Essay On Nature Vs Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture One of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology is the nature vs nurture debate. Nature is defined as inherited features, from parents, that you can see or feel. Nurture, on the other hand, is what someone gains as a person from caring and encouraging a good environment. These both aid in growth and development from birth. Some people believe that the majority of who you are comes from heredity, or what you're born with from both parents. Other people strongly believe that your environment moldes who you are, and that what you're born with can be changed with enough nurture. Both of these sides have valid points so it is hard to decide whether a person's development is in from DNA, or if the majority of it is influenced …show more content…

When I was five, my mom and dad got separated and it was a lot to adapt to. Both houses were a different environment so I had to change and learn how to act within them both. At my mom's it was just me and her so I had much more responsibility, which helped me grow up and gain that trait. At my dad’s it was me, him, and his roommate, so I was the female of the house learning independence until later on in life when my dad had two more kids which changed my environment again. From only child to having two babies is a huge change and caused me to change who I am around that house. It was no longer only about me, I had to adapt and learn sharing. He also made a move to Texas where now I need to throw girly out the window and know how to be tough and strong. My dad is sort of a grumpy guy, so honestly I picked up a lot of that hearing it and being exposed to it all the time, along with my mom’s attitude. My mom and dad are street smart but not very book smart, surprisingly though, I am very intelligent. I definitely was nichpicking when it came to school because I loved it so my mom helped me achieve my goals and pushes me to succeed. I did much of my own nurture and gained who I am from who I wanted to be. Most of it is wanting to be opposite of what I was genetically predisposed to be. Both nature and nurture play into who I am, but when it comes down to a science, there …show more content…

One study is a twin study, study of a set of twins to be able to see how they are shaped throughout life by having the same nature but different nurture (Feldman, 54). Fraternal twins are a dream come true because it allows a psychologist to compare the two, possibly for a longitudinal study like the David Reimer study where one twin was raised as a girl and the other as the boy he was to prove that nurture can override nature (Edexcel psychology, 1). Another study is Adoption study which allows a psychologist to compare what you get from your biological parents vs. what you get based on nurture from your adopted parents (Feldman, 54). Heritability also allows us to study what you get from birth and what you gain from environment. Differences between groups is environment or nurture, while differences within a group is genetics or nature. This applies to me with my siblings because we have aspects of our dad that we share, but raised in a different environment makes us different. All these methods do not prove if nature or nurture is more influential on growth and development. As far as we know, both play a certain role and equal