Week 4: Nature vs. Nurture

Nature endows us with inborn abilities and traits while nurture shapes our genetic tendencies as we grow and mature. It is true that our DNA definitely has a role in shaping on how intelligent we are or how our personalities shape up as we grow. However, I believe that Nurture plays a larger role in defining who we are and how we behave and interact at the end of the day. For instance, if environment didn't play a part then ideally identical twins should be exactly same in all aspects! I believe our families, their upbringing, education, religion, peer groups, media and other such social factors play a very significant role in shaping our personality. As mentioned in the book, the unsocialized children namely the 'Wild Boy of Aveyron' and 'Genie' are examples of how different a human beings can be when prevented from interacting with the society. Furthermore, violent, aggressive, alcoholic or a sexually pervert person is not born that way; his experiences in life with family, peer groups and other such agents of socialization makes him like that. How a child behaves and reacts to situations and circumstances depends on how his parents, friends or teachers might have reacted to a similar situation or what they might have asked him to do in a situation like that. So to what extent are we a product of Nature or Nurture depends on how the two interact and not just one factor.

Week 3: How American Culture looks to outsiders

The clip (starring Hugh Laurie) seems to me like a satire on Americans and how at times they are full of themselves. It shows constructive social criticism by the British of the perception of how Americans are usually very proud of their country. I personally found it hilarious! The way Hugh Laurie says 'States' is very funny which reiterates how some Americans won't think beyond their own country. Every citizen is proud of his/her own country and I would not say it is not right. However, such clips are supposed to be taken in the right spirit and should be left at that. The way the sketch ends shows how the clip's producer just wanted it to be a joke and wanted to make sure there is nothing more to it.

Week 2: Stanford Prison Experiment

I do not think the Stanford Prison Experiment carried out by Philip Zimbardo was unethical as it just helped him emphasize on the fact that how "good people" can be manipulated by their environment to conduct or accept  atrocious evil  behavior. I think the experiment just showed that once people are given the authority (Stanford Prison Experiment) and once they are assured that they won't be responsible for the outcome of their actions (Milgram experiment); so called "good people" do not take a lot of time to execute such beastly actions. If the experiment was to be unethical it wouldn't have been called off earlier and Zimbardo could have forced to continue with the experiment assuming he had paid those students. In fact, the results of the experiment just shocked everyone as it showed how permeable (sponge-like) and adaptable human brain is. However, I do agree that there could have been other ways of proving this point, and this experiment probably wasn't the only solution.

Week 1 :Introduction, SOC 200

Hello everyone,

I am Aditi Nayak, an international student from India. I graduated in May 2010, with a Bachelors in Accounting and Finance. I am currently working with an European Start up firm. I am taking these ELI courses in order to earn 150 credits for my CPA license. I chose this course in particular as I thoroughly enjoyed the Sociology class I took while I was in Temple University. It was exciting and enriching to know about people, their ethnicities, races and the development of human society. I am looking forward to enhance my knowledge through this course. During my leisure time, I enjoy reading novels, listening to music and I love to travel.