Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture

It has been debated throughout the centuries on whether or not nature, the personality traits inherited through genes, are a greater influence on one’s behavior and way of thinking than nurture, the personality traits learned from a person’s environment.

It is easier to uncover inherited traits by studying the antics of young babies. For example, it is common knowledge that all humans have the capability to learn a language. Babies begin speaking at around the first year after birth, which suggests that this skill is innate. Although the language a child starts to speak is learned from his or her surroundings, the ability to learn a language is prevalent throughout all cultures.

Another study was conducted by studying the preferences of a baby in order to identify an innate perceptual ability, which could support the nature side of the debate. In this study, children of the age of twelve months showed a preference for not only human faces in general, but also human faces deemed ‘good-looking,’ even though the kids were at an age where this should not matter. This reveals that young children are able to perceive and are attracted to complex shapes through color, shape and brightness recognition. Therefore, the development of perception is an innate ability.

Both perception and language have been discovered to be inherited biological capabilities, which help to develop a person’s personality. Along with several more genetically inherited traits, perception and language support the idea that nature is a defining feature in developing behavior and a certain way of thinking.

There most certainly is a link between behavior and personality learned through innate genes and those aspects learned from a person’s environment. However, some people believe that behavioral aspects develop solely from our environmental situations. For example, psychologist John Watson once said, “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified...