Development Across the Life Span: Nature versus Nurture
Barry University

What is Nature versus Nurture?
Development across the lifespan is one of the most interesting areas of psychology. The word development refers to human development which can be defined as “the scientific study of changes that occur in people as they age from conception until death.” (Ciccarelli, & White, 2009)Psychologists study this developmental change over time through several different methods. The book highlights three: Longitudinal design, cross-sectional design and cross-sequential design. Longitudinal design is a research design “in which one participant or group of participants is studied over a long period of time.” Cross sectional design differs
It has been found that enhanced levels of estrogen in a woman during pregnancy may cause homosexuality in a boy. Furthermore, when a mother gives birth to more than one boy, the chance of the child becoming a homosexual increases. Because boys have a higher level of testosterone, the mother is left with extra estrogen after giving birth. Therefore, as a mother has less testosterone with each baby boy, there is a higher chance that subsequent children will also have extra estrogen, leading to homosexuality. Questions regarding intelligence and IQ are similar to homosexuality in regards to the nature versus nurture debate. While some things will obviously affect intelligence, many surprising and subtle factors also contribute to how well a person may score on an IQ test. Number of siblings, years of schooling, family economic status, and self confidence are only examples of the many factors, considered to be nurturing, that affect intelligence and IQ. When a family has only one child, they are able to put more effort and attention into the development of that child. Furthermore, they have more financial opportunities to provide the child with resources for success, which is also true of families who have a higher economic status. Children with higher self-esteem are more willing to ask questions and seek help, which will inevitably improve their level of intelligence. When a child is given love,