helped you.

Task 3 reading for main ideas

Understanding main ideas is an important task when reading a college text. Part of this skill is being able to quickly identify the topic of a paragraph. Another part is being able to see what the whole text is about - in other words, the point that the writer is trying to make.

Look back at the text quickly and write the number of the paragraph that deals with each of the following topics.

1. the importance of social learning paragraph 2

2. a twentieth-century example of one child's social deprivation paragraph

3. changes in opinion about nature and nurture paragraph

4. institutional deprivation paragraph

5. how special socialization can create young geniuses paragraph

6. what we inherit paragraph

7. world-famous geniuses paragraph

8. feral children paragraph

Now choose the sentence below that best expresses the main idea of the whole text.

a There has been much debate over the centuries about the role of nature and

nurture in making us into the individuals we are. b There is general agreement that we inherit physical and temperamental traits

but less agreement about how much we inherit intelligence and aptitude, с Socialization plays an important role in determining what we achieve in life and

case studies of deprived children and of child geniuses are evidence of this, d Studies of child deprivation show that social learning is extremely significant in determining what we achieve in life.

In an essay or an examination answer, you may want to cite (refer to) a study that you have read about. To do so you should include the following:

1. research topic

2. name(s) of researcher(s)

3. year (usually the year of publication of the research)

4. the research finding

To cite a study in your writing you can use this sentence pattern: In a study of 1, 2 (3) found that 4.

1 Study this example from the last paragraph of the text:

1

Task 4 citing studies in your writing

In his study of [Einstein, Picasso, Gandhi, and other world-famous geniuses in various

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3

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fields,] [Howard Gardner] [(1993)] found [that they were all born into families that val­ued learning and achievement with at least one loving adult who especially encouraged their ability.]