Sharon Begley Analysis

The nature vs nurture issue has been a controversial argument among psychologist for decades. This argument exposes two different views. One of them emphasizes that our personality depends solely on genetics (nature). On the other hand, the second view suggests that humans “develop through experience” (Myers 2013, SG 6) (nurture).

Have you ever noticed that you might act like your parents? Or maybe that your personality has changed over your lifetime? People have been debating about the nature versus nurture debate for a long time, and some think nature or genetics plays the bigger role in shaping personality, but some say nurture or society does. Nature and nurture both play a big part in determining what our personality will be. Identical twins have many differences. Your personality can change through your life because of the way you were raised. Studies show that nurture is much more dominant than nature is. Nurture is much more dominant in shaping personality than nature.

Personality may be based on many factors. It may be based on innate or learned experience, or latent or manifest. But, the focus of this essay will be whether a person's personality is based on the magnitude of genetic or an environmental influence. Personality can be divided into two categories, innate or acquired characteristics. Heritability is a statistical measure that expresses the proportion of the observed variability in a trait that is a direct result of genetic variability. Environmental influences can be divided into two classes, shared and non-shared environment. Both heredity and environment contribute to personality traits and that the degree of their individual contributions cannot be specified for any traits. Although a person's environment plays an important part in their personality development, heredity factors play a larger role in deciding disposition of this

People come in all shapes and sizes, and, certainly, every person is unique. However, you’ll probably agree that some people are much more alike than others. Moreover, behavior that may seem random is, in fact, quite understandable and often even predictable, once you understand that person’s inborn, natural personality, or genetic blueprint . . . Which describes basic psychological characteristics. Moreover, one’s personality is by far the best and most reliable predictor of behavior. (9)

In the article “Our Personality- Is it Genetically Inherited or Determined by The Environmental Factors” written by Alexandra Lupu, she demonstrates three possible process that is done to form one’s personality and argues that she believes individual’s personality is formed uniquely with environment inheritage interacting with each other. After stating her argument, Lupu explains the three types of approaches that divides the psychologist that determines one’s personality. First, nomothetic approaches, which is believed that one’s personality is constant and it is minimally influenced by external factors. Second, Idiographic approaches, which is similar to Lupu’s argument that both factors takes a big role in personality and finally, the complementary

“Personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. It arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life” (Cherry, 2014). My personality is influenced from my specific circumstances, my upbringing, and it is represented best through the theorists of Erik Erikson and Raymond Cattell.

Throughout time several personality trait theories have argued differently. Some state that traits are inherently part of our DNA and others state that they are solely based on the context or environment. My argument aligns with Costa and McRae’s theory in that personality traits are ‘situated in a comprehensive model of genetic and environmental causes and contexts (McCrae & Costa,1994).’

The debate of Nature vs. Nurture is possibly one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. This dispute regards the why as to who we are as people. There are some psychologists and non-psychologists alike who believe that people are the way they are due to their genetics, that they are simply born with a set of personality traits. Others believe that people are molded by their life experiences and the environment in which they grow up in. What each party would be surprised to discover though, is that it is actually a mixture of both of these factors.

The premises of dispositional theories fluctuate from those of other theorists because they present the basis of study for personality; Dispositional theorists believe that behavior is significant and adaptive. People don’t merely adapt to their environments, but are also aware of their environment and relate to it, in order to shape their social environment (Feist, 2013). Dispositional theory argues that personality is not an unchanging structure, but unpredictable because of our psychological and physical originalities. Allport describes personality as a dynamic organization present in all humans which influence one’s psychophysical structures and determines their characteristic behavior and cognitive functions (Feist, 2013).

Nature combines with nurture to form our personalities. Our genes may predispose us for certain inheritable traits such as diseases like cystic fibrosis or even just irritability, similar to our relatives, but the environment we are raised in has quite a bit to do with how visible certain aspects of our personality become. If a child is always around an environment where there is constant arguing and yelling going on, the child may naturally feel that is the proper thing to do when things do not go as they would like. Likewise, genetics play a role in determining a person's body type, thus you could get your eye color from your mom, and your height from your dad.

The underlying truth about living in a world of many personalities. The uniqueness about what makes a person who they are, has been a common belief that their personality began developing the moment one is born. Dr. Catherine Monk, a researcher at Columbia University, comments “research indicates that even before birth, mothers’ mood may affect child development.”According to Larson and Buss, most psychological mechanisms have three essential ingredients: inputs, decision rules and outputs.”Although at a young age in life we have not reached the understanding of who exactly we are, personality traits have already been instilled within us.

The best definition of personality I found is “Personality is can be described in terms of personality traits: characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving” (Soto & Tacket, 2015). For purposes of this paper, I chose to incorporate Horney’s Social and Cultural Psychoanalyses, Erik Erikson’s Psychoanalytic Ego Psychology and Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory. All three personality theories are of the general opinion that personality development is influenced more by environmental factors than by genetic factors. A person’s social environment has an extremely important effect on each situation in a person’s life but it does not determine the order in which the individual reacts. There is a natural predetermined order to development. Personality growth follows a sequence of predetermined laws, as cited by Erik Erickson. Each person develops through sequence of stages that emerges in accordance with the individual’s present plan. The present plan for each individual is developed through stages from birth to adulthood. Erikson postulated that human development is governed by the epigenetic principle that development occurs in a series of stages, universal to humankind, that unfold in a predetermined

born. Yet the way we are raised may also have an impact on the way we behave, but how much does nature or nurture determine our personality of who we are during the developing as children. Thomas B. Lewis, M.D. once said “While genes are pivotal in establishing some aspects of emotionality, experience plays a central role in turning genes on and off. DNA is not the heart’s destiny; the genetic lottery may determine the cards in your deck, but experience deals the hand you can play. Scientists have proven, for example, that good mothering can override a disadvantageous temperament". Since genes make up the cards we are dealt, we are limited to our genes abilities.

Some psychological models assert that a proportion of our personality is inborn and permanent (Hollander, 1971), that a psychological core at the center of our personality gives us enduring, inner characteristics. Hans Eysenck (1965) suggests that our motivation and emotion are related to biological differences in brain function and proposed that 75% of our personality is based on genetic influence and 25% on environmental influence. Research by Peter Whybrow (1999) on identical twins separated at birth examined how their different environments shaped their personalities. He found that around 40% of personality should be credited to genetics, with 60% determined by outside factors.

According to a study by Putnam, Ellis and Rothbart (2001), individual differences in personality factors as determined by the Big Five Factor Model are present and continue to persist from very young ages. This suggests that early influences to personality and identity are vital for their development. Most other studies on personality development maintain personality to be in a dynamic state, never achieving absolute stability. Environmental influences, therefore, play a big role in the development of a person’s personality.