Nature/Nurture or Both!

Essay by Hazam M. AdemCollege, UndergraduateA+, March 1997

download word file, 5 pages 3.5

Downloaded 331 times

Adem 1

                                Nature / Nurture or Both !

       ÂÂ

        The controversy over what determines who we are, whether it is Nature (heredity, our biological make up) or Nurture (our environment) is taking a new shape. Through the past decades, psychologists have developed different theories to explain the characteristics of human-beings; how we feel, think and behave. Usually, these theories were one directional in the nature / nurture question. Today, a new approach to deal with this question is emerging. This new approach finds a middle ground between nature and nurture. The conclusion that nature and nurture are complementary and work hand and hand to shape a behavior (a purposeful and meaningful activity) is not a compromise; it is a result of a vigorous study of each of the components of the equation of heredity and environment and their affects on determining one's development and behavior. In fact, the more we understand about development and behavior, the more obvious it becomes that nature and nurture are similarly influences rather than determinants, not only singly but also in combination.

Here below, I will endeavour to expose the leading theories dealing with the question of nature vs. nurture. I will also try to present the third, new-emerging approach meant to solve the mystery of " What is it that makes us who we are?"

                                                                                Adem 2

        "Our genes made us. We animals exist for their preservation and are nothing more than their throwaway survival machines." This is what Richard Darwin states in his book: The Selfish Gene. In his international best seller book, he argues that we are merely a product of our genes and our main purpose in life is to serve the genes, become distribution agents and ensure their...