Nature versus Nurture

Nature and Nurture are two very different words that determine a person’s personality in very different ways. What does Nature versus Nurture mean? It is an old debate about what exactly determines a person’s psyche. Scientist debate about what exactly makes us who we are. Is it genetics or is it stimulus from the environment. All scientists agree that physical characteristics come from nature but many disagree what determines who we are psychologically. Some believe it is nature while others insist it is nurture.


The term nature versus nurture was first used by an English scientist named Francis Galton. He was influenced mainly by Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species.

The overall belief is that we are a product of both nature and nurture. There have been many studies of twins both raised together or raised apart that support both arguments. Today scientist do not debate so much which one, either nature or nurture decides who we are. Instead they debate what is determined by what. Which part comes from genes and which part from the environment.

I personally believe that a human’s psyche is made up of a combination of both nature and nurture. If who we are was based only on our environment or nurture, then siblings from the same home would be almost identical personality wise. I see huge differences between my brothers and sisters. If it were only up to genes it would be senseless for our parents to correct our behavior and try to mold us into what we are because it would mean we are already meant to be who we will be. There are indeed many traits that we inherit from our parents and these are described as nature. However, the environment also influences the way we act and the person we become. There is a large part of us that is learned behavior. For example, we inherit a certain degree of intelligence but what we actually make of it is determined by how much we stimulate it which is determined by the environment.

http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/16572/the_childhood_development_nature_vs.html