Many classes such as intro to psychology, anthropology and biology have students study the context and ideas of the
nature vs. nurture debate. It is a very highly debated subject that has far reaching implications. After reading about why people agree with one side
or the other, I have decided that my opinion is that I do not understand why it
is a debate at all. From my perspective, neither side can ever provide evidence
that human behavior and personality are entirely determined by one factor, and
not by any other. There simply is too much evidence pointing to it being a
complex interaction of both nature and nurture that socializes human beings. It
is an interaction so complex that sociologists, biologists, psychologists, and
geneticists still cannot fully explain how a certain trait will be revealed if
a person is exposed to a certain environment. They can make conjectures, such as
that a person with a genetic tendency towards addiction will be more likely to
become addicted to alcohol or drugs if they are raised by alcoholic parents.
However, even in this case, there are too many exceptions to make this
conjecture with any real certainty.
I believe debating whether nature or nurture has more impact
is not as important as trying to figure out how certain environments can
trigger certain traits, or possibly how certain inherited characteristics can
affect a person’s surrounding environment. Neither side can be deemed more
important when the two are so co-dependent on one another. The textbook suggests that currently, there
is more support for the idea that biology (nature) has more influence on human
behavior. I still believe, however, that ultimately neither nature nor nurture
can have definitively greater influence in a persons life.
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. There is not much need for debate when both factors affect people. Social development, however, depends on nurture to a certain extent because if people are not exposed to human behaviors and language at a young age, they are unlikely to develop appropriate behaviors and abilities. I think social development depends majorly on nurture, especially during a child's initial critical development period, or their first few years of life.
I agree with you that nurture definitely has huge impact on how people are socialized. I think there is also a huge influence by nature as well though. For example, if a couple has two children, they might raise them very similarly with the same rules and values. If one of them is born with a heart defect though, all of the sudden the way they are socialized is going to change. They might be treated with more caution, maybe their frequent hospital visits will make them struggle more in school. In this situation nature is affecting the way the nurturing process happens, which in turn affects the way socialization occurs.
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