Comparing The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace

The reading begins with an introduction to what the study is about. The study is about trying dismiss the notion that solely your surroundings and experiences (nurture) or your genetics (nature) is solely the cause for you becoming the person you are today. It begins by explaining how the psychological world was very behavioristic during the later parts of the 20th century. Meaning, people assumed that their surroundings had a lot more influence on their lives, than the genes that they had. The reading also states that people are less likely to accept that they made a choice based on their genetics because it feels like a lack of

Roommates soon after some time, come to understand each other as friends. According to Hobbs, it would be simply to portray Peace as unable to do away with what some student would call a “poverty mindset.”

As I read The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs it shows the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. Robs’ story is about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds; the campus of Yale University and Newark, New Jersey and the difficulty of going from one to another and then back again. This book reflects a lot about the Book “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis” written by Robert D. Putnam. Putnam mainly talks about the state of upward mobility, the changes to family life, neighborhoods and schools in ways that give big advantages to children at the top and make it even harder for those below to work their way up. Putnam challenges the promise of the American Dream “that anyone, regardless of his or her origins, can have a fair start in life”. Personally as I was growing up that’s all I was taught about, this so called “American Dream” that everyone works so hard for and how hard it is to live this dream. The fear of not being able to live this dream made Rob want to do everything in his power to be able to make as much money as he can and to live this “American Dream” with his mother.

The Nature versus Nurture debate has been ongoing for centuries. People have tried to gain power through knowledge in determining what causes the human “mind to tick.” For centuries leaders and scientists have performed unethical and immoral studies to determine why two people with similar genetic composition can come from similar backgrounds and turn out so differently. I have witnessed a person raised in a poor home by parents with drug addictions become a thriving contributable member of society. Unfortunately, I have also witnessed a person raised in a Christian home with a Father as a minister who ended up in prison. As we learn about the psychological and biological composition of human beings and the affecting environment, I am

If you think having an IPhone without wifi is the struggle, imagine growing up in the ghetto without a father. In the book, The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace By Jeff Hobbs, Robert came from a very poor family. When Robert was just born, his mom Jackie had 8 siblings and they were so poor most of them lived in the same house. On December 13, 1990 was one of the worst day of Robert’s life, his dad Skeet was sentenced to life in prison for murder. This is very heartbreaking for Rob, because he had a very good and close connection with his dad. Rob is starting to grow up in good and bad ways. In the good way, Robert would help his mom around the house and give her half his money from whatever he makes from doing jobs around the neighborhood. Yet Rob starts to hang out with older kids and is beginning to drink and smoke in order to make all his pain go away. In addition, Robert grew up most of his life without a dad, so he taught himself how to be a man. When Robert was leaving for Yale he was afraid of 2 things, first of being a target around his neighborhood and not meeting a real person in college. Although Robert went through a lot of struggles in life, he doesn’t want anybody to feel bad for him; he wants to take care of his problems like a man.

The short and tragic life of Robert Peace began telling of a boy named Robert Peace born to a mother named Jackie and a father who went by the name of Skeet. His mother gave birth to Robert at an older age than the rest of the girls she had grown up with in the Newark, New Orange area and her only focus was her son. Skeet had also grown up around the area and wanted nothing more than his son to become a man. During the early years of Robert Peace’s life his mother focused on nothing more than her son and making sure he was provided for and never wanted for anything. Jackie and Robert lived in a house on Chapman Street shared with her parents and siblings that hadn’t moved out of the area. Horace and Frances spent a great deal of time helping

The nature-nurture debate has been around for decades. It is one of the oldest and most popular topics in the history of psychology asking what makes people who they become and how they behave and develop the way they do. What makes the debate more interesting is that now scientists are asking if personality traits and even sexual orientation can be determined by what is in already there from conception. Bodies are built up of chromosomes which contain genetic information. Many of these are inherited from parents and relatives. The nature side of the debate states the way people are is predominantly from inherited genetics and other biological factors not so much the environmental factors. The genes humans have in their bodies play a huge role to many aspects of who they are and who they become. For example, hair colour, eye colour and height are all predetermined by genes. Unchangeable. This is natures way. The argument stands to decide whether most attributes do stem from nature, genes, or if they can be affected by the environment and the way people are nurtured as they have grown. The nurture side of the argument believes although humans do have the genes and traits with which they are born, most personality traits are being made up of environmental factors. For example, being loved and cared for as children, if parents or carers were positive role models and if those people were taught in ways which provided them with discipline and respect for others. Where nature

When examining human development, the universal idea of conflict between nature and nurture often arises. The argument presented by the “Nature vs Nurture” debate is extremely controversial and has been discussed and critiqued for decades. “Nurture” is cited as being a combination of elements from one’s environment and experiences that shapes a person and their life, whereas “Nature” is cited as being a combination of genetic and hereditary aspects that dictates who a person is and will become. The controversy surrounding the argument most directly stems from the differences of views on whether or not nature or nurture affects a person’s life more. Historians, scientists, psychologists, and everyday philosophers have all studied this uncertainty, and many of whom have developed countless theories. Among these is the

“That one has a jail-cell with his name on it”, (Ferguson 1). A quote this powerful lays a foundation of the stories shared within the book Bad Boys.  This book allows us to see how the public school system is shaping black masculinity, and the affect it brings on these young boys.Yet, in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, it tells us about  Robert’s struggle from poverty, the streets of Newark, and his education at Yale. These two books give us a powerful message. One that allows us to see the underlying triumphs Black men face. With poverty, biases, prejudices, and many more obstacles thrown in their path, they will always be set to prove themselves. The odds are constantly against them, as they are seen and viewed as

The nature vs nurture issue has been a controversial argument among psychologist for decades. This argument exposes two different views. One of them emphasizes that our personality depends solely on genetics (nature). On the other hand, the second view suggests that humans “develop through experience” (Myers 2013, SG 6) (nurture).

Some friendships last forever and others do not but in the novel, A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles, displays a different kind of friendship. The reader throughout this novel was very entertained. This novel takes place at the Devon Preparatory School in the years of 1942-1943.

There are many psychological arguments for whether it is nature or nurture that controls an individual. If one is controlled by nature it means that the traits with which they inherit and have no control over are the ones controlling them. If one is controlled by nurture it means that the way in which they were brought up has control over them. Perry Smith was the son of a white man and a drunken Cherokee woman, “it was from her that he had inherited his coloring - the iodine skin, the dark, moist eyes, the black hair, which he kept brilliantined and was plentiful enough to provide him with sideburns and a slippery spray of bangs. His mother's donation was apparent; that of his father, a freckled, ginger-haired Irishman, was less so.” (page 9) He was raised in a children’s shelter that was ran by nuns and priests. While Perry was living with his father he wasn’t allowed to go to school. When Perry was a young child his mother took him and his siblings away from their father, and in the next years he was taken away from his father, and his mother became a different person. Perry’s mother had let liquor get the best of her, and she was never again like she was before. Perry Smith’s life is a prime example on how nurture controls more of an individual than nature.

This literature review will analyze what people think about the nature versus nurture debate. It will talk about the nature side and the nurture side of the debate.

Nature versus nurture is one of the most controversial topics of discussion among human beings. For many years, phycologist’s have been studying various people’s behavioral patterns in order to settle the debate. The argument of nature suggests that a person is born with a pre-conceived set of personality traits that determine the way they will act for the rest of their life. That is to say that all characteristics of a person, not just physical appearance, are passed down through genetics. The case with nurture states the idea that every person, no matter where they are from, is born with a blank slate. In other words, asserting that the behavior of someone is solely a result of their surroundings. This subject often comes up when a person

Through history, the idea of nature vs. nurture has been a hotly debated issue. Nature, or genetics is often believed to be the most important aspect of a persons’ upbringing, as nature is something intrinsic to any one person. However, many debate that nurture, or the care and encouragement of any human life, trumps nature. The earliest evidence and rebuttals of these theories have been honed and developed over time by specific psychologists and educational theorists – all who hoped to prove their own ideas as fact at one time in history.