Essay on Nature and Nurture

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Nature vs Nurture Paper
Chloe Robinson
Tioana Maxwell
PSYC 2301- 5023
February 1, 2014

Nature vs Nurture The concept of Nature vs. Nurture is the question whether ones behavior is more influenced by their genes or their environment. In today’s modern society social norms have definitely caused the evolution of behaviors from one generation to the next over short and long periods of time. On the other hand, genes carry behaviors that do not need to be learned and are usually more persistent than those that were adapted from the environment. A big argument is this area is the IQ debate. Studies have shown that in late adolescence adoptive siblings are no closer in IQ than strangers (correlation close to 0) while full siblings show an IQ of 0.6. The pattern is even more apparent in twins with identical twins who were raised separate having a highly similar IQ (Cherry, 2009). These types of findings have caused the continuous debate and to how much or how little one’s personality is determined by nature or nurture. When I asked my parents whether they felt I am a product of my environment or of my genes, their answer was unanimous. Obviously, according to them, it is my genes. My mother’s primary example was the fact that I am the oldest child. All of the eldest siblings in the recent generations in her family had similar behaviors to mine. For example we were always the less sociable of all the siblings but still natural leaders, most likely because we had the responsibility of being the oldest. My father’s argument was that I, and my sisters, are very intelligent like both of my parents and have always been kept to a high standard of academic achievement. I also have my parents’ natural work ethic. Like them I have earned my own money and had a job from the earliest age I could. Another major gene I inherited from my parents, and has no doubt influenced my behavior and lifestyle, is my short height. My parents gave me great examples and as far as their opinion that I am a product of nature, I agree. However, I believe that I could be a product of both with more of a tendency toward nature. As far as learned behaviors I believe that my environment strongly influenced the way I live because I grew up in the suburbs. I suspect that if I had stayed in the area I lived during my early childhood, which was a lower middle class neighborhood, I would have most likely had much different experiences and things like my educational achievements and socio-economic background would be on a different spectrum. Of course where someone grew up does not solidify your future, but I believe it will definitely impact the way an individual
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