DQ: Epigenetic Influences on Personality and Behavior
DQ: Epigenetic Influences on Personality and Behavior
1. Epigenetic Influences on Personality and Behavior. 1st Post Due by Day 3. Prior to beginning work on this discussion please read the Hurley (2013) Trait vs. Fate and Weaver, et al. (2004) Epigenetic Programming by Maternal Behavior articles and review the Webster “The Great Rat Mother Switcheroo” online article. The recommended resources for this week also provide more information on these topics. In this week’s required resources, we have learned that while our genes have a lot to say about who we are, environmental factors, particularly parental behavior, can shape the behavior of offspring on a biochemical level. Using the assigned Hurley and Weaver et al. articles, briefly describe the research that has been done with rat mothers to illustrate this phenomenon. In your initial post of a minimum of 350 words, explain the implications of the research on parental behavior and environmental factors as they relate to human personality development. Describe how this research data might be used to explain unhealthy personality traits. Explain how this data correlates to Winnicot’s concept of the “Good Enough Mother” found in Chapter 3 of your text. Be sure to cite the Hurley and Weaver, et al. articles in your initial post. Guided Response: Respond in a substantive way to at least two of your peers. Choose at least one point from your peer’s response that impacted your thinking on this subject, and explain why and how that particular comment either resonated with you or caused you to think in a different way. Compare the implications for human personality development identified by your peers to those you identified, and suggest alternative conclusions where appropriate. Challenge ideas with which you disagree and support your arguments.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.