NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the most enduring controversies in the fields of

psychology, sociology and philosophy since time immemorial. At the centre of the

debate, there have been arguments on whether inherited genes or the environment

influence and affect our personality, development, behaviour and intelligence. Numerous

generations have deliberated on the reason behind the development of human behaviour.

Many theories have been formulated to explain why humans behave the way they do. The

surviving theories derive their foundation from the physiological and sociological

explanations. However, these views have not always been compatible. The nature versus

nurture debate herein resulted from conflicting views between proponents of the

physiological (nature) and sociological (nurture) explanations.

The history of the nature versus nurture debate dates back a long time ago. It has been

discussed extensively by philosophers in the past. As early as 350BC, such philosophers

as Plato and Aristotle tried to understand human behaviour. Plato believed that behaviour

and knowledge were due to innate factors. He theorized that all knowledge is present at

birth. On the other hand, Aristotle proposed that humans are born with a blank slate –

‘tabula rasa’. According to him, humans were not born with knowledge but acquire it

through experience. His tabula rasa explanation believed that the environment and

experience were the important influences in human behaviour. The above hypotheses laid

the first groundwork on the discussion of this topic.

Nature is those qualities of a person that are deemed genetic. It is a person’s biological

determinism. Nativists assume that the characteristics of the human species as a whole

are simply a product of evolution and each person’s genetic code makes him unique.

Nativists are of the point of view that we have a biological clock that turns certain

behaviours on and off at the appropriate time. They use puberty for instance to support

this claim. Acquisition of language skills by an infant also follows this logical argument.

One of the biggest pieces of supporting evidence for nature over nurture is the fact that

fraternal twins still exhibit similar characteristics even when they are raised apart. Often

times, these twins show behavioural traits that one would assume that they were raised

together in the same place. Famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that sexual

orientation was derived from nurture. He developed a theory that at birth till the age of

four, every child is bisexual. He/she then begins to learn to withhold their feelings for

members of the same sex and start expressing feelings to members of the opposite sex.

However, when this idea was actually tested, it did not hold true as many including him

expected it to. Many years after Freud, it has become apparent that nature holds a strong

role in the development of sexual orientation of humans. If nurture isn’t the cause for

sexual orientation then nature must be.

Alternatively to nativists, empiricists believe that the human mind is a blank state at birth

and any characteristics we develop are a result of our experiences and environment. This

point of view nurture takes up speculates that psychological characteristics and our

behavioural tendencies are things we learned during our development. Characteristics of

nurture include environmental variation and external influences. These characteristics are

dependent on such factors such as social status and education and the influence these

factors have on a person’s character. The importance of nurturing is nearly boundless,

and there is no better evidence than the often cited case of identical twins who, despite

identical nuclear genomes and mitochondrial DNA, will duly differ in physique and

behaviour if raised in a different environment. If the concept of nature over nurture holds

true for identical twins, then their development in two different environments would not

affect their behavioural differences. But studies have shown that the more separated twins

are, the greater the difference between their I.Q. scores. If intelligence had been

hereditary, then these identical twins that were reared apart would still have the same

amount of intelligence; yet, they do not.

In my opinion, both nature and nurture uniformly determine a person’s personality and

intelligence. I uphold the idea that nature and nurture are interactive and interrelated, not

independent and additive in their impact on human development. For instance, the

inherent capability of the IQ of an individual is genetically predetermined, but the effects

of environmental factors such as opportunity in education and guidance in learning serve

extremely important considerations in the individual’s final IQ capability. The nature

versus nurture debate has produced many research advances in the area of human

development. Hopefully, more groundbreaking advances will be made to aid humans in

better understanding human behaviour. In the end, that is what both sides of the nature

versus nurture debate intend to accomplish!.

Essay word count: 795 words

Name: Nwokpor Nnaemeka Collins

Country: Nigeria

City: Abakaliki

E-mail: nwokporcollins@gmail.com

Telephone: (+234)8131220255