The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

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The Nature vs. Nurture Debate

No change in circumstances can repair a defect of character.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the great controversial debates in Psychology is determining if characteristics and behavior are primarily due to genetics or the environment. We can now readily accept that genes determine our eye color, height, blood type, and other biological factors. Do these same genes that determine anatomy also determine our tendency towards traits such as violence, homosexuality or alcoholism? Some Psychologists, such as Freud, will argue that the home environment is primarily responsible for molding personality, while others cry genotype. There have been countless studies to find out if our destiny is written in our genes or determined by circumstance. Attempting to ascertain whether people are genetically programmed to be good-natured or prone to violence, sober or alcoholic, homosexual or heterosexual has perplexed man since the beginning of history. Nature vs. nurture purists believe that we are either molded entirely by our surroundings or our genetic make-up, however, it is not necessarily so black and white. Characteristics such as homosexuality, alcoholism, and violence are determined by both environmental and genetic factors.

Nature or nurture? The media reports numerous acts of violence every day, for example, in 1998, a 15-year-old boy in a small Oregon town took a gun to school one day and randomly opened fire on a crowded cafeteria. Was this horrific act a product of nurture or nature? This individual was supposedly raised in a loving, supportive, two-parent home with a strong moral upbringing, yet his obsession with weapons and violence may have led to this tragedy. It is possible th...

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...o change our height, shoe size, or natural hair color, but if we are plagued with a trait that is not considered "normal" that we want to change and have the ability to do so, by all means we should. It comes down to what is in our entire character makeup, and our ability to overcome the negative influences of our environment and take steps to modify the glitches in our personalities, that determines who and how we are.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Boyd, Robert S. "Scientists Debate How Much Genes Determine Destiny." Tribune News, August 6, 1996.

Hales, Dianne. An Invitation to Health. 8th ed. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing,

1999.

Pool, Robert. "Portrait of a Gene Guy". Discover October 1997: 50-56.

Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes & Variations. 4th ed. California: Brooks/Cole

Publishing, 1998.

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