Nature vs Nurture
Eduardo Estrella
English 115
11/27/2012
Nature vs Nurture There has always been a large controversy over whether inherited genes or the environment influences and affects our personality, development, behavior, intelligence and ability. This controversy is most often recognized as the nature verses nurture conflict. Does how you are raised affect your views as an adult more than what your genetic codes dictate? If your family has always been carpenters, are you destined to be a carpenter because of your genes or because of your familial upbringing? Some people believe that it is strictly genes that affect our ways of life, others believe that it is the environment that affects us, and some believe that both of these influence our behavior. Either way, social scientists have been struggling for centuries deciding whether our personalities are born or made. Tests are done often on identical twins that were separated to see how they are each influenced by their separate environments. When identical twins are separated at birth and grow up to have identical tastes is that an argument that it has more to do with nature than nurture?
The way a child is raised is a major contributor to the child’s personality as it ages. Children are born with a blank slate, known as “Tabula Rasa”, and the first few years of one’s life are important to the development of personality. There are many different theories about this subject, but all point out that the child’s behavior is affected by nurture. Psychologists are quick to support the nature debate because it deals with the genetic make-up of a person and biological psychology, which is fact. First of all, a person’s physical traits, such as eye color and blood type are genetically determined, even though there are certain ways to alter your look. Personality is proven to be heritable to an extent. Studies have proven that biological siblings are more similar in personality that adoptive siblings. In addition, a
English 115
11/27/2012
Nature vs Nurture There has always been a large controversy over whether inherited genes or the environment influences and affects our personality, development, behavior, intelligence and ability. This controversy is most often recognized as the nature verses nurture conflict. Does how you are raised affect your views as an adult more than what your genetic codes dictate? If your family has always been carpenters, are you destined to be a carpenter because of your genes or because of your familial upbringing? Some people believe that it is strictly genes that affect our ways of life, others believe that it is the environment that affects us, and some believe that both of these influence our behavior. Either way, social scientists have been struggling for centuries deciding whether our personalities are born or made. Tests are done often on identical twins that were separated to see how they are each influenced by their separate environments. When identical twins are separated at birth and grow up to have identical tastes is that an argument that it has more to do with nature than nurture?
The way a child is raised is a major contributor to the child’s personality as it ages. Children are born with a blank slate, known as “Tabula Rasa”, and the first few years of one’s life are important to the development of personality. There are many different theories about this subject, but all point out that the child’s behavior is affected by nurture. Psychologists are quick to support the nature debate because it deals with the genetic make-up of a person and biological psychology, which is fact. First of all, a person’s physical traits, such as eye color and blood type are genetically determined, even though there are certain ways to alter your look. Personality is proven to be heritable to an extent. Studies have proven that biological siblings are more similar in personality that adoptive siblings. In addition, a
Cited: 1) Kendra Cherry. “The Little Albert Experiment”. About.com Guide. Psychology. Web. November 27, 2012 2) Unknown. “Classical Conditioning”. Wikipedia.com. Web. November 27, 2012 3) Alison Gopnik. “Nature vs. Nurture”. Philosophytalk.org. December 13, 2004. Web. November 27, 2012 4) Joe Richman. “‘Identical Strangers ' Explore Nature Vs. Nurture”. Npr.org. October 25, 2007. Web. November 27, 2012