The Formula for Fruition: Nature vs. Nurture
The Story of My Search Have you ever wondered what makes a person successful? Why is it that people who grow up in the same environment grow up to have such different qualities of life? As a child of two parents who would be considered “successful” by society, I’ve always wondered how differently I would perform in life had I been the child of different people or raised in a different environment. I’d heard plenty of stories about people coming from bad childhoods or being raised by unsupportive parents and still succeeding, but my question was, how common is this? How often is it that you can find people who succeed, in the way that society imagines success (happy, relatively wealthy, good at
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nurture” and its effects. The article that I found on the internet stated that when people were first trying to understand the mind, people tended to be more extremist with their opinions on nature vs. nurture. “John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience.” (Cherry) . Over time, with more research, it seems to be that nature and nurture work together to form who a person is, but when it comes to intelligence, scientists still debate which of the two may be a more powerful determinant.
When I realized just how many aspects of life “nature vs. nurture” applies to, I decided to narrow my search down to how it affects your performance in school, because performance in school can easily determine your “success” later in life. The times you spend in school are the most formative periods of your life, so being able to determine whether or not your natural ability or environment affects you more in this setting can show how it affects your life in many other settings as well.
The last thing I did to see how heredity and environment play a role in performance in school, was to to survey my classmates and find out for myself. The survey was meant to determine not only how common it is to find a person with less parental support and resources to get into a competitive high
Nature versus Nurture has been a debate in education since the late 1600’s. The debate began with John Locke 's perspective of children as “tabula rasa” meaning blank slate, when he stated that at birth we are all the same, but it is our unique “experiences that write the script of our behavioral repertoire” (Allen, Boykin, & Jagers, n. d.). His theory states that an individual 's experience and environment is what makes them who they are. This idea gave us the foundation for our “nurture” argument, even though at the time he initially proposed this idea, it was seen to be in direct conflict with ideals of previous philosophers.
“You inherit your environment just as much as your genes.” (Rich, 2015) In 1869, the phrase “nature vs. nurture was coined by an English polymath named Francis Galton. There are two sides to this debate, each with their own pros and con’s. Nature is the side that argues that the DNA and genotype humans are born with determines who they are and what personality and traits they will have throughout their lifetime. Whereas the nurture side of the debate argues that humans are born with sponges as minds, and through interactions and experiences while we grow, the knowledge and understanding of life is gained and this is how our personalities are sculpted. Many people have studied this debate through multiple schools of thoughts; each with their own arguments to which side they believe prevails. Yet, to this day, there is no proof to say which side of the debate if correct. Based on the psychological, sociological, and epigenetic schools of though, it can be validated that when it comes to the nature vs. nurture debate, nurture will always prevail and remain most relevant.
Through history, the idea of nature vs. nurture has been a hotly debated issue. Nature, or genetics is often believed to be the most important aspect of a persons’ upbringing, as nature is something intrinsic to any one person. However, many debate that nurture, or the care and encouragement of any human life, trumps nature. The earliest evidence and rebuttals of these theories have been honed and developed over time by specific psychologists and educational theorists – all who hoped to prove their own ideas as fact at one time in history.
The nature versus nurture debate is the scientific, cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behavior, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Within the field of psychology, this so-called nature-nurture debate, is very often associated with the issue of intellectual quotient, better known as IQ. In the past psychologists have argued that the way in which a child developed was based solely on nature, genetic or hormone-based behaviors, or nurture, environment and experience. Nevertheless, this extreme way of thinking is now long outdated, and it is clear that both nature and nurture have great effect on our intellectual development. The question now lies in just how much impact each has on an
The nature vs nurture debate is one that naturalists and empiricists love to have. The naturalists are on the nature side of the debate; they believe that a person's development is primarily influenced by their genetic traits. The empiricists, on the other hand, side with the nurture part of the debate; they believed that a person's development is mostly influenced by the environment they are raised in. Most modern psychologist, however, don’t take such radical approaches. They instead accept that a person’s development is influenced by a mixture of both nature and nurture, although there is still debate over which plays a larger role (McLeod). In my life, both nature and nurture have played key roles in my development as a person and who I
Nature against nurture – that’s one of the most popular questions ever studied in psychology. Even today no one knows for sure what’s more valuable for our human development – nurture or nature. Many researches, experiments and discussions have been conducted to answer this question, but positive results are still unavailable. In this nature vs nurture essay you’ll find a brief history, significant characteristics of the nature versus nurture problem and fresh original thoughts on the
The Nature vs. Nurture debate is one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. Since the start of the debate psychologists argued that you were either a product of nature or nurture, not both. Nature enthusiasts suggested that you are a product of your genes, while nurture enthusiasts suggested that you are a product of your environment. What if I told you, you actually could be a product of both? Newer research and experiments suggest that many human traits and behaviors actually result from both genetic and environmental factors. Your genes help to provide the potential for a trait, but in order for the potential of said trait to be realized, your environment has to influence
Nurture-only view how people are all the same at birth, and we are the product of our experiences. “Nature through nurture the environment- the womb or the world outside, it interacts continuously with biology to shape who we are and what we do” (Scully, 2016). The two dissimilar arguments of nature and nurture of human intelligence is a person’s intelligence is determined by genetics and a person’s intelligence is determined by the environment in, which a person is raised.
The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions ofgenetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development. Some philosophers such as Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn, or that they simply occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Other well-known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience.
Over the years, scientists have struggled to prove whether nature or nurture has the key role in the determination of key characteristics and traits that humans have expressed. One characteristic’s development that has been extremely difficult to base solely off of genetic of environmental influence is a human’s intelligence. The question of whether a person’s intelligence comes from the generations before them or does it simply develop from life experiences, lessons, and schooling. The tumultuous amounts of research and ever-changing and advancing theories all seem to agree that both nature and nurture have a partial role in the development of intelligence.
If I were to ask you on whether nature or nurture determines one’s traits, would you be able to answer me with absolute confidence? It is completely understandable if you are hesitant as both nature and nurture have something to boast about in their roles as determinants of one’s traits. There are studies that have shown that nurture is definitely the key that determines one’s ability and that science is increasingly showing that genes are becoming less an influence [James, December 27th, 2008]. However, with that being said, I believe that both are actually significant players.
In the twentieth century, where we are now, there is also a different approach to the nature vs. nurture debate then there was before. In the twentieth century it has came to a realization that for this debate there is not going to be a yes or no or right or wrong answer. Many people believe different things. For example, there may be or there may not be a stable or valid human nature. There is a variety in what people believe. With nurture, depending on where an individual grows up, there may be a lot of different assumptions and practices. People in this century do not think nature and nurture are two completely separable things. They believe they work together and the intelligence is
Throughout many years, scientists have been debating about whether nature or nurture is the driving force that shapes a person’s cognitive abilities and personal traits. Before the ongoing debate can be explained, it is necessary to understand what nature and nurture actually are. Nature is loosely defined as the genetics one inherits and tendencies that influence development. Many things in an individual are hereditary, for instance; gender, disease, height, eye color, natural talent for an activity, and many more. Nurture can be defined as various environmental factors that a person is exposed to, which can influence how a person develops. Nurture affects an individual’s growth through multiple ways such as: stressors, activities, intellect and experiences, physically, emotionally, and socially through peers. Progressively, many are realizing that asking to what extent environment or genetics influence a person’s traits is not necessarily the correct way to approach the debate. In all actuality there is not an easy way to sort through the multiple forces that exist in these situations. However, numerous researchers are now looking at how the two factors intertwine and influence one another because only one of them could not simply exist alone without the other very well. Nature and nurture coexist and work together to help shape a person, whether that is from the two working equally or one being slightly more predominant over the other, however
Psychologically, nature can be termed as the genetic predispositions impact on human traits. Nurture on the other hand, refers to the influence that learning has on the behavior of persons. The influence of learning is exclusively obtained from the environment. Scholars and lay people continue to argue about whether the strengths and weaknesses of people are as a result of their inherited traits or the ones acquired through learning from the environment. Great social implications have been drawn from the results of this debate. These implications occur in the sense that the intelligence showcased by people depends on their acquired or learned traits. With respect to the inherited traits, there are various traits that are biologically
Now days, people are still debating whether intelligence is determined by nature or nurture. "Nature versus nurture" is a phrase used widely to express the long-standing scientific debate about whether we are mainly "made" by our genes or whether influences from the environment are more important in our construction (Englbrecht n.d.). Nature refers to inheritance or genetic. If intelligence is determined by nature, it means that the intelligence is caused by some traits in human that is affected by parents’ genes. Meanwhile, nurture stands for environmental and social influence for example experience, culture or community. So, if someone believes that intelligence is affected more by nurture, it means that