Nature Vs Nurture Theory

Physical features, although unique in some measure, are proven to be acquired from the biological parents of any organism. The Nature v. Nurture debate relates to humans and how they develop their unique behavioral habits. Many who support the Nature Theory endorse essentially that a person’s intelligence, personality, aggression, and sexual orientation pertain primarily to their DNA stemmed from their biological parents (Powell). For example, if someone’s parents are depressed or violent, the Nature Theory supporters conclude that their offspring will also bear these negative these traits. However, the Nurture Theory presents that these behavioral aspects are originated predominantly from the environmental factors of our upbringing, which
is much more logical. A person’s outright actions are directly influenced by a person’s environment, while genetics and DNA only have a small influence. Thus, nurture has a direct correlation to learning abilities and decision making, overall personality, and mental health. Learning abilities and motivation is most definitely a valid point to address when referencing The Nurture Theory. Students, especially in high school, are prone to peer pressure which makes them act like everyone around them in order for them to “fit in.” The need for fitting in somewhat dissolves when students begin their path to adulthood; they learn from their peers and from their family that there comes a time when you transition into a leader of oneself. Following high-school when students are finding themselves, many proceed to go to college and choose a career path for the future, which presents no evidence that genes are able to indicate what someone will be when they grow up. American psychologist John Watson said: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select...regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors (Sincero).” This famous quote indicates that regardless of a child’s genes, they can ultimately choose what they would like to do in their future whether it is a doctor, lawyer, dancer, or artist. In addition, in the book of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a grotesque, terrifying monster that is very uneducated and unaware when he is brought to life. The monster lives in a shed outside of another family’s home where he observes and tries to mimic the actions of the family. He learns to speak from listening to their conversations and picks up on a few of their seemingly natural behaviors (Shelley). At first, the monster had absolutely no idea how to communicate or act. He started to learn once he began to observe the family closely, since his genes had not given him ideals pertaining to proper action. Watching the family motivated him to learn how to do things like speak, start a fire for warmth, how to obtain food, etc. However, learning abilities are not the only thing affected by nurture and companionship, but the overall personality of someone is directly correlated to one’s environment. Researchers at the University of Exeter and the University of Hamburg ran several experiments to find out how personality varies and is transferred generation to generation.
They discovered that children adopted by foster parents tend to exhibit the traits of their respective foster parents significantly more than those of the biological parents (Exeter). Genes given to offspring by the birth parents are not extremely powerful in the sense that personality cannot be developed solely from them. For example, a parent can pass on a high-risk emphysema gene due to smoking cigarettes heavily. However, if this specific person never smokes cigarettes throughout their life, which deals with that person’s environment or nurture in this case, then he or she will not develop emphysema considering that most traits only occur in specific environments. Consequently, the personalities of humans are very flexible and susceptible to change considering the fact that surroundings around humans change very often. If the surroundings did not change, it would be easier to support the Nature Theory and stagnant surroundings would portray the idea that personalities stem from genes alone. In addition, in the book of Frankenstein, the monster watches the family he lives next to as mentioned above. He notices that the family cares for each other and loves each other very much and this makes him want a monster companion and makes him want acceptance, specifically from his creator since the family
displays acceptance of each other. Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, ends up despising his creation and completely rejects the monster which in turn makes the monster feel rejected by all of humanity due to the fact that he was never able to learn how to be human. Since the nurture from Victor who is essentially the father of the monster, the monster begins to seek revenge against Victor and terrorizes Victor’s loved ones, killing most of them. Finally, problems with mental health can come about after being neglected by your surroundings. Many mental illnesses, specifically stress, anxiety, and depression are primarily the outcome of trauma or even negative surroundings.
Many Nature Theory activists will disagree, however. Nature Theory supporters tend to bring upon the argument that anxiety, depression, and increased stress or hypertension only stems from genetically obtained cortisol levels and that imbalanced cortisol levels are received from the offspring’s parents. Dr. Audrey Tyrka, M.D. PhD, conducted a study regarding the interaction of complex neurobiological mechanisms in coherence with traumatic experiences resulting in depression and anxiety. Cortisol, also referred to as the stress hormone, is the main component when it comes to these illnesses; people who have depression and anxiety have lower than average cortisol levels in almost all cases. The receptor for this hormone acts as a receiver for messages that are sent between cells during times of stress. During stress response, corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) stimulates the pituitary gland to release another hormone, adrenocorticotropic, which induces the release of cortisol from the adrenal cortex. In the context of everyday stress, cortisol release helps the body to respond adaptively by releasing energy from storage cells (Tyrka). However, this stimuli and response system in nature is triggered by outside influences in nurture that lead to stress such as abusive relationships, bullying, working long hours, going to school, and the
possibilities are endless. This indicates that nurture overrides nature because the genes and cells would not respond or produce irregular levels of cortisol to trigger depression if negative outside influences were not present. Overall, people’s learning abilities and decisions derive from the people that surround them whether it is their family, friends, coworkers, or all of the above. The way someone chooses to manage their time and stay motivated is directly correlated to how the people around them do. In addition, someone’s personality is generally the same as the people around them due to peer pressure and the need to fit in. Choosing careers also comes into play, since people’s choices are based on their hunger and eagerness for success in the world, rather than their genes that they were born with. Finally, outside influences are the culprit for most mental illnesses. Anxiety and depression were addresses as some of the most sever illnesses affected by a person’s surroundings. Yes, a person can have abnormal cortisol levels from birth, but this is bettered and or worsened due to a person’s environment and how they learn to respond to negativity and trauma.