Nature vs.

Nurture Synopsis

The dispute between whether your traits are determined by nature or nurture has long

been considered interminable due to Locke’s theory that we are all born with a tabula rasa and

our environment determines what gets put on this blank slate, giving us our traits. However,

studies, largely due to the human genome project, have aided in this ongoing controversy.

Although it has been scientifically proven that genes give us hereditary traits, much debate about

whether nature or nurture plays the bigger role still endures.

For years now scientists have known and even been able to identify which genes give off

certain traits such as hair color, eye color, and height. The Nature Theory proceeds to take this

idea to a whole new level, stating that there are also genes encoded in one’s DNA depicting how

intelligent you are, your personality, and even your sexual orientation. According to behavioral

geneticists, as much as 80 percent of our IQ is due to genetic influence. And even though IQ

hasn’t been directly related to creativity, it usually depicts an individual’s years of school, area of

work, and level of class. If one is born with intelligence however, that would put Darwin’s

theory of natural selection in a different level for us humans. But what about scientists always

saying how crucial early brain development is in a child’s first three years of life? This is where

the nurture side of the argument comes in.

Kimberly Saudino, a geneticist who studies, said, "When it comes to personality, genes

don’t determine anything. They set up a range of possibilities.”  These possibilities however will

change from male to female. Gender roles are our expectations about how men and women

should have, stereotypically men wearing the pants in a relationship. This trend we see as normal

is only shaped by evolution, not genetics. And it is what an American male would perceive as a
man too. However, trends vary amongst cultures. In some nomadic societies of food gathering,

men, woman, and all the children must all do their part, and there is minimal division of labor by

sex. So doesn’t cultural environment determine personality and even work ethic, and not

genetics? Most would say yes, but some believe it is a mix of the two, environment and genetics.

This belief has led to over 20 years of studies which gave birth to a new science called

epigenetics. Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve changes to

the genetic code, but are still inherited. It is believed that depending on life style choices in your

life, it will trigger epigenetic “marks” that tell your genes to switch on or off, show strongly or

weakly. This brings both good news, and bad news though. Evidence shows that smoking and

over eating can change the epigenetic marks so that genes expression for obesity become

stronger, and genes for longevity express themselves weakly. But doctors have been on the

search to manipulate these marks, and have even started developing drugs that can silence the

bad marks, and jump-start new ones.

The debate seems endless. However, with more scientific ways proving theories right or

wrong, the tension usually dissolves into Nurture works on what nature endows. The average

healthy baby is biologically endowed with an enormous capacity to learn, just given the fact it

has a brain, but depending on the environment, no one knows how its brain will develop. So

simply it falls into which side you favor, as there are countless counterarguments for any belief

you have in the Nature vs. Nurture debate.