nature vs. nurture Essay

Submitted By mike42990
Words: 492
Pages: 2

Nature versus Nurture brings up quite a controversy, whether its inherited in our genes or the environment influences and effects development of personality such as our behavior, intelligence, and ability. Social scientists have struggled with this issue for centuries, whether our development is born nature or made nurture. Some believe that it is strictly our genes; others believe it is the environment, and still others believe it is based on both, our genes and the environment. Either way, the debate continues on and will for centuries to come. There is still no clear conclusion to this debate and probably never will.

The nature side of this debate argues that a person development is based on what they are born with genetically. It is apparent that genes provide humans with their own physical equipment, our beginnings. Genes and chromosomes are passed on from each generation to the next, so without heredity, humans would have nothing to hand down biologically to their descendants. This idea of genetics being purposeless is an inaccurate statement.

On the other side of the debate, many studies have shown that a person’s environment plays a large role in their development. This is a less noticeable, influential factor on one’s life. The amount of nourishment a person receives has been proven to play a large part in development. A person’s environment also plays a role in early development; research has always shown that we flour from early on with nurturing.

We all can remember the science experiment from grade school where we plant two seeds and grow them under different conditions. This is to show us nothing more than nature and nurture interacting.

The human nature – nurture debate is fueled by the fact that families’ basic nurturing capacity varies enormously by race and class. Also important to the nature versus nurture debate are the studies that have been done, most importantly the studies that have been done on twins. Mainly the studies on identical