How Nature & Nurture influences the development of ‘me’.

Do genetic or environmental factors have a greater influence on your behaviour? Do

inherited traits or life experiences play a greater role in shaping your personality? The nature
versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centres on the
relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human
development.

Some philosophers such as Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn, or
that they occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Nativists take the position
that all or most behaviours and characteristics are the results of inheritance. Other well-
known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which
suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything that we
are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience.

Genes can sometimes contain conflicting information, and in most cases, one gene will win
the battle for dominance. Nature is always connected with nurture and a child’s biology can
have major implications on their development. Therefore, as parents and teachers, can
understand the children’s bodies and minds in a better way and it is easier for them to
nurture them. For example, a child who has down syndrome, there are many other genetic
disorders which may affect his or her studying, communication development and emotional
development. Compared with others, children with down syndrome will experience difficulties
in learning process and socialization.

Another example is, if a child has one tall parent and one short parent, the child may end up
splitting the difference by being of average height. In other cases, some genes follow a
dominant-recessive pattern. One real life example, is that both my father and mother’s side
have curly hair, so as a default all 3 of my siblings and I have curly hair. I also have inherited
the dominant trait of having large eyes from my mother’s side, while my sister and brother
have inherited the recessive trait of my father’s smaller shaped eyes. I have also inherited
my father’s side’s darker complexion, as opposed to my mother’s side’s fairer complexion.

Environment factors, as we all know through modern research and investigation, similarly
affects child development. A child’s early home environment has a profound effect on his
well-being. Beginning in infancy, a problematic home environment can disrupt the brain’s
stress response system, reduce the quality of caregiving a child receives, and interfere with
healthy development.

For example, living in an environment affected by chaos and poverty can lead to changes in
the brain’s stress system that increase a child’s vulnerability to chronic diseases later in life.
Studies of very young children have identified distinctive patterns of brain activity associated
with family income and socioeconomic status, especially in brain areas related to social and
emotional development, language ability, and learning and memory.

Personality is a strong genetic trait, but is largely cultivated by environmental factors. My

father is a quite and solemn man, while my mother is a social butterfly whom loves
interaction. I consider myself an introvert who enjoys company, because while I was growing
up, we moved a lot and it gave me the impression that I shouldn’t be too attached as we
would be moving anyways. After school, me and my siblings would be left at home and we
would mind our own business, as both our parents would still be working. This is made me
into a quiet child who adores reading and daydreaming more than social interaction. As a
consequence, I was reading full length novels at a very young age, which made me
constantly expand my vocabulary and strengthen my grasp of the English language. On the
flip side, the circumstances of which I was raised in had cultivated me into a shy, quiet
introvert.