Khaleq Mohammad

(ID: 900 13 0018)

Dr. Rob Williams,
PSYC 2301 General Psychology
08 November 2015

Nature and Nurture: Working Together to Make Humans Unique

The controversy surrounding nature and nurture and how they relate to human development is
one of the oldest in psychology. It centers on the idea that our personality, behavior, intelligence,
and feelings are either genetically inherited or influenced by our environment. Psychologists
argue that we are either born with our personalities or that they are developed through experience
and time. I believe that we are born with our distinct personalities, but our behaviors are learned
through experience.
The idea that nature is the main factor in determining human personalities can be seen in our
genes. The gene in each cell in humans determines the many multiple traits that we display. This
is shown through our physical attributes such as eye color, hair color, ear size and height.
However, it is not known if our more abstract attributes such as personality, intelligence, sexual
orientation and likes and dislikes are gene-coded in our DNA. In the article "Nature vs Nurture in
Intelligence. it is stated that "it has been found that genes make a substantial contribution,
including psychological traits such as intelligence and personality." (Neill, 2005) Behavioral
genes have been somewhat proven to exist when looking at fraternal twins. When they are raised
apart from each other, they have been shown to have similarities in behavior and response as if
they had been raised together. I think that we do inherit some of our personality traits from our
parents in our DNA. Since twins share the same DNA, it is likely that they will show some
similar personality traits regardless of their upbringing. Human beings, however, can decide to
rebel against what is written in their DNA. A person who develops diabetes because their parents
had it can use lifestyle choices and medicine nowadays to fight off the effects of the disease their
parents suffered from. Nature does not always influence all aspects of a person's life. I believe
that nurture plays an important role in development as well.
The nurture theory states that environmental factors are the true origins of our behavior. This
includes the use of conditioning in order to introduce a behavior to a child, or change a negative
behavior being shown by a child. John Watson was a psychologist who proposed environmental
learning as the main factor in the nature vs nurture debate. He said that he would be able to train
a baby randomly chosen in a group of 12 infants to "become any type of specialist he saw fit."
(Watson, 1930) He said that he could train the child to be anything regardless of the child's
potentialities, talents and race. I believe being raised a certain way can influence someone's
personality. Things such as wealth and educational opportunities can positively influence a
person's life. However, extravagant life circumstances are not always shown to be beneficial.
They can cause a person to become jaded to the rest of humanity. While nurture and the life
circumstances of a person are very important and can influence someone's personality over time,
I think that how they are born still plays an important part in their life development as well.
In my opinion, the debate should not be about whether nature or nurture has a greater
influence on someone's personality. Psychologists should realize that both have a great influence
and effect on someone's personality and development over time. Both nature and nurture work
together and help a person develop into the person that they will become, and keep working on
that person throughout their lifetime.

Works Cited

Neill, J.T. (2004). Nature vs nurture in intelligence.

Watson, J. B. (1930). Behaviorism (Revised edition). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.