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Nature Vs Nurture Research Paper

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Many people today wonder about whom they are and how they became that way. Is who we are in our genetic code? Is it a result of our surroundings? Behavioral geneticists attempt to answer these questions by studying the differences in humanity and weighing the effects and interplay of heredity and environment--nature versus nurture. Nature, or environment, is the effect of the surroundings. Nurture, or heredity, is the effect of the genes. Behavioral geneticists have found however that both play a key role in our lives, as twin studies have shown. Twins are an essential role in showing the effects of heredity and environment, however, there are two types of twins. One type is identical twins. Identical twins are genetically the same, as the name describes and are born from one fertilized egg that splits into two. Although identical, this does not mean they have the same number of copies of genes. Identical twins usually also share a placenta, but one in three sets has two separate placentas where one can provide more nutrition than the other. The other kind of twins is known as fraternal twins. These twins are born from two separate fertilized eggs and are genetically no more similar than siblings. They are simply born at the same time. Behaviorally, they are also less similar than identical twins. …show more content…

For example, two identical twins share the same genes—the control—and are raised in different environments—the variable. Therefore, behavioral geneticists can study the effects of environment on a person’s behavior. This is shown in the case of separated twins Oskar Stohr and Jack Yufe. Both had similarities in personality, abilities, attitudes, and interests, however, their environments created drastic differences. One twin was raised in Germany by his grandmother as a Catholic and a Nazi. Their father raised the other twin in the Caribbean as a

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