2 peer responses – due in 4 hours

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 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.

Ashley’s Post:

Looking at the research that was performed on the rats in “The Great Rat Mother Switcheroo” (Webster, 2013) displayed motherly love by grooming the rats affectionately, which affected the rats on a genetic process level called epigenetics.  The pups were interchanged among the high-licking and low-licking mothers throughout this experiment.  The pups that belonged to the high-licking mothers were placed with the mothers who had low-licking behaviors.  The pups who were born and raised by mothers with the high-licking behaviors became low stress adults while pups born and raised by mothers with low-licking behaviors became high stress adults.  These qualities were transpired down to the off-spring with a reoccurring cycle.

Children who have encountered neglect or abusive parents will carry high stress in their adult life.  When a person encounters an early trauma, the balance of emotional arousal could possibly overcome the mind that is being developed and also may alter the developmental structure of the brain (Lecci, 2015).  Consequences of living with high stress can lead to mental illness and maladaptive behaviors.  According to Weaver et al (2004), “the hypothesis that maternal care alters DNA methylation, these changes are stably maintained into adulthood” (p.2).  This is extremely important information for us to assist those who have experienced a traumatic childhood that resulted in maladaptive behaviors or mental illness that carried over into later life.  In efforts to make changes, therapy and dieting is a start.  Applying one without the other will not be sufficient enough.

The proposal of how effectively the mother loves her child could possibly influence a child on a genetic level demolishing the “nature vs. nurture” dispute.  In my opinion, it is presented that there can be positive or negative results on one another.  “Epigenetics is a system that turns our genes on and off.  The process works by chemical tags, known as epigenetic marks, attaching to DNA and telling a cell to either use or ignore a particular gene” (Weaver et al, 2004).  In other words, genes are controlled due to the social surroundings we are in. 

References

Lecci, L. B. (2015). Personality. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

Weaver, I. C. G., Cervoni, N., Champagne, F. A., D’Alessio, A. C, Sharma, S., Seckl, J. R., … Meaney, M. J. (2004). Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nature Neuroscience, 7(8), 847-854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn1276 (Links to an external site.)

Webster, M. (2013, January 10). The great rat mother switcheroo (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.radiolab.org/story/261176-the-great-mother-switcheroo

Leanne’s post:

The Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior phenomenon utilizes rats to examine how pup licking, grooming, and the way nursing took place may alter their offspring. Researchers believed that the epigenomic state of a gene could be formed with behavioral programming (Weaver, et al., 2004). Results have shown that mothers that lick and groom often as well as nursing with an arched back, tend to have offspring with DNA methylation differences. These are differences that they do not see in offspring that who’s mothers do not display these techniques. Science has found that mothers that had low licking behaviors, produced pups that became highly stressed in their adult years and even passed this down to their pups (Webster, 2013). Results showed that the differences could be changed with the use of cross fostering. This was observed when they switched between a rat mother that did not lick and groom often to a rat mother that frequently groomed. The rats that were licked and groomed often grew to be less stressed and more likely to be a high licking parent.

           Researchers have found that according to the new implications of behavioral epigenetics, it is believed that experiences in our past and in our ancestors’ past, can leave molecular scars on our DNA (Hurley, 2013). Science suggest that individuals that grow up with alcoholic or abusive parents, continue to harbor the memories and pain associated with it. Some individuals look at this as a molecular residue that causes a bump in the structure of our genetics. Research shows that you can inherit predispositions to things. For instance, if your grandfather was neglected and abused as an infant, you may inherit a predisposition towards depression or even aggression. This can also work in the opposite. What if your mother was adopted at infancy? What would her adoptive parents have to do with her personality development? If at a young age the mother began being cared for in a loving nurturing home, her epigenetics will change to reflect such care. In the beginning we are exposed to different experiences, then we react to those things, and as we get older we have a better understanding to deal with those experiences. We do not always have to react to the same situation in the same way. We can alter our behaviors to help create a new out come.

           Researchers believe that what really matters is what your genes are doing. It is believed that when we move in and out of different environments, our genes adjust to these changes. Our genes can be turned on and off according to stress, nutrition, and exposure to toxins. The interaction between our environment and our genes are believe to help create characteristics throughout our lives. It takes both nature as well as nurture to create our personalities.

References:

Hurley, D. (2013). Trait vs. fate. Discover 34(4), 48-55. Retrieved from http://discovermagazine.com (Links to an external site.)

Weaver, I. C. G., Cervoni, N., Champagne, F. A., D’Alessio, A. C, Sharma, S., Seckl, J. R., … Meaney, M. J. (2004). Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nature Neuroscience, 7(8), 847-854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn1276

Webster, M. (2013, January 10). The great rat mother switcheroo (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.radiolab.org/story/261176-the-great-mother-switcheroo

My post:

Question 1

The study conducted on the rat in the “The Great Rat Mother Switcheroo” vividly indicates that the mother’s love is highlighted by the maternal grooming in rats, which impact the rat on the genetic level via the procedure referred to as epigenetic (Weaver et al. 2004). The pups were swapped among the “high licking rat mother and the low licking rat mother” in the experiment. Later the rats with the “low licking biological mothers” were exchanged with the “high licking” rat mothers. The pups of “the mother with the high licking behaviors were raised to become less stressed people who later became “high licking mothers.” Contrarily, “the pups raised or born of the mothers with low licking behaviors became highly stressed as an adult who later passes this behavior to their offspring as such continuing the cycle of the low licking behaviors” (Webster, 2013).

Question 2

Kids who are neglected grow up to be stressful adults. Maladaptive, as well as mental health illness in adults who had an abusive childhood, is high compared to those who had a caring mother. One may inquire if the children of the low lick mother are bounded to remaining stressed adults or whether they can reprogram their genes by neglecting undesired genes and ad adapting or focusing on the desired ones alone. “The hypothesis that maternal care alters DNA methylation, these changes are stably maintained into adulthood” (Lecci, 2015); therefore, it is good news to hear that there is the ability to turn around traumatic events which can lead to maladaptive behaviors and mental health illness. To make changes, therapy and a good diet can be prioritized; however, therapy alone cannot produce satisfactory outcome.

Question 3

The assertion that how well the mother loves the kid can influence children based on genetic level shattering the “nature vs. nurture” discussion because it seems that every individual can possess both negative and positive impacts on the other (Lecci, 2015). Epigenetics is “a system that turns our genes on and off. The process works by chemical tags, known as epigenetic marks, attaching to DNA and telling a cell to either use or ignore a particular gene” (Weaver et al. 2004).

References

Lecci, L. B. (2015).  Personality . Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu (Links to an external site.)

Weaver, I. C. G., Cervoni, N., Champagne, F. A., D’Alessio, A. C, Sharma, S., Seckl, J. R., … Meaney, M. J. (2004). Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior. Nature Neuroscience, 7(8), 847-854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nn1276

· Webster, M. (2013, January 10). The great rat mother switcheroo (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)[Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.radiolab.org/story/261176-