Nature vs. nurture is an age old argument, hereditary or environment. The argument basically debates if genetic makeup or environment predetermines certain things about the human development. In my paper I am going to discuss the argument of nature as well as the argument of nurture and how it affects the mental health of a child. I am also going discuss the argument that both nature and nurture determines our mental health.
I am going to first discuss the argument for nature. Many believe our fates predetermined. The psychology dictionary describes the nature theory as “humans being born with certain traits and the will be manifested regardless of environment.” While discussing the nature theory, I will go into views of famous scientist psychologist such as Arnold Gesell, Alexander Thomas, Stella Chess, and Thomas Bouchard as well as the views of famous thinkers such as Plato and Socrates.
I will first discuss the studies of Thomas Bouchard. Thomas Bouchard is for the argument of nature. Bouchard often studied adoptions and twins, by doing this Bouchard he says our outcome is determined by genes. In a from the Smithsonian titled “The Jim Twins” it describes a study how a set of twins were separated at 3 weeks of age by adoption and then was reunited at the age of 39. In the article it states that growing up, both of the boys were names Jim by their adoptive parents, one named Jim Lewis and one named Jim Springer. Both of the boys had an interest in math and carpentry and children. As they grew up, one was a security guard and the other was a sheriff. They both married women name Linda, and then divorced and then they both remarried women named Betty. It goes so far as when they both had baby boys, one named the child James Alan Lewis, and the other one named the child James Allan Lewis. The article then goes on to say that Bouchard flew the twins to Minnesota very soon after the meeting because he wanted to