Heredity and Environment: NBSE Class 12 Education answers, notes

Summary

Heredity is the process of passing traits from parents to their children. The word comes from a Latin term meaning inheritance. This process begins at conception, when a sperm cell from the father and an ovum, or egg cell, from the mother join. From this moment, a person’s inherited traits are set. However, the environment also begins to influence the person from this early stage. Both heredity and environment work together to shape an individual’s personality and qualities.

The biological basis of heredity involves chromosomes and genes. In humans, both the sperm and the ovum contain 23 chromosomes. When they unite, the new organism has 46 chromosomes in total. These chromosomes hold tiny particles called genes, which carry the instructions for traits like height, eye colour, and even sex. Sex is determined by specific chromosomes known as X and Y. A female child is formed from two X chromosomes, while a male child is formed from an X and a Y chromosome. The unique combination of genes from both parents is a matter of chance, which is why every person is different.

There are several types of heredity. Biological heredity covers the physical traits we inherit. Mental heredity includes inborn instincts and possibly intelligence. Social heredity is different because it is not inherited at birth. It consists of the culture, laws, language, and traditions that a person learns from their society. There are also general patterns, or laws, of heredity. The law of “Like Begets Like” observes that children often resemble their parents. A common phrase for this is “a chip off the old block”, which means a child is very similar to their parent. The Law of Variation explains why children are also different from their parents due to new gene combinations. The Law of Regression states that extreme traits in parents, such as being exceptionally tall, tend to be less extreme in their children, moving closer to the average.

The environment is everything that surrounds and influences a person from conception until death. It includes the prenatal environment inside the mother’s womb and the postnatal world of family, school, food, and community. A positive and stimulating environment helps a person develop well. The environment can be physical, like the climate and geography. It can also be social, involving the people we interact with, and cultural, which includes the beliefs and customs of our community. Both heredity and environment are needed for a person’s development. Heredity provides a person’s potential, while the environment offers the opportunities to develop that potential. For teachers, understanding this relationship helps them recognize the individual needs of students and create a good learning atmosphere for all.

Textual

Very Short Answer Questions

1. What is the etymological meaning of heredity?

2. What is the significance of heredity and environment in a child’s development?

Answer: Heredity and environment have equal significance in a child’s development and play an important role in the development of the personality and other qualities of an individual. Just as food and water are equally important for a person, both heredity and environment are compulsory. A child is the product of both heredity and environment.

3. What is social environment?

Answer: The social environment includes the social associations that a child has from the very beginning. It also includes the cultural atmosphere of the society with its ingredients such as religion, folklore, literature, art, music, social conventions, and political organisation. Every individual inherits cultural traits from the social environment.

4. What is mental heredity?

Answer: Mental heredity refers to the inheritance of mental characteristics, in addition to physical ones. Every child at birth instinctively sucks, breathes, laughs, cries, and moves the limbs; all these instincts are inherited. Intelligence also appears to be inherited, as the intellectual ability of children often resembles that of their parents. Some tendencies to commit crime are also reported to be inherited, as shown by case studies.

5. What is the Law of Variation?

Answer: The Law of Variation explains the exceptions to the rule that ‘like begets like’. According to this law, a child is not fully similar to the parents but is somewhat different from them. This difference is due to variance in gene combination during fertilisation and birth. For instance, short parents may have tall children if the combined genes are dominant for tall characteristics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Define heredity.

Answer: The word heredity is derived from the Latin word ‘hereditas’ which means capital which a child gets from his/her parents as inheritance. Based on this etymological meaning, heredity is the transmission of genetic characters from one generation to the next. This process starts from the union of sperm and ovum during conception.

Heredity consists of all the structures, physical characteristics, functions or capacities derived from parents, other ancestors or species. It is the sum total of inborn individual traits and covers all the factors that are present in the individual at the time of conception.

2. What is heredity in psychology?

Answer: In psychology, heredity refers to the transmission of certain psychological characteristics from parents to their offspring. A child carries with itself several physiological and psychological peculiarities that are present in the parents.

Besides physical characteristics, many mental characteristics are inherited. These include instincts, as every child at birth instinctively sucks, breathes, laughs, cries, and moves its limbs. Intelligence also seems to be inherited, as in many cases, the intellectual calibre of children resembles that of their parents. Some tendencies to commit crime are also reported to be inherited.

3. What is social heredity?

Answer: Social heredity includes social etiquettes, laws, customs and traditions, mother tongue, a system of philosophy, religious books, pictures, works of art, and architectural monuments. It is the sum total of the past achievements of more than one generation and is a form of an educational environment that affects more than a single generation. We are not born with social heredity; it is acquired.

The term social heredity is significant as it describes the act of transmission of social and cultural patterns to each new generation. Education is a form of transmission of culture or of social heredity.

4. What is an environment? Give two definitions in justification of your answer.

Answer: The word environment means the surroundings of a child, including his/her interaction with family, neighbourhood, school, the nutrition the child receives, and more. It consists of the sum total of the stimulation that an individual receives from conception until death. Anything that surrounds an individual can be covered by the term environment. It includes both pre-natal and post-natal environments, such as food items, school, family, and locality.

Two definitions that justify this are:

Environment is an external force which influences us.
Environment covers all the outside factors that have acted on the individual since he began life.

Long Answer Questions

1. How does heredity and environment affect development?

Answer: Heredity and environment both play an important role in the development of an individual’s personality and other qualities. Each individual has a different pattern of behaviour and personality, and this difference is seen due to the influence of both heredity and environment. No person can be born without heredity, and genes cannot develop without a proper environment. An individual’s heredity is present from the moment of conception, and environmental conditions also start influencing them from this very stage. Each trait and response of an individual depends on their heredity and environment.

Development is considered the product of heredity and environment. According to Woodworth, the relationship between heredity and environment is more like the product of multiplication than of addition. According to T.P. Nunn, the human organism, body, and mind is a centre of creative energy that uses endowments and environment as its working material. According to Ruch (1970), this relationship is expressed in the formula DL = H x E x T, where DL is Development Level, H is Heredity, E is Environment, and T is Time.

Heredity has its influence on physiological traits, but the environment is also the arbiter of our development. Heredity is of no avail if the environment is not there to show it off. As David Abrahamson wrote, “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do”. Similarly, Landis and Landis state, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment. Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it. Heredity explains man the animal, environment man the human being”.

Ultimately, human development is the product of both heredity and environment, and each trait requires both for its development.

2. How does heredity affect personality?

Answer: Heredity plays an important role in the development of the personality and other qualities of an individual. The difference in the pattern of behaviour and personality among individuals is seen due to the influence of heredity and environment.

A child carries with itself several physiological and psychological peculiarities that are present in the parents. Heredity determines the structure, complexion, structure of hair, height, facial features, and nasal index of the child. Besides these physical characteristics, many mental characteristics are also inherited. Every child at birth instinctively sucks, breathes, laughs, cries, and moves its limbs; all these instincts are inherited. Intelligence also seems to be inherited, as in a number of cases the intellectual calibre of children resembles that of their parents. Some tendencies to commit crime are also reported to be inherited.

However, in no case of personality development can we properly attribute any characteristic to heredity alone. A given result is always produced by the interaction of gene substance and the environment. As stated by Biesanz and Biesanz, “Personality is the organisation of a person’s attitudes, habits, and traits and arises from the interplay of biological, social, and cultural factors”. Heredity determines what a person can do, while the environment determines what they will do.

3. Explain the nature of heredity.

Answer: The word ‘heredity’ is derived from the Latin word ‘hereditas’, which means capital that a child gets from his/her parents as inheritance. Based on this etymological meaning, heredity is the transmission of genetic characters from one generation to the next. This process starts from the union of sperm and ovum during conception. An individual’s heredity is present from the moment of conception.

Every human being is born as a result of conception, which occurs when two germ cells meet. In the ovary of the female, an ovum or egg cell is present, which contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the male’s sperm, there are also numerous germ cells, each with 23 pairs of chromosomes. When a chromosome from a female meets the chromosomes of a male, fertilisation takes place, and life begins. It is this cell or chromosomes which is the process of heredity that an individual gets from his parents.

The child carries several physiological and psychological peculiarities from the parents. Heredity determines traits like structure, complexion, hair structure, height, facial features, and nasal index. Sex is also inherited through the ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosomes. An individual’s heredity depends on the genes of his/her parents; whatever one gives to their children is through the genes.

4. Write the mechanism of heredity.

Answer: The mechanism of heredity is explained through the following steps:

Mating: Mating is the first step for reproduction. The union of male sperm with a female ovum results in a zygote.
Growth: This step involves the repeated division of the fertilised cell or zygote.
Chromosomes: Every woman and man receives 23 chromosomes from each parent, making 46 in all.
Genes: Each chromosome consists of small particles numbering 40 to 100, which are called genes.
Chance factor: Both the ovum and sperm contain 23 pairs of chromosomes before fertilisation. At the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum and determine the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring.

The result of the union of these genes is called heredity.

5. Explain the controversy between heredity and environment.

Answer: The controversy between heredity and environment, often referred to as “Heredity versus Environment” or “nativism versus empiricism,” concerns the relationship between innateness and environmental influence on development. A nativist view argues that developmental processes are innate and specified by an organism’s genes. An empiricist perspective argues that these processes are acquired through interaction with the environment. Today, developmental psychologists rarely take such extreme positions and instead investigate the relationship between innate and environmental influences.

One area where this debate is prominent is in language acquisition. The empiricist position suggests that language input provides the necessary information for learning the structure of language. From this perspective, language can be acquired via general learning methods. The nativist position, argued by linguist Noam Chomsky, states that the language input is too impoverished for infants to acquire its structure. Chomsky asserts that there is a universal grammar that applies to all human languages and is pre-specified, leading to the idea of a special cognitive module for language learning called the language acquisition device.

The problem of nature versus nurture, however, defies a satisfactory solution. It is futile to ask which of the two factors is more important. According to MacIver, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated nor can be isolated”. There is an incessant interaction between the two, and they are inseparable.

The conclusion is that the question “which is more important, heredity or environment?” wrongly assumes they are opposed. All the qualities of life are in the heredity, and all the evocations of qualities depend on the environment. Heredity provides the potentiality, and the environment offers a chance to bring it out. The controversy should be concluded by accepting the truth that heredity and environment are the two ultimate determinants of every living being, are of coequal importance, and that none is more potent than the other.

6. Write the educational implications of heredity and environment for students.

Answer: The knowledge of heredity and environment has a great influence on human development. Since the developmental pattern of children is determined by both, the educational pattern, methods, and learning environment should be made by the teacher accordingly. The knowledge of heredity and environment helps the teacher in various ways:

Knowledge of heredity and environment helps the teacher to know the varying needs and abilities of the children.
It helps to provide proper guidance to his children in the field of educational, vocational, and personal fields.
It helps the teacher to classify the students as gifted, normal or slow learner and arrange different types of education for them.
It helps the teacher to provide a better learning environment in the school.
It helps the teacher to know the principle of individual differences and arrange the educational experience accordingly.
It helps the teacher to study the behaviour of the children under different situations.
It helps the teacher to organise various curricular and co-curricular programmes for the best benefit of the children.

The knowledge of both heredity and environment is of utmost value to teachers, administrators, and educational planners. If this is realised, the system of education will be changed to a great extent.

7. Explain the various types of heredity.

Answer: The various types of heredity are:

Biological Heredity: This is the observation that cow begets cow, horse begets horse, and human beings beget human beings. Brothers and sisters bear resemblance to their parents in physical characteristics such as size, form, appearance, skin colour, eye colour, and muscle strength. Identical twins resemble each other in every respect at birth, while fraternal twins and siblings resemble each other in many characteristics.
Mental Heredity: Besides physical characteristics, many mental characteristics are inherited. A child at birth instinctively sucks, breathes, laughs, cries, and moves its limbs. All instincts are inherited. Intelligence also seems to be inherited, as the intellectual calibre of children often resembles that of their parents. Some tendencies to commit crime are also reported to be inherited.
Social Heredity: This includes social etiquettes, laws, customs and traditions, mother tongue, systems of philosophy, religious books, pictures, works of art, and architectural monuments. It is also known as Social Heritage. Social Heredity is the sum total of the past achievements of more than one generation and is a form of an educational environment. We are not born with Social Heredity.

8. Explain the different types of environment.

Answer: The different types of environment are:

Physical Environment: This includes all the geographical features that have an effect on the individual, such as food, temperature, climate, and resources for comfortable living. Even in the pre-natal period, the human embryo is surrounded by the physical environment of the womb, where it gets food and nourishment.
Mental Environment: This refers to the atmosphere that is essential and helpful for a person’s mental development. It includes the intellectual atmosphere at home and school, libraries, recreation rooms, and laboratories. A child learns new experiences unconsciously in the mental environment.
Social Environment: This includes the social associations a child has from the very beginning. It also includes the cultural atmosphere of society with its ingredients like religion, folklore, literature, art, music, social conventions, and political organisation. Every individual inherits cultural traits from the social environment. The term ‘social heredity’ is significant as it describes the transmission of social and cultural patterns to each new generation.
Cultural Environment: This is a set of beliefs, practices, customs, and behaviours common to people living within a certain population. Cultural environments shape how a person develops, influencing ideologies and personalities. Religious beliefs are an important building block of a specific cultural environment.

9. Explain the laws of heredity.

Answer: The laws of heredity are explained as follows:

Like Begets Like: This law is based on the common observation that children are like their parents. A common saying that reflects this is, ‘A youth is a chip of the old block’. A child takes after his parents in size, colour, dullness, brightness, etc. Biologists explain this by the continuity of the germ plasm. However, this theory has been criticised because many exceptions occur, such as children of bright parents not always being bright, and it ignores the effect of the environment.
Law of Variation: This law explains the exceptions to the “Like Begets Like” rule. Variations occur during fertilisation and birth. In humans, there are 16,777,216 different possible combinations of chromosomes, making each human unique. The process of MEIOSIS explains how different gene combinations lead to different types of children from the same parents. According to this law, a child is not fully similar to the parents but somewhat different due to variance in gene combination. For instance, short parents may have tall children if the genes for tall characteristics are dominant.
Law of Regression: This law states that “in successive generations variations tend to move towards the average of the species of which they form a part”. This means an offspring will regress towards the normal or average. For example, if a father is a tall man, his son may be tall, but not as tall as his father. This is based on the statistical law of ‘Normal Probability’. Galton explained this by stating that a child’s heredity is determined only 50% by immediate parents, with the rest determined by ancestral parents. This law suggests a tendency for children of very bright parents to be less bright than them, and for children of very inferior parents to be less inferior.

Additional

Extra Questions and Answers

1. What does the Latin word ‘hereditas’ mean?

Answer: The Latin word ‘hereditas’ means capital which a child gets from his/her parents as inheritance.

2. When do environmental conditions start influencing an individual?

Answer: An individual’s heredity is present from the moment of conception, and some environmental conditions also start influencing him from this very stage.

3. How many pairs of chromosomes are present in a human ovum?

Answer: In the ovum, 23 pairs of chromosomes are present in different shapes and sizes.

4. How is the sex of a child determined by chromosomes?

Answer: If an ‘X’ chromosome of the mother and the other ‘X’ chromosome of the father enter the germ cell, the child will be a female. Contrary to this, if an ‘X’ and a ‘Y’ chromosome enter the germ cell, the child will be a male.

5. Which chromosome’s genes are comparatively stronger?

Answer: A study of chromosomes has revealed that genes of the ‘X’ chromosome are comparatively stronger than the genes of the ‘Y’ chromosome.

6. What is the first step for reproduction in the mechanism of heredity?

Answer: Mating is the first step for reproduction. The union of male sperm with female ovum results in a zygote.

7. What are genes?

Answer: Genes are small particles, numbering 40 to 100, which make up each chromosome.

8. What is the chance factor in heredity?

Answer: The chance factor is that at the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum and determine the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring.

9. What is meant by ‘social heritage’?

Answer: Social heritage includes social etiquettes, laws, customs and traditions, mother tongue, systems of philosophy, religious books, pictures, works of art, and architectural monuments.

10. Who refuted the transmission of acquired traits by experimenting on rats?

Answer: Weisman refuted the possibility of the transmission of acquired traits from one generation to another. He proved it by experimenting on rats and cutting their tails.

11. What experiment did McDougall conduct to prove habit transmission?

Answer: McDougall conducted an experiment where he placed rats in a tank with two gangways, one of which was charged with electricity. He observed that succeeding generations of rats committed fewer errors of getting shocked, which suggested that lessons learnt were transmitted.

12. What is the process called MEIOSIS?

Answer: The process called MEIOSIS explains how different combinations of genes give birth to different types of children. The parents are the same, but the chromosomes that combine are different for each offspring.

13. What is the statistical law called ‘Normal Probability’?

Answer: The statistical law called ‘Normal Probability’ is the outcome of statistical calculations. It states there is always a mean height, mean weight, and mean IQ, and 67% of the population clusters around this mean.

14. What is the pre-natal environment?

Answer: The pre-natal environment is the physical environment of the womb where the human embryo is surrounded and gets its food and nourishment.

15. What is nativism?

Answer: Nativism is an account of development which argues that the processes in question are innate, meaning they are specified by the organism’s genes.

16. What is empiricism?

Answer: An empiricist perspective argues that developmental processes are acquired through interaction with the environment.

17. What is the language acquisition device?

Answer: The language acquisition device is a special cognitive module suited for learning language. It is based on the idea that there is a universal grammar that applies to all human languages and is pre-specified.

18. What does David Abrahamson state about heredity and environment?

Answer: David Abrahamson has written that “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do”.

19. What is the role of an ovum and sperm in conception?

Answer: The process of heredity starts from the union of sperm and ovum during conception. When these two germ cells meet, an organism’s life starts. The ovum is the female’s egg cell, and the sperm contains the male’s germ cells.

20. What physical traits does heredity determine in a child?

Answer: Heredity determines a child’s structure, complexion, structure of hair, height, facial features, and nasal index.

21. What is the main idea behind the Law of Regression?

Answer: The Law of Regression states that in successive generations, variations tend to move towards the average of the species. It is the tendency for children of very bright parents to be less bright than their parents and for children of very inferior parents to be less inferior.

22. What does the term ‘environment’ mean in its simplest sense?

Answer: The meaning of environment can be described as something which surrounds the individual. Whatever is found around the individual may be covered by the term “environment”.

23. What is the nativist account of development?

Answer: A nativist account of development argues that the processes in question are innate, meaning they are specified by the organism’s genes.

24. What is the empiricist perspective on development?

Answer: An empiricist perspective on development argues that developmental processes are acquired through interaction with the environment.

25. What did Lumley say about heredity and environment?

Answer: Lumley said, “It is not heredity or environment, but heredity and environment”.

26. What is the role of heredity and environment in individual differences?

Answer: Each individual has a different pattern of behaviour and personality, and this difference is seen due to the influence of heredity and environment. Heredity and environment play an important role in the development of the personality and other qualities of an individual. Each trait and response of an individual depends on his or her heredity and environment, so to know about an individual, it is necessary to understand both.

27. How does conception take place? What is the role of germ cells?

Answer: Conception takes place due to certain biological factors and processes. An organism’s life starts when two germ cells meet together. In the female’s ovary, an ovum or egg cell is present, and in the male’s sperm, there are numerous germ cells. When a chromosome from a female’s germ cell meets the chromosomes of a male’s germ cell, fertilisation takes place, and life begins to take shape. The germ cells carry the chromosomes which transmit genetic characters.

28. Define heredity according to B.N. Jha.

Answer: According to B.N. Jha, “Heredity is the sum total of inborn individual traits”.

29. Define heredity according to R.S. Woodworth.

Answer: According to R.S. Woodworth, “Heredity covers all the factors that are present in the individual when he begins life not at birth, but at the time of conception about nine months before birth”.

30. Explain the role of chromosomes and genes in the mechanism of heredity.

Answer: Every person receives 23 chromosomes from each parent, for a total of 46. Each chromosome consists of small particles numbering 40 to 100, which are called genes. At the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum. This pairing of genes determines the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring. The result of this union of genes is called heredity.

31. What is Biological Heredity? Give an example.

Answer: Biological Heredity is the principle that living beings produce offspring of their own kind. For example, a cow begets a cow, a horse begets a horse, and human beings beget human beings. It also explains why brothers and sisters bear a resemblance to their parents in physical characteristics such as size, form, appearance, colour of the skin, and colour of the eyes.

32. What is Mental Heredity? What characteristics are included?

Answer: Mental Heredity is the inheritance of mental characteristics in addition to physical ones. Characteristics included are instincts, such as a child’s ability to instinctively suck, breathe, laugh, and cry at birth. Intelligence also seems to be inherited, as the intellectual calibre of children often resembles that of their parents. Some tendencies to commit crime are also reported to be inherited.

33. Why is Social Heredity important for an individual?

Answer: The importance of Social Heredity is so great that without it, a person would be quite powerless in spite of all his biologically good traits of intelligence. Parents, teachers, and the state should ensure that each child is surrounded by a proper environment to benefit from acquiring the social heritage that has been passed down for ages.

34. Explain the “Like Begets Like” law of heredity. Why is it criticised?

Answer: The “Like Begets Like” law is a common observation that children are like their parents. A child takes after his or her parents in size, colour, dullness, brightness, and other traits. This is explained by the continuity of the germ plasm.

This law is criticised for two main reasons. Firstly, many exceptions occur, such as children of bright, intelligent parents not always being bright. Secondly, it ignores the effect of the environment, which is an equally important factor in an individual’s development.

35. How does the Law of Variation explain differences between children and parents?

Answer: The Law of Variation explains the exceptions to the “Like Begets Like” rule. According to this law, a child is not fully similar to the parents but is somewhat different from them. This difference is due to variance in gene combinations during fertilisation. This process, called MEIOSIS, explains how different combinations of genes give birth to different types of children, which is why short parents may have tall children if the dominant genes for tallness combine.

36. Explain the Law of Regression with an example of height.

Answer: The Law of Regression states that “in successive generations variations tend to move towards the average of the species of which they form a part”. This means offspring tend to be closer to the average than their parents are. For example, if a father is a tall man, his son may be tall, but not as tall as his father; he will regress towards the normal height. Similarly, a dwarfish parent of 50″ height might have an offspring with 55″ height, moving towards the normal and avoiding the extreme.

37. What does Galton state about the determination of a child’s heredity?

Answer: Galton states that the heredity of a child is determined by his immediate parents only 50% (or one-half), and the remaining is determined by the ancestral parents. This is given as a reason for the law of regression, where an offspring possesses traits opposite to its parents.

38. What is meant by ‘environment’? What does it consist of?

Answer: The word ‘environment’ means the environment around the child, including his or her interaction with family, neighbourhood, and school, as well as the nutrition the child receives. It can be described as something which surrounds the individual. Environment consists of the sum total of the stimulation that the individual receives from conception until death, and includes pre-natal and post-natal factors.

39. How does the social environment shape an individual’s behaviour?

Answer: If the social environment is very stimulating and enriching, it will create favourable impressions on a person’s development. If this environment is dull or insipid, behaviour is likely to be shaped in an unhealthy way. An absence of adequate stimulation can cause emotional deficiencies. The type and quality of the environment shape the mind and behaviour of an individual.

40. Define environment according to Woodworth.

Answer: According to Woodworth, “Environment covers all the outside factors that have acted on the individual since he began life”.

41. Define environment according to Douglas and Holland.

Answer: According to Douglas and Holland, “The term environment is used to describe in the aggregate all the external forces, influences and conditions, which affect the life, nature, behaviour and the growth, development and maturation of living organism”.

42. What is Physical Environment? What does it include?

Answer: The Physical Environment includes all the geographical features that have an effect on the individual. It includes food, temperature, climate, and resources for comfortable living. Even in the pre-natal period, the human embryo is surrounded by the physical environment of the womb, where it gets food and nourishment.

43. What is Mental Environment? What does it include?

Answer: The Mental Environment is the atmosphere that is essential and helpful for the mental development of a person. It includes the intellectual atmosphere at home, the atmosphere at school, libraries, recreation rooms, and laboratories. A child learns new experiences unconsciously in the mental environment.

44. What is Cultural Environment? How does it shape a person?

Answer: A Cultural Environment is a set of beliefs, practices, customs, and behaviours common to a population. It shapes the way every person develops by influencing ideologies and personalities. Cultural environments are determined by many aspects of culture that influence personal choices and behaviours, with religious beliefs often being an important building block.

45. What is Ruch’s formula for the development level? Explain its components.

Answer: According to Ruch, the action of heredity and environment in the development level is expressed in the following formula:
DL = H x E x T

The components are:

DL = Development Level
H = Heredity
E = Environment
T = Time

46. What is the nativist argument in the language acquisition debate?

Answer: The nativist argument is that developmental processes are innate, meaning they are specified by the organism’s genes. In language acquisition, the nativist position argues that the language input a child receives is too impoverished for them to acquire the structure of language through learning alone. Linguist Noam Chomsky asserts that there is a pre-specified universal grammar that applies to all human languages.

47. What is the empiricist position on language acquisition?

Answer: The empiricist position argues that developmental processes are acquired through interaction with the environment. Regarding language acquisition, it suggests that the language input provides the necessary information for learning the structure of language. It proposes that infants acquire language through a process of statistical learning, using general learning methods that also apply to other aspects of development like perceptual learning.

48. What did Landis and Landis say about heredity and environment?

Answer: According to Landis and Landis, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment. Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it. Heredity explains man the animal, environment man the human being”.

49. According to MacIver, what is the relationship between heredity and environment?

Answer: According to MacIver, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated nor can be isolated”. This means that heredity and environment are inseparable and both are essential for life.

50. How does a teacher’s knowledge of environment help in education?

Answer: A teacher’s knowledge of the environment helps in several ways:

A teacher can understand the environment and then create one that makes expression possible for students.
The teacher can create a cultural environment so that students follow ideals.
The teacher can create an environment according to the interests, instincts, and capabilities of the students.
The teacher can give attention to a student’s environment in the family, neighbourhood, and playground to guide them.

51. Explain the nature of heredity, starting from its etymological meaning.

Answer: The word ‘heredity’ is derived from the Latin word ‘hereditas’, which means capital that a child gets from his or her parents as inheritance. Based on this etymological meaning, heredity is the transmission of genetic characters from one generation to the next. This process begins at the moment of conception with the union of sperm and ovum.

Every individual possesses a unique pattern of behaviour and personality, a difference that arises from the combined influence of heredity and environment. Both heredity and environment play an important role in the development of an individual’s personality and other qualities. No person can be born without heredity, and similarly, genes cannot develop without a proper environment. An individual’s heredity is present from the moment of conception, and environmental conditions also start to influence the individual from this very early stage.

52. Describe the mechanism of heredity, including mating, growth, chromosomes, and genes.

Answer: The mechanism of heredity begins with mating, which is the first step for reproduction. The union of a male sperm with a female ovum results in a zygote. This is followed by growth, which involves the repeated division of this fertilised cell or zygote. Life begins to take shape when a chromosome from a female meets the chromosomes of a male, leading to fertilisation. It is this cell, containing chromosomes, that carries the process of heredity from parents to an individual.

Every person receives 23 chromosomes from each parent, making a total of 46. Each chromosome consists of small particles called genes, numbering between 40 to 100. At the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum, which determines the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring. The result of this union of genes is what is called heredity.

53. Explain the three types of heredity: biological, mental, and social.

Answer: The three types of heredity are biological, mental, and social.

Biological Heredity is based on the general observation that species reproduce their own kind, such as a cow begetting a cow and human beings begetting human beings. Within a species, brothers and sisters often resemble their parents in physical characteristics like size, form, appearance, skin colour, eye colour, and muscle strength. Identical twins resemble each other in every respect at birth, while fraternal twins and other siblings also share many characteristics.

Mental Heredity refers to the inheritance of mental characteristics alongside physical ones. Every child is born with instincts to suck, breathe, laugh, cry, and move their limbs. Intelligence also appears to be inherited, as the intellectual calibre of children often resembles that of their parents. Case studies have also reported that some tendencies to commit crime may be inherited.

Social Heredity, also known as Social Heritage, includes social etiquettes, laws, customs, traditions, mother tongue, philosophy, religious books, art, and architectural monuments. It is the sum total of the past achievements of more than one generation and is a form of educational environment. Unlike biological and mental heredity, individuals are not born with social heredity; it is acquired.

54. Discuss the theory of the transmission of acquired traits, citing different views.

Answer: The theory of the transmission of acquired traits has been debated by different scientists. Weisman refuted the possibility of transmitting acquired traits from one generation to another. He believed the parent is only a trustee of the germ plasm, not the producer of the child, and demonstrated this by experimenting on rats and cutting their tails, which did not result in tailless offspring.

In contrast, Lamarck and Darwin held a definite belief that favourable variations are passed on to the next generations. McDougall conducted an experiment to prove that acquired habits can be transmissible to some degree. He placed rats in a tank with two gangways, one of which was electrified. The first generation of rats made many errors, but succeeding generations made fewer errors, with only 25 errors committed by the 23rd generation. This suggested that lessons learned by each generation were unconsciously transmitted. McDougall also stated that instincts, which are racial habits for self-preservation, are modified and transmitted over generations.

55. Explain the Law of Variation in detail, mentioning MEIOSIS and gene combinations.

Answer: The Law of Variation explains the exceptions to the rule that children are like their parents. Variations occur at several steps during fertilisation and birth. There is a chance for variations when only 24 pairs of chromosomes are selected from double that number in the sperm or ovum. In any human, this allows for 16,777,216 different combinations of chromosomes, meaning there are 16,777,216 different kinds of sperms and 16,777,216 different kinds of eggs possible. Since any sperm can fertilise any egg, almost 300 trillion different kinds of fertilised eggs are possible, making each human literally unique.

This process, called MEIOSIS, explains how different combinations of genes lead to different types of children from the same parents. The chromosomes that combine are different for each offspring. According to this law, a child is not fully similar to the parents but is somewhat different from them due to this variance in gene combination. For example, short parents may have tall children if the combined genes are dominant for tall characteristics.

56. Explain the Law of Regression, including the concept of ‘Normal Probability’.

Answer: The Law of Regression states that in successive generations, variations tend to move towards the average of the species to which they belong. For example, if a father is a tall man, his son may be tall, but not as tall as his father; the son’s height will regress towards the normal height of human beings. This law is based on statistical calculations and the statistical law known as ‘Normal Probability’. This concept suggests that there is always a mean for traits like height, weight, and IQ, with about 67% of the population clustering around this mean.

For instance, if the average height is 60, the range might be 50-70. A parent with a height of 70 will likely have an offspring who regresses towards the normal, perhaps being 65″ tall but not 70″. Similarly, a dwarfish parent of 50″ height might have an offspring of 55″. The regression is always towards the normal. Galton explained this by stating that a child’s heredity is determined only 50% by immediate parents and the rest by ancestral parents.

57. How does the pre-natal and post-natal environment affect an individual’s development?

Answer: The environment, which includes both pre-natal and post-natal factors, significantly affects an individual’s development and behaviour. The pre-natal environment is the intra-uterine fluid upon which the embryo depends to mature. The embryo or foetus relies on the mother for its blood and oxygen supply, as well as for hormones, vitamins, and other materials essential for nutrition and healthy growth. The cells of the embryo also develop under the influence of surrounding cells and tissues, which act upon one another chemically or electrically, with each neighbouring cell functioning as an environmental force.

The post-natal environment includes factors like food, school, family, and locality. A stimulating and enriching social environment creates favourable impressions for development. Conversely, a dull or insipid environment can lead to unhealthy behaviour and emotional deficiencies due to a lack of adequate stimulation. The social environment at all stages of life is formative, influencing the maturation process with which heredity is closely connected.

58. Explain the importance of environment from a teacher’s perspective.

Answer: From a teacher’s perspective, understanding the environment is of great importance in educating a child. A teacher can understand a student’s environment and then create one that makes expression possible. The teacher can create a cultural environment to help students follow ideals and can also design an environment that aligns with the interests, instincts, and capabilities of the students. Since a student spends a significant amount of time in the family, neighbourhood, and playground, the teacher can pay attention to these external environments and guide the students accordingly. Furthermore, students’ emotions affect the school environment, and by controlling the environment, a teacher can help create controlled emotions among students. Thus, for a teacher, having knowledge of both heredity and environment is essential for guiding the development process of a child.

59. Explain the different types of environment: physical, mental, social, and cultural.

Answer: The environment can be classified into four main types: physical, mental, social, and cultural.

The Physical Environment includes all geographical features that affect an individual, such as food, temperature, climate, and resources for comfortable living. Even during the pre-natal period, the human embryo is surrounded by the physical environment of the womb, where it receives food and nourishment.

The Mental Environment refers to the atmosphere that is essential and helpful for a person’s mental development. This includes the intellectual atmosphere at home and school, as well as resources like libraries, recreation rooms, and laboratories, where a child unconsciously learns new experiences.

The Social Environment consists of the social associations a child has from the very beginning. It includes the cultural atmosphere of society with its ingredients like religion, folklore, literature, art, music, social conventions, and political organisation. Every individual inherits these cultural traits from the social environment.

The Cultural Environment is a set of beliefs, practices, customs, and behaviours common to a population. It shapes how every person develops by influencing ideologies, personalities, and personal choices. Religious beliefs are often an important building block of a specific cultural environment.

60. How is the relationship between heredity and environment like multiplication, not addition?

Answer: The relationship between heredity and environment is considered to be like multiplication rather than addition because both are inseparably essential for development. According to Woodworth, development is a product of the two, not a sum. This means that if either heredity (H) or environment (E) were zero, the developmental level (DL) would also be zero, just as in multiplication (H x E = DL). If the relationship were additive (H + E = DL), a person could still develop with one factor missing, which is not possible. A child is the product of both heredity and environment. T.P. Nunn described the human organism as a centre of creative energy that uses endowments (heredity) and environment as its working material. According to Ruch, this relationship is expressed in the formula DL = H x E x T, where T stands for Time, further showing that development is a product of these interacting factors.

61. Explain the controversy of ‘nativism’ versus ’empiricism’ in developmental psychology.

Answer: The controversy of ‘nativism’ versus ’empiricism’, also known as “Heredity versus Environment,” is a significant issue in developmental psychology concerning the relationship between innateness and environmental influence on development. A nativist account of development argues that key processes are innate, meaning they are specified by the organism’s genes. From this perspective, development unfolds according to a pre-programmed biological blueprint.

On the other hand, an empiricist perspective argues that these processes are not innate but are acquired through interaction with the environment. This view suggests that an individual’s development is shaped by learning and experience. Today, developmental psychologists rarely take such extreme positions. Instead, they investigate the complex relationship and interaction between innate genetic factors and environmental influences. This relationship is explored in emerging fields like evolutionary developmental psychology.

62. Discuss the debate on language acquisition, contrasting Chomsky’s and Skinner’s views.

Answer: The debate on language acquisition prominently features the ‘nativism’ versus ’empiricism’ controversy. The empiricist position, associated with behaviourism and B.F. Skinner’s work on “Verbal Behaviour,” suggests that language is acquired through learning. It posits that the language input a child receives provides all the necessary information to learn the structure of a language, and infants acquire it through a process of statically learning, similar to how other skills like perceptual learning are developed.

In contrast, the nativist position, argued by linguist Noam Chomsky, asserts that the linguistic input is too impoverished and insufficient for children to acquire the complex structure of language. Chomsky proposed that there is a universal grammar that applies to all human languages and is pre-specified in our genes. This led to the idea of a special cognitive module for language learning, often called the language acquisition device. Chomsky’s critique of the behaviourist model was a key turning point, though Skinner’s concepts have not disappeared due to their practical applications.

64. How does knowledge of heredity and environment help a teacher in the classroom?

Answer: Knowledge of heredity and environment helps a teacher in various ways in the teaching-learning situation. It helps the teacher to know the varying needs and abilities of the children, allowing for more tailored instruction. This knowledge aids in providing proper guidance to children in educational, vocational, and personal fields. It also helps the teacher classify students as gifted, normal, or slow learners and arrange different types of education for them accordingly. A teacher can use this understanding to provide a better learning environment in the school and to know the principle of individual differences, arranging the educational experience to match. Furthermore, it helps the teacher study the behaviour of children in different situations and organise various curricular and co-curricular programmes for the best benefit of the children. This knowledge is of utmost value to teachers, administrators, and educational planners.

65. “Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it.” Explain this statement.

Answer: The statement, “Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it,” by Landis and Landis, explains the relationship between our innate potential and the external factors that allow it to develop. In this metaphor, “working capital” refers to the hereditary capabilities and capacities a person is born with. These are the raw materials or potential an individual possesses. However, these capabilities are of no avail if the “opportunity to invest” is not present. This opportunity is provided by the environment.

The environment is what allows these hereditary traits to manifest. For example, a person may be born with the genetic potential for genius, but without a supportive environment, such as a good education or a new social situation, that talent might remain in obscurity. The environment provides the chance for a person to reveal their power. As David Abrahamson wrote, “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do.” Heredity explains the animal part of man, while environment explains the human being.

66. Discuss the complete mechanism of heredity, from conception to the role of genes and the chance factor.

Answer: The mechanism of heredity begins with conception, which takes place due to certain biological factors and processes. An organism’s life starts when two germ cells meet together. In the ovary of the female, an ovum or an egg cell is present, which contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the male’s sperm, there are also numerous germ cells, each with 23 pairs of chromosomes. Mating is the first step for reproduction, where the union of male sperm with the female ovum results in a zygote.

This process of fertilisation takes place when a chromosome of a female meets the chromosomes of a male, and life begins to take shape. This is followed by growth, which involves the repeated division of the fertilised cell or zygote. Every person receives 23 chromosomes from each parent, making 46 in all. Each chromosome consists of small particles numbering 40 to 100, which are called genes. An individual’s heredity depends on the genes of his or her parents; whatever one gives to their children is through the genes.

The chance factor also plays a significant role. Both the ovum and sperm contain 23 pairs of chromosomes each before fertilisation. At the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum, which determines the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring. The result of this union of genes is called heredity.

67. Elaborate on the three Laws of Heredity: Like Begets Like, Variation, and Regression, with examples.

Answer: The three Laws of Heredity are Like Begets Like, the Law of Variation, and the Law of Regression.

The law of ‘Like Begets Like’ is based on the common observation that children are like their parents. A common saying, ‘A youth is a chip of the old block,’ illustrates this. A child takes after his parents in size, colour, dullness, brightness, and other traits. For example, a cat gives birth to kittens, and a Negro gives birth to a Negro. However, this theory has been criticised because many exceptions occur; for instance, children of bright, intelligent persons are not always bright, and criminals do not always beget criminals.

The Law of Variation explains the exceptions to the ‘Like Begets Like’ rule. Variations take place during fertilisation and birth. In any human, there are 16,777,216 different possible combinations of chromosomes, which means each human is literally unique. This process, called MEIOSIS, explains how different combinations of genes give birth to different types of children from the same parents. According to this law, a child is not fully similar to the parents but somewhat different from them due to variance in gene combination. For example, short parents may have tall children if the genes that combined are dominant in tall characteristics.

The Law of Regression states that “in successive generations variations tend to move towards the average of the species of which they form a part.” This means an offspring will regress towards the normal. For example, if a father is a tall man, his son may be tall, but not as tall as his father. Similarly, a dwarfish parent of 50″ height might have an offspring with 55″ height, but not 50″. The regression is always towards the normal. This law also suggests a tendency for children of very bright parents to be less bright than their parents and for children of very inferior parents to be less inferior.

68. “A child is the product of heredity and environment.” Discuss this statement in detail, citing different viewpoints.

Answer: The statement “A child is the product of heredity and environment” suggests that an individual’s development is shaped by the interplay of both genetic inheritance and external influences. Each individual has a different pattern of behaviour and personality, and this difference is seen due to the influence of both heredity and environment. No person can be born without heredity, and genes cannot develop without a proper environment.

Several thinkers support this view. According to Woodworth, the relationship between heredity and environment is more like the product of multiplication than of addition, meaning they are interdependent. T.P. Nunn viewed the human organism as a centre of creative energy that uses endowments from nature (heredity) and environment as its working material. According to Ruch, the developmental level (DL) of an individual is a product of Heredity (H), Environment (E), and Time (T), expressed in the formula DL = H x E x T.

MacIver stated, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated nor can be isolated.” This highlights their inseparability. Similarly, Altenburg noted, “Each trait requires both heredity and environment for its development,” and Lumley said, “It is not heredity or environment, but heredity and environment.” These viewpoints collectively affirm that human development is the product of both heredity and environment, and each trait and response of an individual depends on both factors.

69. Explain the synthesis between heredity and environment, citing views of MacIver, Altenburg, and others.

Answer: The synthesis between heredity and environment suggests that it is futile to ask which of the two factors is more important, as they are inseparable and interact continuously to shape an individual. The problem of nature versus nurture defies a simple solution because every aspect of life is a product of both.

According to MacIver, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated nor can be isolated.” This view is supported by Altenburg, who stated, “Each trait requires both heredity and environment for its development,” and Lumley, who said, “It is not heredity or environment, but heredity and environment.” These statements show that the two factors are not opposed but are co-dependent.

Other thinkers further clarify this synthesis. David Abrahamson wrote that “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do.” Landis and Landis explained, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment. Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it.” The conclusion is that all the qualities of life are in the heredity, and all the evocations of these qualities depend on the environment. Heredity provides the potentiality, and the environment offers the chance to bring it out.

70. Discuss the controversy between heredity and environment, focusing on the language acquisition debate.

Answer: The controversy between heredity and environment, often referred to as “Heredity versus Environment” or “nativism versus empiricism,” concerns the relationship between innateness and environmental influence on development. A nativist account argues that processes are innate and specified by an organism’s genes. In contrast, an empiricist perspective argues that processes are acquired through interaction with the environment.

This debate is prominently portrayed in research on language acquisition. The central question is whether properties of human language are specified genetically or acquired through learning. The empiricist position suggests that the language input a child receives provides the necessary information to learn the structure of language through a process of statistical learning. From this perspective, language can be acquired via general learning methods that also apply to other aspects of development.

The nativist position, championed by linguist Noam Chomsky, argues that the input from language is too impoverished for infants to acquire its complex structure. Chomsky asserts that there is a universal grammar that applies to all human languages and is pre-specified. This led to the idea of a special cognitive module for learning language, called the language acquisition device. Chomsky’s critique of the behaviourist model of language acquisition is seen as a key turning point in the decline of behaviourism, although Skinner’s concept of “Verbal Behaviour” has not disappeared, partly due to its practical applications.

71. What are the educational implications of understanding heredity and environment for teachers and planners?

Answer: The knowledge of heredity and environment is of utmost value to teachers, administrators, and educational planners, as it helps in shaping the educational pattern, methods, and learning environment to suit the developmental pattern of children. If this knowledge is realised, the system of education can be changed to a great extent.

The specific educational implications for a teacher are:

Knowledge of heredity and environment helps the teacher to know the varying needs and abilities of the children.
It helps to provide proper guidance to his children in the field of educational, vocational, and personal fields.
It helps the teacher to classify the students as gifted, normal or slow learner and arrange different types of education for them.
It helps the teacher to provide better learning environment in the school.
It helps the teacher to know the principle of individual differences and arrange the educational experience accordingly.
It helps the teacher to study the behaviour of the children under different situations.
It helps the teacher to organise various curricular and co-curricular programmes for the best benefit of the children.

72. Explain the different types of heredity and environment and their combined impact on development.

Answer: Heredity and environment are classified into different types, and their combined influence shapes an individual’s development.

The types of heredity are:

Biological Heredity: This is the inheritance of physical characteristics. It is a general observation that a cow begets a cow and human beings beget human beings. Brothers and sisters often resemble their parents in physical traits such as size, form, appearance, skin colour, and eye colour.
Mental Heredity: This refers to the inheritance of mental characteristics. Instincts like sucking, breathing, and crying are inherited. Intelligence also seems to be inherited, as the intellectual calibre of children often resembles that of their parents.
Social Heredity: This is not biological but refers to the social heritage an individual acquires. It includes social etiquettes, laws, customs, traditions, mother tongue, philosophy, and cultural works like art and architecture.

The types of environment are:

Physical Environment: This includes all geographical features that affect an individual, such as food, temperature, climate, and resources.
Mental Environment: This is the atmosphere that is helpful for mental development, including the intellectual atmosphere at home and school, libraries, and laboratories.
Social Environment: This includes the social associations a child has from the beginning, such as religion, folklore, literature, music, and social conventions.
Cultural Environment: This is a set of beliefs, practices, customs, and behaviours common to a population, which influences ideologies and personalities.

The combined impact of these types of heredity and environment is that they are both essential for a child’s development. A child is the product of both, and they have equal significance. Each individual’s unique pattern of behaviour and personality is a result of the influence of both heredity and environment.

73. “Heredity is of no avail if environment is not there to show it off.” Elaborate on this statement with examples.

Answer: The statement “Heredity is of no avail if environment is not there to show it off” means that inherited potential or talent cannot be realised without the right external conditions and opportunities.

For instance, it was the industrial age that made it possible for men of talent to rise to eminence, who otherwise might have remained in obscurity. This shows how a favourable environment (the industrial age) allowed inherent talents (heredity) to flourish. A new social situation or a happy chance can give a genius the opportunity to reveal his power. However, the reverse is also true: no amount of favourable circumstances will turn a person of mediocre mentality into a genius, which shows that heredity sets the limits.

This idea is further supported by various thinkers. David Abrahamson wrote that “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do.” This suggests that while heredity provides the potential, the environment determines whether that potential is actualised. Similarly, Landis and Landis stated, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment. Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it.” Therefore, the environment is necessary to “show off” or manifest the traits provided by heredity.

74. Discuss the importance of Social Heredity and the role of parents and teachers in its transmission.

Answer: Social Heredity includes the cultural and social assets that are passed down through generations, not through genes but through learning and experience. It includes social etiquettes, laws, customs, traditions, mother tongue, philosophy, religious books, art, and architectural monuments. This is also referred to as Social Heritage.

The importance of Social Heredity is so great that without it, a person would be quite powerless, in spite of all his biologically good traits of intelligence. It provides the framework of knowledge, values, and behaviours that allows an individual to function effectively within a society and build upon the achievements of the past.

Parents, teachers, and the state play a crucial role in the transmission of this heritage. They should see that each child is surrounded with the proper environment so that he might benefit himself by acquiring the social heritage which has been coming down for ages. By creating a supportive and enriching environment, they ensure that the child learns and internalises the customs, knowledge, and values of their culture, allowing them to become a fully realised member of their society.

75. Explain how the interaction between heredity and environment shapes an individual’s personality, citing various thinkers.

Answer: The interaction between heredity and environment is fundamental in shaping an individual’s personality. Each person has a different pattern of behaviour and personality, and this difference is due to the combined influence of genetic inheritance and environmental factors. Heredity and environment play an important role in the development of personality and other qualities.

There is an incessant interaction between the two, and they are inseparable. In no case of personality development can we properly attribute any characteristic to heredity or to environment alone. A given result is always produced by the interaction of gene substance and the environment.

Several thinkers have described this interaction. In the words of Biesanz and Biesanz, “Personality is the organisation of a person’s attitudes, habits, and traits and arises from the interplay of biological, social, and cultural factors.” This highlights that personality is not a result of a single cause but an interplay of inherited traits and environmental influences. David Abrahamson wrote that “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do,” indicating that heredity sets the potential while environment shapes the outcome. Furthermore, Landis and Landis explained this dynamic by stating, “Heredity explains man the animal, environment man the human being,” suggesting that our basic nature comes from heredity, but our humanity is developed through our environment.

76. “Heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do.” Critically evaluate this statement with detailed arguments.

Answer: The statement by David Abrahamson that “heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do” captures the essence of the relationship between these two forces. The capabilities of man are hereditary, but their manifestation is the work of the environment. Heredity is of no avail if the environment is not there to show it off. For instance, it is the industrial age which has made it possible for men of talent to rise to eminence that otherwise could have remained in obscurity. A new social situation or a happy chance may thus give a genius the opportunity to reveal his power. However, no amount of favourable conjuncture will turn a person of mediocre mentality into a genius.

This interplay is further explained by Landis and Landis, who state, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment. Heredity gives us our working capital; environment gives us opportunity to invest it. Heredity explains man the animal, environment man the human being”. This means that while our potential is set by our genetic inheritance, the environment provides the chance for that potential to be brought out.

The question, “which is more important, heredity or environment?” wrongly assumes that environment and heredity are opposed, so that if one is important the other cannot be. All the qualities of life are in the heredity, and all the evocations of qualities depend on the environment. Higher the potentiality, greater is the demand made on the environment. More subtle differences in environment may have little effect on those of low potentiality while the same differences may be vastly significant for those who have higher potentiality. Therefore, heredity and environment are the two ultimate determinants of every living being, are of coequal importance, and none is more potent than the other.

77. Provide a comprehensive account of the nature, mechanism, and laws of heredity as discussed in the chapter.

Answer: The word ‘heredity’ is derived from the Latin word ‘hereditas’ which means capital which a child gets from his/her parents as inheritance. Based on this etymological meaning, heredity is the transmission of genetic characters from one generation to the next. This process starts from the union of sperm and ovum during conception. Every human being is born as a result of conception, which occurs when two germ cells meet. In the ovary of the female, an ovum or an egg cell is present, which contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. In the male’s sperm, there are also numerous germ cells. An individual’s heredity is present from the moment of conception, and it plays an important role, along with the environment, in the development of personality and other qualities. No person can be born without heredity.

The mechanism of heredity involves several steps that begin with reproduction. Mating is the first step, where the union of male sperm with a female ovum results in a zygote. This is followed by growth, which involves the repeated division of the fertilised cell or zygote. Every person receives 23 chromosomes from each parent, for a total of 46. In the process of fertilisation, when a chromosome of a female meets the chromosomes of a male, life begins to take shape. Each chromosome consists of small particles numbering 40 to 100, which are called genes. The child carries with itself several physiological and psychological peculiarities that are present in the parents, and it is the genes that determine traits like structure, complexion, height, and facial features. Both the ovum and sperm contain 23 pairs of chromosomes. At the time of conception, the genes in the chromosomes of the sperm pair with the genes of the ovum, which determines the potential characteristics and qualities of the offspring. The result of this union of genes is called heredity.

There are three main laws of heredity that explain how traits are passed down. The first is ‘Like Begets Like’, a common observation that children are like their parents. A child takes after his parents in size, colour, dullness, brightness, etc. This is explained by the continuity of the germ plasm. However, this theory has been criticised because many exceptions occur and it ignores the effect of the environment. The second is the Law of Variation, which explains the exceptions to the ‘Like Begets Like’ rule. Variations take place during fertilisation. In any human, this permits 16,777,216 different combinations of chromosomes, leading to almost 300 trillion different kinds of fertilised eggs. Thus, each human is literally unique. This process, called MEIOSIS, explains how different combinations of genes give birth to different types of children even with the same parents. The third is the Law of Regression, which states that “in successive generations variations tend to move towards the average of the species of which they form a part”. For example, if a father is a tall man, his son may be tall, but not so tall as his father; he will regress towards the normal height. This is based on the statistical law of ‘Normal Probability’. Galton explained this by stating that a child’s heredity is determined only 50% by immediate parents, with the remaining determined by ancestral parents.

78. Discuss in detail the role and types of environment in shaping an individual’s personality, behaviour, and development.

Answer: The environment consists of the sum total of the stimulation that the individual receives from conception until death. It can be described as something which surrounds the individual and includes both pre-natal and post-natal factors. The environment affects the behaviour of the individual and makes important contributions to the development of the personality of the child.

The role of the environment is significant from the very beginning. The pre-natal environment includes the intra-uterine fluid, where the embryo depends on the mother for its blood and oxygen supply, as well as for hormones, vitamins, and other materials for healthy growth. The cells of the embryo also develop by the influence of surrounding cells. The post-natal social environment is also formative. If it is very stimulating and enriching, it will create favourable impressions. If this environment is dull or insipid, behaviour is likely to be shaped in an unhealthy way. The type and quality of the environment shape the mind of an individual. The importance of the environment is multifaceted. It guides the development process of a child. A teacher can understand the environment and create one that makes expression possible, fosters ideals, and is suited to the interests and capabilities of the students.

There are four main types of environment. The Physical Environment includes all the geographical features that have an effect on the individual, such as food, temperature, climate, and resources for comfortable living. It also includes the pre-natal physical environment of the womb, where the embryo gets food and nourishment. The Mental Environment is the atmosphere essential and helpful for the mental development of a person. It includes the intellectual atmosphere at home and school, as well as libraries, recreation rooms, and laboratories. A child learns new experiences unconsciously in the mental environment. The Social Environment includes the social associations that a child has from the very beginning. It further includes the cultural atmosphere of the society with its ingredients like religion, folk-lore, literature, art, music, social conventions, and political organisation. Every individual inherits these cultural traits from the social environment, a process sometimes called ‘social heredity’. The Cultural Environment is a set of beliefs, practices, customs, and behaviours common to a population. It shapes the way every person develops, influencing ideologies and personalities. Religious beliefs are an important building block of a specific cultural environment, and for many cultures, a certain religion has been a critical part of everyday living for generations.

79. Elaborate on the ‘Heredity versus Environment’ controversy and the modern synthesis that resolves it, with special reference to language acquisition.

Answer: The ‘Heredity versus Environment’ controversy, also known as ‘nativism’ versus ’empiricism’, concerns the relationship between innateness and environmental influence in development. A nativist account argues that processes are innate and specified by the organism’s genes. An empiricist perspective argues that those processes are acquired in interaction with the environment. Today, developmental psychologists rarely take such extreme positions; rather, they investigate the relationship between innate and environmental influences.

One area where this debate has been prominent is in research on language acquisition. The major question is whether certain properties of human language are specified genetically or can be acquired through learning. The empiricist position suggests that the language input provides the necessary information required for learning the structure of language and that infants acquire language through a process of statically learning. From this perspective, language can be acquired via general learning methods that also apply to other aspects of development. The nativist position, argued by linguist Noam Chomsky, asserts that the input from language is too impoverished for infants and children to acquire the structure of language. He states that there is a universal grammar that applies to all human languages and is pre-specified. This led to the idea of a special cognitive module for learning language, often called the language acquisition device. Chomsky’s critique of the behaviourist model of language acquisition is regarded as a key turning point in the decline of behaviourism.

The modern synthesis resolves this controversy by concluding that the problem of nature versus nurture defies a satisfactory solution. It is futile to ask which of the two factors is more important. According to MacIver, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other, neither can ever be eliminated nor can be isolated”. The truth is that there is an incessant interaction between the two, and they are inseparable. In no case of personality development can we properly attribute any characteristic to heredity or to environment alone. A given result is always produced by the interaction of gene substance and their environment. According to Woodworth, the relationship is more like the product of multiplication than of addition. This is expressed in the formula by Ruch (1970): DL = H x E x T, where DL is Development Level, H is Heredity, E is Environment, and T is Time. We should not, therefore, be interested in asking about the absolute contribution of either factor as a whole.

80. Discuss the educational implications of heredity and environment for the entire education system, including curriculum, methods, and guidance.

Answer: The knowledge of heredity and environment has a great influence on human development, and as the developmental pattern of children is determined by both, the educational pattern, methods, and learning environment should be made by the teacher accordingly. This knowledge is of utmost value to teachers, administrators, and educational planners, and if it is realised, the system of education will be changed to a great extent.

The specific educational implications are as follows:

Understanding Students and Methods: Knowledge of heredity and environment helps the teacher to know the varying needs and abilities of the children. This allows the teacher to classify students as gifted, normal, or slow learners and arrange different types of education for them. It also helps the teacher to know the principle of individual differences and arrange the educational experience accordingly.
Guidance: It helps to provide proper guidance to children in the field of educational, vocational, and personal fields. By understanding a child’s inherent potentials (heredity) and the environmental factors influencing them, a teacher can offer more effective support.
Curriculum: This knowledge helps the teacher to organise various curricular and co-curricular programmes for the best benefit of the children. The curriculum can be designed to provide the right environmental stimuli to develop the hereditary capacities of the students.
Learning Environment: It helps the teacher to provide a better learning environment in the school. The teacher can study the behaviour of the children under different situations and create an environment that is conducive to positive development and learning.

In essence, the entire education system, from curriculum design and teaching methods to student guidance and school administration, can be improved by a deep understanding of the interactive roles of heredity and environment in a child’s life.

81. “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other.” Justify this statement by synthesizing the concepts of heredity and environment.

Answer: The statement by MacIver, “Every phenomenon of life is the product of both, each is as necessary to the result as the other,” is justified by the understanding that heredity and environment are inseparable and interactive forces in development. It is futile to ask which of the two is more important, as they are both compulsory, much like food and water are equally important for a person.

No person can be born without heredity, and genes cannot develop without a proper environment. From the moment of conception, an individual’s heredity is present, and environmental conditions also start influencing him from this very stage. Each trait and response of an individual depends on both his heredity and environment. This relationship is not one of addition but of multiplication. According to Woodworth, the relationship between heredity and environment is more like the product of multiplication than of addition, meaning they work together to produce a result.

Heredity provides the potential, while the environment provides the opportunity for that potential to be realised. As Landis and Landis stated, “Heredity gives us the capacities to be developed but opportunity for the development of these capacities must come from the environment.” Heredity is the “working capital,” and the environment is the “opportunity to invest it.” Similarly, Altenburg’s words, “Each trait requires both heredity and environment for its development,” support this synthesis.

In no case of personality development can we properly attribute any characteristic to heredity or to environment alone. A given result is always produced by the interaction of gene substance and their environment. Therefore, neither can ever be eliminated nor can ever be isolated. They are of coequal importance, and their incessant interaction produces every phenomenon of life.

Extra MCQs: Knowledge-Based

1. The word ‘heredity’ is derived from the Latin word ‘hereditas’, which means:

A. To inherit
B. Capital received as inheritance
C. Genetic transfer
D. Family traits

Answer: B. Capital received as inheritance

2. According to geneticists, what combination of chromosomes results in a male child?

A. Two ‘X’ chromosomes
B. Two ‘Y’ chromosomes
C. An ‘X’ and a ‘Y’ chromosome
D. One large ‘Y’ and one small ‘X’ chromosome

Answer: C. An ‘X’ and a ‘Y’ chromosome

3. Who defined heredity as “the sum total of inborn individual traits”?

A. R.S. Woodworth
B. B.N. Jha
C. Ruth Benedict
D. Douglas and Holland

Answer: B. B.N. Jha

4. In the mechanism of heredity, how many chromosomes does a person receive from each parent?

A. 46
B. 23
C. 40
D. 100

Answer: B. 23

5. The experiment involving rats and two gangways, one of which was electrified, was conducted by whom to test the transmission of acquired habits?

A. Weisman
B. Lamarck
C. Darwin
D. McDougall

Answer: D. McDougall

6. The process that explains how different combinations of genes can result in different offspring from the same parents is called:

A. Meiosis
B. Mitosis
C. Regression
D. Mating

Answer: A. Meiosis

7. According to Galton, what percentage of a child’s heredity is determined by their immediate parents?

A. 25%
B. 50%
C. 75%
D. 100%

Answer: B. 50%

8. Who stated that the relationship between heredity and environment is more like multiplication than addition?

A. T.P. Nunn
B. Ruch
C. Woodworth
D. Maclver

Answer: C. Woodworth

9. The nativist versus empiricist debate is another name for the controversy between:

A. Biology and Psychology
B. Heredity and Environment
C. Mind and Body
D. Nature and Society

Answer: B. Heredity and Environment

10. Who proposed the concept of a “language acquisition device” to explain how humans learn language?

A. B.F. Skinner
B. David Abrahamson
C. Noam Chomsky
D. R.S. Woodworth

Answer: C. Noam Chomsky

11. According to the formula DL = H x E x T, what does ‘T’ stand for?

A. Trait
B. Talent
C. Time
D. Temperature

Answer: C. Time

12. Who is credited with the quote, “Heredity determines what a person can do, and environment what he will do”?

A. Landis and Landis
B. Biesanz and Biesanz
C. David Abrahamson
D. Altenburg

Answer: C. David Abrahamson

13. Which of the following is NOT a type of heredity discussed?

A. Biological
B. Mental
C. Social
D. Cultural

Answer: D. Cultural

14. Which of the following is NOT considered an example of Social Heredity?

A. Mother tongue
B. Instinctive behaviors
C. The Taj Mahal
D. Social etiquettes

Answer: B. Instinctive behaviors

15. Which of the following is NOT one of the Laws of Heredity?

A. Law of Variation
B. Like Begets Like
C. Law of Dominance
D. Law of Regression

Answer: C. Law of Dominance

16. Which of the following individuals did NOT offer a definition of heredity?

A. Ruth Benedict
B. H.A. Paterson
C. Noam Chomsky
D. B.N. Jha

Answer: C. Noam Chomsky

17. Which of the following is NOT a type of environment?

A. Physical
B. Mental
C. Biological
D. Social

Answer: C. Biological

18. Which of the following is NOT a way that knowledge of heredity and environment helps a teacher?

A. To classify students as gifted or normal
B. To provide better learning environments
C. To determine a child’s final, unchangeable intelligence
D. To organize curricular and co-curricular programs

Answer: C. To determine a child’s final, unchangeable intelligence

19. All of the following are considered part of the physical environment EXCEPT:

A. Climate
B. Food items
C. Libraries
D. Temperature

Answer: C. Libraries

20. The law that states “in successive generations variations tend to move towards the average of the species” is the Law of __________.

A. Variation
B. Regression
C. Averages
D. Heredity

Answer: B. Regression

21. Each chromosome consists of small particles numbering 40 to 100 which are called __________.

A. cells
B. ovums
C. zygotes
D. genes

Answer: D. genes

22. According to __________ (1970), the action of heredity and environment is expressed as DL = H x E x T.

A. Woodworth
B. Nunn
C. Ruch
D. Galton

Answer: C. Ruch

23. The __________ position argues that certain processes are acquired through interaction with the environment.

A. nativist
B. empiricist
C. geneticist
D. biological

Answer: B. empiricist

24. The transmission of social and cultural patterns to each new generation is referred to as __________.

A. social heredity
B. biological heredity
C. mental heredity
D. cultural environment

Answer: A. social heredity

25. The union of a male sperm with a female ovum results in a __________.

A. gene
B. chromosome
C. zygote
D. germ cell

Answer: C. zygote

26. __________ refuted the possibility of the transmission of acquired traits by experimenting on rats and cutting their tails.

A. McDougall
B. Lamarck
C. Weisman
D. Darwin

Answer: C. Weisman

Extra MCQs: Competency-Based

27. Nativism : Heredity :: Empiricism : __________

A. Genes
B. Environment
C. Instinct
D. Biology

Answer: B. Environment

28. XX : Female :: XY : __________

A. Male
B. Zygote
C. Twin
D. Species

Answer: A. Male

29. Weisman : Rats’ tails :: McDougall : __________

A. Pea plants
B. Electrified gangways
C. Social customs
D. Language acquisition

Answer: B. Electrified gangways

30. Like Begets Like : Resemblance :: Law of Variation : __________

A. Similarity
B. Average
C. Difference
D. Instinct

Answer: C. Difference

31. Heredity : Potential :: Environment : __________

A. Genes
B. Limitation
C. Opportunity
D. Instinct

Answer: C. Opportunity

32. Assertion (A): A child’s sex is determined by the father’s contribution.
Reason (R): The male germ cell contains both ‘X’ and ‘Y’ chromosomes, while the female ovum contains only ‘X’ chromosomes.